A warm and cozy home doesn’t come without a price tag–in this case the electric or gas bill. We can’t escape it; keeping warm is a must. However, we can control the cost of how much the bill will cost per month. Try some of these ways and watch your expensive utility bill start shrinking:
- A normal thermostat (manual tuning) isn’t enough. It should be one where it is programmed to turn on and off on command. It will adjust when you’re in the home and when you’re away. Manual tuning causes human error; you can use too much or too little energy.
- Divide your home into zones. Each part of the house will have a separate heating unit to heat the area. This will stop the other heating units from staying on too long and heat only the areas that are in use.
- Turn down the thermostat at night. Allowing it to run at night is the most expensive time of the day because of freezing temperatures. Let the bed, warm blankets and natural body heat keep you warm instead of the central heating unit. Many of the thermostat systems will give you a chance to set a timer on it so you can have it automatically turn down to a lower setting at night. Try to keep your heater to 68 degrees or less during the day in order to have cheaper utility costs.
- Space heaters are a great option. Purchase one in stores or online and have one for each zone of the house. It will warm up the area quicker than a central heating unit. On top of that it’s less expensive to run. Just make sure nothing is around the space heater for full effect.
- Turn on the ceiling fan and run it in the opposite direction. The usual direction will make the home cool. The reverse direction will bring warm air from the ceiling to the where we are.
- Windows, doors and sweeps under doors should be insulated with weather stripping. Replace weather stripping if worn out or not keeping cold air out. Make sure your attic is insulated with high quality weather stripping. R-30, R-40 and R-50 insulation is recommended
- Service your heating system each year. Make sure the professional checks out how well the heating system is operating. Fix any repairs before it gets worse. They may recommend a cleaning of your heating cable and to clean the duct system as it could be filled with a lot of dust. This is unhealthy air to breathe in and it can make your HVAC system work harder than it needs to.
- Change your furnace filter each month. When you are running your heating system daily it can easily get clogged with some dust. Keeping the furnace filter clean is just one easy way to keep the dust from being pumped into your home. The furnace filter is easy to change, just make sure you place the cover for your HVAC back in place or your furnace will not turn on.
- Let the sunshine in and open the windows. This will allow natural sunlight to warm the home so your central heating unit won’t have to warm the home for you.
- Upgrade 8-10 year old appliances with Energy Star energy-efficient models. This will lower energy costs because it will use less electricity to perform the same tasks a non-energy efficient model would.
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