Cold winter weather is approaching, and with it comes rising energy costs. Scheduling a heating tune-up is a great way to lower your energy costs by ensuring your heating system is functioning optimally. Nonetheless, there are several other simple steps you can take to help conserve your home’s heat this winter. In this way, you can make sure your home stays warm and toasty without paying an arm and a leg to keep it that way.
1. Take Advantage of the Sun’s Warmth
This is one of the easiest and most effective ways to keep your home warmer, and it requires almost zero effort on your part. Even during the cold winter months, the sun’s rays still provide plenty of warmth. All you need to do to harness this added heat is keep your blinds and window coverings open as much as possible to allow all those warm rays to penetrate inside your home.
2. Make Sure Your Windows and Doors Are Well Sealed
Drafty or poorly sealed windows and doors can be one of the biggest contributors to heat loss. Taking the time to make sure that all your windows and doors are properly sealed inside and out can prevent this and ensure that your furnace doesn’t have to work overtime to keep your home warm. This means checking that weather-stripping around all windows and doors still forms an air-tight seal. You’ll also want to check the caulking around the interior and exterior of the door frame and reseal any areas where the caulking is old, damaged, or missing.
3. Have Your Home’s Ductwork Inspected
Damaged, leaking or poorly sealed ductwork can result in major heat loss and decrease the efficiency of your heating system by 20 percent or more. Similarly, poorly insulated ductwork can also contribute to major heat loss and cause your furnace to run much more frequently than it needs to. This is especially true for ducts located in cooler or less insulated areas like basements, crawlspaces, garages, and attics.
4. Seal Off Unused Areas of Your Home
If there are certain areas or rooms of your house that you rarely use during the winter, it makes much more sense to keep them sealed off. Simply put, there is no reason to continue to heat an area that you rarely or never use. By closing the vents to these rooms or areas and keeping the door shut, you can both lower your heating costs and ensure that the warmth from your furnace more effectively heats the areas you use.
5. Consider Installing a Smart Thermostat
Installing a smart thermostat is also a great way to conserve heat and reduce your utility bills. These thermostats allow you to control your home’s heating system remotely, which means you can ensure your house is warm when you arrive without needing to keep the furnace running all day. Better still, these programmable systems can also learn about your heating patterns and automatically adjust the temperature based on the day and time. Not only that, but some smart thermostats even let you control the temperature for each specific room.
6. Make Use of Your Ceiling Fans
If your home has ceiling fans, winter is a great time to make use of them. Heat naturally rises, which means that most of the hot air coming from your furnace ends up resting on the ceiling. Turning on a ceiling fan pushes this hot air downwards and thus enables you to make better use of all that warm air.
7. Arrange Your Furniture for Improved Air Flow
Even something as simple as rearranging your furniture can provide major benefits. Putting dressers or other large furniture in front of your windows can help cut down on heat loss. Similarly, positioning your bed closer to your heating vents and further away from the windows can make it so you don’t need to run your heating system as much during the night. Many homes also have pieces of furniture positioned in front of or on top of the heating vents. This obviously blocks some of the warm air from reaching the rest of your room, which can be solved by simply rearranging things to ensure proper airflow.
Layton’s Trusted Heating Experts
With more than 70 years of experience, Smedley Service is one of the Layton area’s most trusted HVAC companies. Our highly trained technicians can assist you with any of your heating needs to ensure your home stays warm all winter long. We offer a full range of cooling services, including AC repair, maintenance, and installation services. Water heater repairs and replacements are another of our specialties, and we also have numerous solutions to help you improve your indoor air quality.
Don’t spend more money heating your home this winter than you must. Contact Smedley Service today to see how we can improve the efficiency of your heating system.
