Getting more comfort and lower bills from the system you already have
Before shopping for equipment, find out what limits the one you own. A room that never feels right usually traces to how air is delivered and returned, to what the ducts lose, or to the building itself, and each costs less to fix than a replacement. Shemtov Systems measures all three before anyone quotes equipment; the line is 240-355-3333. Key takeaways Most comfort complaints are delivery problems: the output is made and never arrives. A shut bedroom door can pressurize the room and push its supply air outdoors. Maryland’s energy code has new duct work outside the insulated shell pressure tested. An attic takes supply air twice: through the leaks, then the duct wall. Air sealing and insulation are worth up to 10 percent of a yearly bill, per ENERGY STAR. Which part of the system is failing the back bedroom? Four suspects sit behind a comfort complaint: what the equipment produces, the supply path carrying it, the return path feeding the blower, and the house that gives it back. Separating them costs a thermometer and a week. Log the room and the outdoor reading, morning and night. A gap that widens as the weather turns points at the envelope or at ducts crossing unconditioned space; a room a fixed distance behind in every season is short of air. Bring both records, and any load calculation the house has. How do you find out what the ducts are losing? Ducts crossing an attic, crawlspace, or garage leak at seams, boots, and plenum joints, then lose again by conduction through a thin duct wall into air far hotter than the shade outside. None of it shows from the living space, which is why Maryland’s energy code, based on the 2021 IECC, has duct work outside the insulated shell pressure tested. A duct pressure test puts an older house on that footing: seal the registers, pressurize to 25 Pascals, read the leakage off a calibrated fan. Where does the air go once a bedroom door is shut? Supply air has to leave a room or it stops entering it. Close the door on a bedroom with a register and no return and the room pressurizes; the pressure pushes conditioned air out through whatever the walls and ceiling leak into, while the rest of the house goes negative and pulls outdoor air in to match. It is why a room can be fine by day, wrong overnight. The remedies are small: a door undercut, a transfer grille, a jump duct, all part of the return and supply layout. Can dampers or a second zone fix a hot upstairs? Often, and without new equipment. The work is measurement, not guesswork: read what each register actually delivers, then set the branch dampers so rooms with a surplus hand some of it to rooms that are short. On a two-story Silver Spring house that alone closes much of a summer gap between floors. When no surplus is left, the next step is control instead of capacity: zoning dampers give each floor its own call, and a ductless indoor unit serves a converted attic. Why is the building itself the cheaper half of the job? Comfort has two sides and only one is mechanical; the other is how fast the building gives back what you paid to make. ENERGY STAR puts the savings from sealing air leaks and adding insulation at up to 10 percent of an annual energy bill, none of it tied to which brand you buy. In older Silver Spring houses the leaks worth chasing are large, hidden, and dull: open stud bays behind attic knee walls, the chase around a chimney, an unweatherstripped attic hatch. When has the equipment earned its replacement? Maintenance keeps paying while repairs stay occasional and the system still holds temperature and humidity through a hot week. The signal to stop spending is repetition: the same unit back on the schedule two or three times in a season, a different part each time. That is a judgement about one machine’s history, not about its age. Our equipment lifespan guide and replacement cost guide carry it further. Frequently asked questions Will a bigger blower push more air to the far bedroom? Rarely. A blower moves only what its ductwork lets it move, so more speed against the same restriction buys noise at the nearest registers before anything reaches the far end. Is duct sealing worth doing if I plan to replace the system soon? Usually. Ductwork outlives the equipment bolted to it, so the sealing carries over and hands whoever sizes the next system a house that behaves predictably. My house passed a duct test when it was built. Do I need another? Possibly. That test covered the duct work as installed. Later attic work, recessed lights, or a re-roof opens joints, and flex that slipped off a boot leaks whatever the original number was. How much difference between rooms should I accept? A degree or two on one floor is ordinary, and a few degrees between floors in summer is common. Five or more degrees off in both seasons is a distribution problem. If one room never comes right, or the bills moved without your habits moving, the honest first step is measurement rather than a quote for equipment. Shemtov Systems is family owned, licensed and insured in Maryland and Washington DC, and NATE-certified. The company has worked Silver Spring and Montgomery County since 1981. Outside office hours a 24-hour answering service still logs the job, on 240-355-3333.
What Is the Ideal Temperature for Your Home?
