LET Mast Heating & Cooling HELP YOU SAVE ON UTILITIES WHILE AWAY

Here come the holidays and all the hustle, bustle and chaos that goes with it. Big fun, right? Of course, but it also requires a little planning and organization, especially if your family is doing any traveling during the holidays. Whenever you vacate your home for any length of time, certain preparations have to be made in order to save on utilities, and this is doubly important during the winter months—when the Western Michigan wicked weather can be brutal to a home that is not ready.

So, make sure you have performed all your seasonal maintenance – a heating tune-up will ensure your system is working the way it should. Then batten down the hatches nice and tight for your trip. And while you are at it, make sure you arrange for minimal energy usage while you are gone. We all agree that there is no sense heating your home to the same level as when you are there, so dropping that thermostat is a prudent and smart energy-saving plan. Your friends at Mast Heating & Cooling also want to share other tips for saving energy while you are away. They include:

• THERMOSTAT, THERMOSTAT, THERMOSTAT. This is where it all begins. Set your thermostat at a lower temperature while you’re away- a normal setting during the cold winter months should be 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit, perhaps a little warmer if you are leaving pets in the home. If you are going to be away more than few days, though, we recommend boarding the pets and lowering the thermostat. And if you forget to set it or want to change it from afar while you are away, install a WiFi thermostat. We offer a complete line of Trane and Honeywell thermostat options that will enable you to manage your home’s climate control from your wireless device, anytime, anywhere.
• REST YOUR WATER HEATER. If your house has a tank water heater, it will continue to heat water while you are gone. Turn the temperature setting down as low as it will go.
• AND YOUR REFRIGERATOR. Bet you don’t know that your refrigerator is one of the biggest energy hogs in your home. Give it a break, too; while you are gone and increase the settings. Normally, your fridge should be set at 34 degrees and your freezer at zero. Move them to 38 and 5 degrees, respectively.
• PULL THE PLUG. Turning off electronic devices is good, but oftentimes, those electronics feature digital displays and auto-on features that burn energy while you are away. Unplug them and that won’t happen.

These are just a few tips to help you save money on your utility bills while you are away. There are plenty of other things for you to take care of (like scheduling friends or neighbors to check on the property, halting the mail, etc.), so let the Grand Rapids area HVAC experts at Mast Heating & Cooling make sure your home’s system is ready. Call us today for a system tune-up, and don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.