With the cold winter months fast approaching, heating your home can become a large monthly expense. The energy consumption of your HVAC system comprises approximately 54% of the energy usage in your home. Did you know you could save 1% on your heating bill each year for every degree you lower your thermostat over an 8-hour time span? This can be done at night while you are asleep or during the day if the house is empty. The easiest way to do this is to use a programmable thermostat. This type of thermostat can be programmed to have the temperature reduced after the household is asleep and reset to a warmer temperature before everyone wakes up. The same can be done when everyone leaves the house for the day; there is no need to have the house fully heated when no one is home. There are many ways to experience an annual saving by using these best practices. Of course, this can also be done with a manual thermostat, but it isn’t as reliable or as functional as the programmable thermostat, but equally effective if used consistently.
Space heaters are another way to save money when heating your home. If you only use certain rooms in your house, you can keep the overall temperature of your home cooler by just heating the rooms you use with a safe and reliable space heater. These small units use less energy than your central heating system. This is an efficient way to see some cost savings but you should do your homework, finding the safest and most efficient space heater available. Some safety precautions would be to make sure a child or pet can’t touch the heating element, read all the warnings that come with your unit and make sure it is at least three feet away from anything flammable or anything that would block the airflow. Space heaters are good solutions but need to be researched and used wisely.
Other cost saving tips which you can do yourself, just by giving your home an interior and exterior inspection. A tremendous amount of heat can escape your house through the doors and windows. For the interior doors, you can apply a sweep (or a rolled towel) to the bottom of the door that will keep the cold air out. Check all the exterior doors and windows in your house for good weather stripping. Check the seals around your windows, making sure there are no gaps around the frames that would allow the cold air to seep into your home. You can apply exterior caulking to any gaps that are on the outside of your home and there is interior caulking available to seal any gaps from the inside. You can also hang blinds and drapes to help manage the temperature in your home. Hanging the drapes over the window frame will help keep the cool air out also. When you open the blinds or drapes during the day, it allows the sun to help heat the room and closing them in the evenings will keep heat from escaping.
It is always best to make sure that you perform routine maintenance on your HVAC system to make sure it is running at optimum performance. When your heater is running at peak performance and you are using other cost saving measures mentioned above, you are able to realize savings in your energy bills. Call Climate Tech Air Conditioning & Heating today, we are industry leaders and can get your winter started off right by making sure your heating system is in top working condition.
