Maintenance Safety/Energy Saving Tips

Josey Miller, Maintenance Clerk

1. Make sure draperies and furniture aren't blocking the registers in your house.
   
   
2. Open draperies on south-facing windows on sunny winter days to take advantage of available solar heat.
   
   
3. Use bath and kitchen exhaust fans only when needed during the heating season. Fans draw heated air out of your home.
   
   
4. Lower the thermostat a degree or two before you entertain a large group of people.
   
   
5. Set your heating thermostat as low as comfort permits. Each degree over 68 degrees Fahrenheit can add 3% to the amount of energy needed for heating while each degree below 68 degrees Fahrenheit can save about the same amount of energy.
   
   

1. Report leaky faucets promptly. A steady drip can waste gallons of hot water per month.
   
   
2. Encourage family members to take short showers instead of baths. The average person uses about half as much hot water in a shower as in a tub.
   
   
3. Turn off running water when shaving or brushing your teeth and fill a dishpan with rinse water instead of letting the faucet run while you do dishes by hand.
   
   
4. Use cold water when operating your garbage disposal. It saves energy and solidifies the grease, which is then ground up and flushed away.
   
   

1. Keep refrigerators and freezers filled to capacity but don't overcrowd to the point where air cannot circulate freely around food.
   
   
2. Vacuum the condenser coils in the back or at the bottom of your refrigerator every three (3) months or so. Dust-covered coils impair the efficiency of compressor operation and increase energy usage.
   
   
3. Turn down your refrigerator and remove perishables before going on an extended vacation.
   
   
4. Do not place uncovered liquids in your refrigerator. In addition to absorbing undesirable flavors, the liquids give off vapors that add to the compressor workload.
   
   
5. Remove all ingredients for a meal from the refrigerator or freezer at one time. Each time you open the door the compressor has to run a bit longer to replace the cool air that spills out.
   
   
6. Discourage leisurely open-door inspections of refrigerator contents by family members looking for snacks.
   
   
7. Locate refrigerators and freezers away from direct sunlight and other warm-air sources such as ranges and dishwashers.
   
   
8. Do not allow ice to accumulate more than one-fourth (¼) inch on manual defrost refrigerators and freezers.
   
   

1. Use pots and pans with absolutely flat bottoms on your range. To cook efficiently, heat must transfer directly from the surface element to the pan. Warped bottoms leave an air gap which provides an escape route for heat.
   
   
2. Select pots and pans that are the right size to completely cover the surface element. When any part of the surface element is exposed, you're wasting heat and energy.
   
   
3. Keep reflector pans shiny and clean. Shiny pans reflect heat rays onto pan bottoms while dull pans absorb the heat.
   
   
4. Develop the habit of "lids on" cooking. Tight-fitting lids help keep heat in a pan, permitting you to use lower temperature settings and shorter cooking times.
   
   
5. Heat only the amount of water you need for cooking. The water will boil faster if you cover it with a lid.
   
   
6. Start vegetables on high heat in a covered pan. When steam appears around the lid, lower the heat setting and allow food to simmer until done.
   
   
7. Plan one (1) dish meals in a slow cooker. Such meals require less energy than those calling for the use of the oven plus two (2) or three (3) surface elements. Consider cooking small quantities of food in appliances such as an electric toaster oven, skillet or grill instead of your oven. Portable appliances generally use about (1/3) the electricity of your oven. Also, consider using smaller coffee makers if you only want one (1) or two (2) cups of coffee.
   
   
8. Prepare your whole meal in the oven at the same time. Often you can simultaneously cook foods that have different cooking temperatures. Variations of 25 degrees usually produce favorable cooking results.
   
   
9. Carefully time your preheat period when baking. Generally, five (5) to eight (8) minutes is sufficient. There is no need to preheat for broiling, roasting or cooking most casseroles.
   
   
10. Rearrange oven shelves before turning on the oven to prevent wasteful heat escape.
    
    
11. Avoid opening the oven door for a "peek" when baking. Each time you open the door, a considerable portion of the heat escapes.
    
    
12. Never use an oven to heat the kitchen or dry clothing. It wastes energy and can be hazardous.
    
    

1. Check the wattages of the incandescent light bulbs in your house. In many cases, you can substitute lower wattage bulbs and get more light for the same amount of energy. Look for the lumens of a bulb instead of watts. Lumens indicate the brightness of the bulb. Watts only tell you the amount of power it takes to make the bulb work.
   
   
2. Use long-life bulbs only when advantageous, such as in hard-to-reach places. They give less light than standard incandescent bulbs of the same wattage.
   
   
3. Urge everyone to turn off lights when leaving a room. Having wall switches in convenient places helps everyone remember.
   
   
4. Clean lighting fixtures regularly. Dust on lamps, reflectors and light bulbs impair lighting efficiency.
   
   
5. Locate floor, table and wall lamps in the corner of a room rather than against a flat wall. Lamps in corners reflect light from two (2) wall surfaces instead of one (1), therefore giving you more light.
   
   

1. Sort clothes and schedule laundering so you can wash only full loads. It takes almost as much electricity to run a small load as it does a full one.
   
   
2. Set the water selector on your washer to warm or cold for most loads. Very few loads require hot water for washing. Tests indicate that cold-water detergents thoroughly clean most fabrics in warm or cold water with considerable savings on the energy required for water heating.
   
   
3. Always use cold water for rinse cycles.
   
   
4. Use the amount of laundry detergent manufacturers recommend. Overusing hampers effective washing action and may require extra rinsing which uses more energy.
   
   
5. Dry only full loads in your dryer. Overloading causes excessive wrinkling.
   
   
6. Avoid over drying. This wastes energy and harms fabrics as well.
   
   
7. Remove clothes from the dryer as soon as it stops and before wrinkles have time to set. Clothes you promptly fold or place on hangers require little or no ironing thus saving electricity as well as your own energy.
   
   
8. Clean the lint filter after each drying cycle.
   
   
9. Locate your dryer in a place ventilated with fresh, dry air. Circulating humid air through the machine increases drying time and the energy needed to run it.
   
   

1. Turn off the television when nobody's watching.
   
   
2. Iron fabrics that require a cooler iron first and work up to those requiring higher heat. An iron heats faster than it cools, so it's quicker to go from low to high than the reverse. You'll use less energy.
   
   
3. Turn off the iron a few minutes before you finish ironing and complete the rest of your clothes with the heat remaining in the iron.
   
   
4. Turn off the iron when the telephone or doorbell interrupts your work.
   
   
5. Dry your hair with a towel instead of blow-drying it. Many hair dryers consume as much energy as an electric toaster, plus you use them for longer periods.