Five Ideas for Lowering Your Heating Bill This Winter
While it’s cold outside this winter, homeowners are busy trying to keep their home warm. Though cranking up the heat and utilizing a home’s fireplace are logical methods of home heating, they are not always the cheapest or most practical. In fact, there are various ways to save on a home heating bill in the winter without paying excessive fees and investing in extensive improvements.
Turn Down the Thermostat
Families who have central heat and air conditioning systems tend to overuse this equipment when temperatures drop outside. In general, for every degree a family lowers their thermostat, 3% can be saved on their monthly heating bill. For a large family, this can add up to noticeable savings. Keep your thermostat low when you are not home, and when you are asleep. Avoid the temptation to make quick adjustments to your thermostat when you are cold. Rather, raise the temperature slowly and find other ways to warm up until it has fully warmed the home. Much like stepping on the gas peddle at a green light and slamming your brakes at a red light, this practice will burn through heating fuel, and can easily be avoided.
Close the Fireplace Damper
For homes that utilize wood heat as the main heat source, closing the damper can help keep heat within the home. Since heat rises, it is likely to escape from an open damper. When your wood stove is not in use, close the damper. In addition to preventing heat loss from your home, this will also decrease the soot and mess that you will find in your home. Wood stoves can be great ways to reduce your heating oil and gas consumption, but they need to be properly cared for if they are going to help.
Use Curtains
Though it may seem like a minuscule tactic, utilizing curtains can help keep warmth inside the home. Not only do curtains serve as a barrier to keep cool air out of a house, they also prevent cold air leakage from cracks around windows. In addition, opening curtains that face the sun during the day also allows solar heat to enter the house, reducing the amount of heat generation required to heat a home. Curtains can work like an extra layer of insulation when the weather outside is cold, trapping a pocket of air between the window and the room they are hung in. If you’d like to see how much of a difference curtains make, try opening them when the weather is cold, and see the difference it makes.
Turn Down Your Water Heater
One way to lower your heating bill in the winter time that is often overlooked includes lowering the temperature in the water heater. Keeping water between 115-120 degrees allows for power reduction without a noticeable difference. You could also try ditching your water heater all together, depending on where you live. Investing in a tankless water heater in Houston or somewhere like with warmer weather is a good idea, since you it allows you to warm up water only when you need hot water. In colder climates, a tank might make more sense, but tankless heaters are quite common in warmer areas throughout the world.
Swaddle Water Heater and Pipes
An efficient, yet less popular method of reducing heating bills includes swaddling your water heater and pipes. “Swaddling” consists of using an approved jacket that aides in insulation. Wrapping water pipes with this jacket in uninsulated areas is effective, as well. Professional help, like that provided by K & S Plumbing Services, can aide in locating areas of concern and provide viable solutions for targeting specific issues.
With these tips, keeping your heating bill down this winter may be easier than you thought!
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Category: Saving Energy, Saving Money
