Winter’s on the way. In the past, that might have meant a terrible decision between a sky-high heating bill or being permanently cold. It doesn’t have to be that way.
You can use a few handy techniques to keep the heat in and the bills low. You just need to know the components of your home and how they all work.
Here are five tips for awesome winter energy efficiency.
1. Keep That Heat In
You’re paying your heating bill so that you’ve got heat in your house. Don’t let it out. You’ll be paying for heat that you’re not even getting.
You can reduce drafts in many ways. Check the edge of your doors and windows to see if the weather stripping is still intact. If it’s not, consider getting it repaired so it can shore up those openings from drafts.
You can also purchase specially made draft excluders that stop the heat from escaping from your home.
2. Dial in the Thermostat
This one might raise some eyebrows. Sure, cranking your thermostat high is a quick way to get a hefty heating bill, but it has a double whammy effect. Turning the thermostat up super high and leaving it there doesn’t actually keep your house warmer.
It helps to accelerate the speed at which your house begins to lose heat. You’re better off being conservative with the thermostat to ensure your home stays warmer for longer.
3. Tuneup Your Heating System
Your heating system will work better and lower your bills when it’s working at its full capacity.
Contact your local heating engineers and ask them to come and give your system a tuneup. Someone will come round and assess whether your system is equipped to deal with the upcoming winter. They’ll then make any fixes they need to leave you with a heating system running at peak performance.
4. Ceiling Fans are for Winter Too
Yes, that’s right. Most ceiling fans come with an option to reverse the direction that the blades travel.
Set your ceiling fan to turn clockwise and put it on the lowest setting possible. When you do this, the cold air will be drawn upwards, and the fan will push the warm air downwards.
This will help to keep all the heat down at the ground level, where it’s nice and toasty for you. This is a great way to improve your energy efficiency.
5. Replace Your Air Filters
Poor circulation will lead to poor heating. If you want to get that heating bill down, then you’ll need to repair or replace your HVAC filters. Poorly functioning HVAC filters can slow down fan speed and damage the durability of your central heating system.
You can hire companies like sanfranciscoheatingandairconditioning.com to come and replace your HVAC filters for you.
A Lower Heating Bill is in Your Hands
If you combine these five tips, you’re going to see a drastic difference in your heating bill. They’re also great habits to get into every winter so that you know how to best stay warm in a bind.
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