In the kennel business, we know our lodging season cycle is pretty consistent each year. There is the big push through the holidays, then it’s pretty quiet until the spring break spike, and then it’s quiet again until Memorial Day. Now is a great time to make some adjustments around your boarding facility while it is a little quieter. Let’s take a look at some practical ways to save on energy costs.

Heating and cooling costs can add up fast, especially in areas with temperature extremes. You are paying a lot of money to maintain the temperature of your building—doesn’t it make sense to make sure the air you’re paying for is staying in the building?

Seal Your Drafts
One thing you can do to help keep your energy costs down is to seal the drafts around your doggy doors. There are a wide variety of dog door setups out there. Some are better sealed than others. Check the top, sides, and bottoms of each of your doors to see how much outside air is being let in. You can purchase different styles of draft sealing products depending on the style of your doors.

While taking care of these drafts is a step in the right direction, sealing your doors from drafts will only help one problem. The other is the material of the doors themselves. Most doors on the market are non-insulated, so you’ll still lose your heated or cooled air through the door itself.

Upgrade Your Doors
If you think about it, exterior walls are well insulated, typically thick, and made of weather-resistant materials. However, most dog doors—which are cut out of exterior walls—are made of thin, non-insulated materials that allow heated or cooled inside air to penetrate easily through to the outside and vice versa. The best way to lower your heating and cooling costs is to invest in insulated doggy doors.

Boarding facilities located in areas with cold winters and hot summers have a large potential for soaring heating and cooling bills. Look for doors that are insulated with an advertised R-value of 7.5 or higher. An R-value is a measure of the insulation’s ability to reduce the rate of heat flow. Most doors on the market have no listed R-value at all. In addition, a door that sits inside of a frame that’s inserted into the exterior wall, along with a draft sealer, will be a more solid, draft-free construction and will help decrease the likelihood of warping.

Separate HVAC units
Another way to help keep costs down is to have separate HVAC units for the boarding areas. If your operation is large enough to have separate wings of kennels, consider running separate units so that, in a slow season, you can turn the heat or A/C down in that wing to save on heating and cooling.

Some of these suggestions require an initial investment, but the cost savings may help you save a substantial amount of money in the long run. Take advantage of the slower lodging season and improve your facility and, ultimately, your bottom line.

Stone Mountain Pet Products is a family-run business located in the heart of Minnesota. In this article, we referenced our Insulated Dog Doors. In addition to the features mentioned in the article, it is also easy to clean, offers aluminum pulleys, comes with a pre-assembled frame, and includes a wire cable and poly handle cover for effortless operation. Stone Mountain Pet Products all started with Stone Mountain Pet Lodge, located in Blaine, MN. During the building process, Dave Larson, president and CEO, realized he needed better kennel equipment than what there was on the market. Using his existing business, Larson Systems, and his mechanical engineering background, he created several totally new designs, which are still in use at Stone Mountain Pet Lodge today. Our equipment is still holding strong after many years of use, with new customers seeing the added benefits of several improvements. Tim Larson is now heading up the sales effort while Rachel Larson is handling our writing. Many other family members and employees are involved in this business, tackling production, quality, IT, and many other aspects of the business. It has been a challenge, and pleasure, translating real world experience into useful products from which business owners across the country can benefit. If you are interested in learning more about the products Stone Mountain Pet Products offers, visit our website at www.stonemountainpetproducts.com.

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