We are all spending more time at home these days, waiting out the dreaded pandemic. What better time to work on the home and getting it to run as efficiently as possible?

We have put together this list of things you can do to improve the efficiency of you home for the oncoming summer.

First lets start with the door and windows:

• • Tighten and lubricate your door hinges
  • Check the weather stripping and caulking around doors and windows. Replace if necessary.
  • Check the screens on doors and windows and clean them. Replace if necessary.
  • Make sure the windows that face the sun directly have proper covering to prevent too much heat from entering. You can also buy a reflective tint for these windows which will keep the rays from heating your home.

Other in-home items:

• Dust your ceiling fan blades. Make sure to set them to turn counterclockwise.
• Test all your smoke alarms. Replace batteries if need be.
• Check air filters for AC/furnace. Replace if necessary.
• Remove logs and clean out fireplace.

You can have all these items done in one afternoon and you will be glad you did. Keeping your home safe and efficient saves time and money down the road and the piece of mind it offers is priceless.

The heat is right around the corner. Society may have shut down because of the pandemic but mother nature hasn’t. The seasons will continue to cycle no matter what.

Spring has sprung and 90 degree summer days are not long behind. With that in mind we have created this blog with some signs that it may be time to invest in a new air conditioning unit.

1. Is Your AC Unit More Than Ten Years Old? If it is then replacing your unit will increase efficiency and save you 20% on your bill. It literally pays for itself over time. New units are much more efficient.
2. Does Your Unit Struggle to Maintain? Everyone wants cool temperatures in the summer. For undersized or older units the job is all but impossible and they run non-stop to try to keep up.
3. Is There Dust and/or Humidity in Your Home? These are two signs that your unit is failing and needs to be replaced.
4. Have You Had to Have the Unit Repaired More Than Once Recently? Repairs can fix the random breakage but more than one service call per year means that the unit has had it.

The fact is that a good unit lasts for 10 years solidly. After that the efficiency goes down and the bills go up. Like we mentioned earlier, you can do the math and see how much a new unit will save on your bill and then calculate how long that unit took for it to basically pay for itself.

Sterling is here for you. If you need AC repair or installation, please feel free to contact us.

With the U.S. and most of the world’s economy at almost a standstill, the use of petroleum has naturally decreased. And it has decreased by quite a lot. Since the oil market is “supply and demand” based, the slow down has affected prices. The lack of demand has stifled the supply and now oil companies need to move the product.

Crude oil by the barrel

Take a look at this graph below. You can see what I’m talking about.

The point of this blog post is that now may be the best time to buy your heating oil. It seems counter-intuitive to buy heating oil when things are getting warm and we have a full summer ahead of us. But, we may never see these prices again. And the prices are sure to rise as demand returns once the economy starts flowing again.

Heating oil doesn’t evaporate. So, if you fill up your tank now, it will be the same when it is time to use it again in the fall. In fact, heating oil is good for ten years. It is a very stable liquid.

Call the staff at Sterling Oil to get prices to fill your tank now and save some money, They will be happy to serve you in the greater Lynchburg Area and Surrounding Counties.  We can also take payment over the phone so you there is no need to come by the office.