When the winter season hits, many homeowners are preparing for hefty heating bills. While completely eliminating your heating bills can be quite a challenge, there are many ways you can help to reduce your heating bills. The best part is that you can still remain comfortable in your home.
Starts With Maintenance Service
One of the best things you can do to ensure that you’re not wasting excess money on heating bills is to invest in annual maintenance service for your heating system. This service will identify any problems so they can be fixed. This will also ensure that your heating system is working at its peak efficiency level and will keep the warranty coverage on your system active. Our maintenance plan gets you inspections, tune-ups, repair discounts, and more.
Seal Off Air Leaks
Air leaks are one of the biggest culprits behind rising heating bills. As the weather outside drops, cold air can seep in through air leaks on your exterior walls. These are more prominent around your door and window frames alongside outlets and light switches. It’s best to seal off these leaks to prevent cold air from coming in. You can use items like weatherstripping, foam padding, and even caulking to create an effective airtight seal.
Check Your Insulation
Insulation is a must-have for any home to be efficient with its energy usage. Ensure that you have adequate insulation in your attic and exterior walls. It should either meet or exceed the recommended R-value for your area of the country. Be sure to inspect your insulation annually and replace any sections that are missing or have sunken down over time.
Supplement With Ceiling Fans
Ceiling fans can make a great addition to any home to enhance your comfort and reduce your heating bills. Be sure to have a fan in each of your main rooms, like your living room and bedroom. Fans should be spinning in a clockwise or reverse direction. This way, they recirculate hot air from the top of your room outward and back down to the floor. By running your ceiling fans, you can use much less energy to stay warm with recirculating hot air as opposed to running your heating system to create more heat.
Use Natural Sunlight
Natural sunlight is a free source of heat that all homes should be taking advantage of. During the daytime hours, opt for opening curtains and blinds to let it penetrate your home. The more heat you can get from the sun, the less you’ll have to rely on your heating system to produce heat for your home.
Perform Regular HVAC Filter Changes
The filter inside your heating system plays a pivotal role in reducing the amount of airborne debris that makes its way inside your heating system. This helps to protect your heating system’s internal components while enhancing the quality of air inside your home. However, when the filter gets packed full of too much debris, it can restrict airflow throughout your ducting and put excess strain on your heating system. Simply avoid this problem by regularly changing the filter in your HVAC system every two to three months.
Use a Smart Thermostat
A smart thermostat can be a great investment to help reduce your energy usage throughout the winter months. This type of thermostat is programmable, so you can turn down the temperature at times when you’re not a home. Newer smart thermostats can even make suggestions on how to better set your thermostat to maximize energy savings while still retaining the same level of comfort in your home.
Consider a Whole-Home Humidifier
Humidity in the air allows heat to sustain in the air. When humidity levels get too low, it can be challenging for the air to remain warm for an extended period of time. If you regularly experience humidity levels below 30%, you may want to consider investing in a whole-home humidification system. This will add humidity to your air to meet your desired relative humidity setting, usually anywhere between 30 and 50%. This humidity will help to increase the feel of the air so that you can be comfortable without having to turn up your thermostat settings.
Update Your Outdated Heating System
Another thing to consider when it comes to keeping your home warm without increasing energy costs is your existing heating system. If it’s over 10 years old, you may want to consider investing in a new heating system. This can allow you to take advantage of more energy-efficient operation. Newer systems are more efficient than systems made just 10 years ago. Plus, you have the option of using a high-efficiency furnace or even investing in a heat pump that offers the industry’s best operating efficiency.
Use Rugs Strategically
One of the most common things that causes a person to feel chilled is coming into contact with a cold floor. If you don’t have carpeting throughout your home, your wood or vinyl flooring can feel cold during the winter as heat naturally rises. You can mitigate this problem by placing rugs strategically throughout your home. This will help to prevent you from turning up the temperature on your thermostat to combat the cold floor.
Keep Interior Doors Open
One of the most common faults that most homeowners make is shutting interior doors during the wintertime. The problem with leaving doors shut is that they restrict the circulation of hot air throughout your home. Closing too many interior doors can lead to pressure issues with your ductwork and reduce its ability to adequately provide heat throughout your home. Opt for leaving interior doors open as much as possible to promote more indoor air circulation.
Get a Home Energy Assessment
A home energy assessment is where an HVAC technician evaluates your entire home to identify areas of heat and energy loss. This can give you some great insight into where you’re losing most of your heat so that you can address those problem areas. This will allow you to retain more heat in your home and enjoy a more comfortable winter season without raising your energy bills.
Consider Duct Sealing
Over time, ductwork will naturally expand and contract with temperature fluctuations. Unfortunately, this can cause air gaps to develop that allow your warm air to escape before it reaches the rooms of your home. Because of this hot air loss, you’ll find that your heating system must run for longer to get your home up to temperature.
Duct sealing and repair service can be great for sealing up those leaks to prevent hot air loss. When getting sealing service, it’s common practice to also get duct cleaning service. This is where built-up debris inside your ducting is removed to allow for more adequate airflow throughout your ductwork.
Expert Heating Maintenance Service
Sano Heating & Air Conditioning offers expert heating maintenance service to the Anaheim, CA area. We can also assist with all your air conditioning, heating, heat pump, duct installation, duct repair, zoning, sheet metal, indoor air quality, and smart thermostat needs. Schedule an appointment with one of our technicians by calling our office today.
