Maintain Your Heating and Air Conditioning Equipment

• About this Project
• Do-It-Yourself
• Incentives

Get a Handle on Your Biggest Home Energy Users

On average, half your energy bill goes to heating and air conditioning your home. If your units are not running in top form, they’re wasting your money. An annual check-up with maintenance keeps your appliances running efficiently, it keeps your energy bills in line, and can also increase their useful life, delaying expensive system replacement.

The most important thing you can do to prolong the life of your system is to replace your filter regularly, and keep the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system free of debris. Without proper air flow, your air conditioning system chokes itself. Restoring optimal air flow can save at least $25 on summer cooling costs. View your HVAC manual for recommended filter replacement schedules.

A typical HVAC tune-up should include:

• Making sure all connections are tight and working properly
• Checking thermostat operation, making sure it turns off and on at the right setting
• Lubricating all moving parts and motors
• Inspecting/clearing condensation drain
• Checking air conditioning coolant levels
• Cleaning air conditioning coils

The US Department of Energy has several resources to help you maintain your HVAC systems:

• Home Cooling guide
  • Infographic: Everything you need to know about home cooling
• Home Heating guide
  • Infographic: Everything you need to know about home heating
• Heat Pump guide
• Maintaining your air conditioner

Additional Resources

• Nine tips to keep your heating and cooling budget energy efficient (From BGE)
• ENERGY STAR Maintenance Checklist

Prepping Your AC System for Summer:

How to Maintain Your Furnace:

Utility companies offer incentives to help with the cost of energy efficient upgrades of HVAC systems.

Pepco:

• HVAC Efficiency Program - Residential
• HVAC tune-up - Businesses

BGE:

• Smart Energy Savers Program  - Residential
• Building tune-up - Businesses

Potomac Edison:

• HVAC Program - Residential
• HVAC Incentives for Business Program – Businesses

The Washington Gas website also shows available manufacturer rebates for home heating systems.

Maryland Home Energy Loan Program  - Offers low interest loans for qualifying improvements to Maryland homes, including HVAC equipment replacement and insulation.

Montgomery County offers a $250 tax credit for buying energy efficiency appliances.