Homeowners
Plain-language cost guides for homeowners: repair versus replace, running costs by state, safety, and how to read an HVAC contractor’s quote.
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Central Air Installation: Adding AC to a House With Ducts or Without
Adding central air is two jobs: a coil, line set and outdoor unit on an existing furnace, or new ducts and an air handler in a boiler home.…
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Water Heater Installation: The Ten Items an Inspector Checks on a Tank Heater
A code-correct tank water heater installation is ten checkable items, from the relief valve line to the vent slope and the permit. Here is what inspectors look for,…
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The Average Home Heating Bill: About $630 a Year, From $368 to $1,618 by Fuel
EIA data repriced to 2025/26: the median home spends about $630 a year on heating, $1,618 with fuel oil, and New England pays most.
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Renters Live in Leakier Homes With Older Heat: The Split Incentive in Federal Data
EIA data on renters and owners: renters are twice as likely to be poorly insulated, far more likely to be drafty and to cool with window units, and…
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44% of Heated US Homes Use a Second Heat Source, and 46 Million Space Heaters
EIA data: 44% of heated homes use a second heat source, 28 million run portable electric heaters, and 21% of secondary-heat users run it nearly all the time.
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Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps by State: Every State, Checked Against EIA
Air conditioning and heat pump heating for every state, rebuilt from EIA microdata and checked against EIA’s own table. Washington is at 52% AC; heat pumps run from…
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8.16 Million US Households Could Not Use Their Air Conditioning in 2024
EIA asks households directly whether their heating and cooling stopped working and stayed broken. In 2024, 8.16 million could not use their air conditioning and 6.83 million could…
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AC Not Turning On? The Six Owner Checks, Then the Licensed Work
A dead air conditioner worked in the order a technician would: six safe homeowner checks outside the electrical compartment, the blower split that narrows it fastest, and the…
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AC Keeps Tripping Breaker: What It Means and Why Not to Reset
A tripping breaker is a protective device reporting a real fault on a 240 volt circuit. Timing tells you which fault, and repeated resets are the one genuinely…
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Furnace Blowing Cold Air: The Sequence That Narrows It Fast
Cold air from the registers is several different faults wearing one symptom. Here is the order a technician rules them out, from the thermostat fan switch to the…