HEATING BILL HINTS
Don’t set the thermostat higher than the desired temperature to speed heating. The house will not heat up any faster and you will overshoot your desired temperature.Close external leaks. Special attention should be given to areas around clothes dryer vents and ducts running through attics, crawl spaces, garages and basements. Seal those openings with mastic paste (reinforced duct sealant), metal backed taped or an aerosol sealant. Inspect your house for hidden openings. After dark, have a friend stand outside and shine a high powered flashlight around the exterior. Any light you see coming inside translates to leaks.Use incense to check for leaks. Move around the house. Stand put and check to see if the incense smoke drifts away from an opening.Lock windows and sliding doors. This gives the panels their tightest possible seal.Add sealant to the glazing putty in your windows if it is dry and cracked. Seal any visible cracks around the window. Close storm windows properly. Stop heat loss from under exterior doorways. For a more permanent solution, attach weather stripping at the bottom of the door.Check the location of your thermostat. A drafty window or an exterior door near your thermostat can turn your heating system on unnecessarily. Put your thermostat on an inside wall away from a window or door.Close vents/registers/baseboard heating/radiators in unused rooms. Make sure to keep rooms warm enough to prevent freezing.Keep your damper closed when not using your fireplace. An open damper allows 8% of your heat to escape up the chimney.Buy a programmable thermostat. Set your heat to ramp down at night and up in the morning…down again when you leave the house and up again ½ hour before your return.Heat with wood. Buy a wood burning stove and seasoned firewood by the cord or buy a pellet stove and use wood pellets. Wood pellets are more economical than firewood. They are also less trouble since a hopper lets the fuel down into the stove as needed.Consider solar. A federal tax credit for installing solar water heaters and solar panels is in effect through 2016. The tax credit is 30% of the cost of the system (not including the cost of installation)Use the warmth delivered by sunlight. Remove unnecessary tree branches and other barriers to give your home more exposure to the sun. Open shades and let the sun shine in.Consider portable electric heaters. New federal regulations require all portable heaters manufactured after July 2008 to include enhanced energy saving features. It may be less expensive to use a small space heater than cranking up the furnace if you only want to heat one room. Add a furnace humidifier. This increases your perception of warmth. 68 degrees with moisture can feel warmer than 72 degrees without it.Change or clean furnace filters every few months no matter what kind of heating system you have. Running your furnace at peak efficiency will save you money.Get an energy audit. Your utility company will evaluate the efficiency of your home’s heatng and cooling system in addition to assessing how you can save energy. If your utility company does not provide this service, check out www.natresnet.org . There may be a cost for this independent service but potential savings may make this expense worthwhile . Have your heating system serviced annually. This includes a thorough cleaning of the blower (and nozzle if it uses oil) and making adjustments as necessary. The furnace’s combustion efficiency should be tested to calculate how completely the fuel is burned and how much of the heat is transferred to your home.