Finding the perfect balance between staying cool and saving on electricity can be a challenge. Experts agree that the ideal temperature for your home in the summer is 78°F (around 25°C). This setting provides comfort while keeping your energy bills in check. For every degree you lower your thermostat below this point, your energy costs can increase by as much as 3%! Smart Tips to Save Money and Stay Cool * Maintain Your System: A clean AC is an efficient one. Clean or replace your air filters regularly (every 1-3 months) to improve performance and lower energy consumption. * Strategic Cooling: Use blinds and curtains to block direct sunlight during the hottest parts of the day. This simple step keeps your home from heating up naturally and reduces the load on your AC. * Leverage Fans: Use ceiling fans in occupied rooms to supplement your air conditioning and make you feel cooler. By following these simple guidelines, you can enjoy a cool and comfortable home without breaking the bank. Is your AC system ready for the heat? To ensure your air conditioning unit is running as efficiently as possible, a professional tune-up is a great investment. Contact Shemtov Systems today for a consultation or to schedule a maintenance check. We’ll help you prepare your home for the summer and ensure you’re saving on your energy bills all season long. There is no single ideal number, and the figure above is only a starting point. What decides whether a Silver Spring house feels right is the gap you ask the system to hold, the moisture in the air, and whether the thermostat reads air that represents the rooms you use. Call Shemtov Systems at 240-355-3333. Key takeaways The indoor to outdoor gap drives the load, so two or three degrees matter more than the number. Washington area July dew points average about 66F, so moisture decides how a summer house feels. EPA sets the indoor ceiling at 60 percent relative humidity; 30 to 50 is the target. Heat pumps take summer setbacks normally; winter recovery is what stages in costly resistance heat. An empty house still needs a setting: moisture control in summer, a freeze floor near 55F in winter. Why does the gap matter more than the exact number? Heat crosses your walls roughly in proportion to the inside to outside difference, so the gap is what the equipment fights. On a 95F Montgomery County afternoon, holding 74F instead of 78F widens the gap from 17 degrees to 21, close to a quarter more load through the envelope. Window sun and outdoor moisture do not shrink with the setting, so the bill moves by less than a quarter. Our guide to summer and winter settings covers the numbers. How much water is actually in a Maryland summer? More than the temperature suggests. In NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 hourly normals for Reagan National, the July dew point averages about 66F and never leaves the 60s. Holding 78F at 50 percent relative humidity means getting indoor air to a 58F dew point, and the coil only does that while it runs wet. EPA puts the indoor ceiling at 60 percent relative humidity, with 30 to 50 the target. Right-sized equipment dries a house better than an oversized unit that satisfies the thermostat in ten minutes. Do heat pumps really need one steady setting? In heating, mostly. Raise the setpoint several degrees at once on a cold morning and the control stages in electric resistance strips, fixed at 3.412 Btu per watt-hour. An ENERGY STAR certified split-system heat pump must reach at least 7.8 HSPF2, or 7.8 Btu per watt-hour over the rating season, roughly 2.3 times more heat from the same power. In cooling the unit is just an air conditioner, so raising the setting while out saves normally. Ask about heat pump service. What should you set for sleeping in July? Drier than the instinct to open windows suggests. The normal July low at Reagan National is 72.4F with the dew point near 66F overnight, so night air arrives around 80 percent relative humidity. Research comparing humid with dry heat at equal temperatures found humid heat raises wakefulness and cuts REM and slow wave sleep, because sweat cannot evaporate. Dry the air, do not drop the dial. A ductless head in one bedroom gives that room its own control. What should you set when the house is empty for a week? Raise the setting; do not switch the system off. With outdoor air near a 66F dew point, indoor air that drifts to 76F sits around 71 percent relative humidity, and even 80F leaves about 62 percent, both over the EPA ceiling. Surfaces cooler than the dew point then collect water, which is where musty basements begin. Book a seasonal tune-up before a long trip so the drain is clear. How low is safe during a winter cold snap? The floor is set by your plumbing, not your comfort. Your thermostat reads one interior wall; the pipes that freeze sit in crawl spaces, unheated garages, and exterior wall cavities running far colder. During a hard freeze keep the heat on with a floor around 55F even when nobody is home, open any vanity or sink cabinet built against an exterior wall, and leave the most exposed fixture dripping. A system that cannot hold setpoint through a snap deserves a heating service call. Frequently asked questions My thermostat reads 72F but the room feels warm. Why? Often the thermostat itself. Afternoon sun on its wall, a lamp below it, or a supply register aimed at it all bias the reading. Leave a thermometer where you sit and compare for a day; many thermostats accept remote sensors. Will winter humidity let me set the thermostat lower? Usually by a degree or two. Dry air pulls moisture off your skin faster, so a room can read 70F and still feel cool. A whole-house humidifier restores the 30 to 50 percent range automatically. Why