Winter is quickly approaching, and you know what that means, right?
It won’t be long before you’re getting a heating bill in your mailbox every month and paying way more than you should really have to in order to keep your home comfortable.
If you’re sick and tired of paying too much money every month to heat your home, there are steps you can take to bring your heating bill down dramatically. You could save hundreds of dollars this winter when you use the steps to your advantage.
Here are 10 tips that will help you save on your heating bill.
1. Open Your Curtains and Let the Sun Shine Into Your Home During the Day
In the wintertime, a lot of homeowners will purposely keep their curtains closed. They think they’re making their homes warmer by doing it.
But the truth is that they’re not taking full advantage of the sun when they do this. The sun might not feel very warm in the winter, but it can still heat your home up a few degrees when it shines through your windows.
Instead of blocking the sun with curtains, allow for it to heat your home up whenever you can.
2. Wear More Comfortable Clothing So You Don’t Have to Turn the Heat Up
If you spend all winter walking around your house in T-shirts and shorts, it’s going to force you to keep your heat on almost all the time. This will drive your heating bill up.
Wear comfortable clothing that will keep you warm so that you don’t have to rely on your furnace to warm you up. You don’t necessarily need to walk around in a hat and gloves. But a sweatshirt and jeans will obviously keep you much warmer than short sleeves and shorts will.
3. Keep Your Ceiling Fans On to Improve Your Home’s Air Circulation
In your head, you might think that turning a ceiling fan on in the winter will make your home cool. But in reality, it’ll help to keep air in your home circulating and will make it warmer when you use it right.
A ceiling fan that spins clockwise will take rising warm air and push it back down towards the ground. This will make it feel warmer than it would if that hot air was allowed to rise and sit at the top of a room.
4. Turn Your Thermostat Down at Night
You don’t need your home to be too hot in the middle of the night in the wintertime.
Outside of the fact that you’ll be bundled up underneath of a comforter in most cases, your body will adapt to slightly cooler temperatures and allow you to sleep just fine without too much heat.
Many homeowners turn their thermostats down five or even ten degrees at night throughout the course of the winter. You can imagine the effect it has on their heating bills.
5. Avoid Heating Rooms You Don’t Use
Do you have a spare bedroom in your home that you never use or a home office that only gets used occasionally?
Rather than heating it up along with the rest of your home, close the vents in those rooms to avoid wasting heat. Your home will heat up much quicker this way, and you won’t have to worry about heating up rooms you’re not really using anyway.
6. Plug Any Holes That Exist in the Exterior of Your Home
Take a walk around the exterior of your home. Are there holes in it that could potentially allow cold air to come into your home in the winter?
No matter how big or small those holes might be, they could be giving cold air a clear path into your home. By plugging them, you’ll prevent your HVAC system from having to work harder to heat your home.
7. Make Sure Your Windows and Doors Have Weatherstripping on Them
Windows and doors in your home should have weatherstripping around the edges of them. The weatherstripping works to insulate windows and doors and stop cold air from coming into your home around them.
Over time, weatherstripping can wear down and even go missing. Inspect your windows and doors for signs of damage to your weatherstripping and replace it accordingly.
8. Consider Adding New Insulation to Your Attic and Walls
If your home has older insulation in the attic and walls, there’s a good chance it isn’t doing much to contain the heat inside your home. You could be losing quite a bit of heat every day.
Think about adding new insulation to your attic (pay special attention to the space right above your attic door!) and to the walls that you can access in your home. It’ll take a little bit of an investment on your part, but it’ll make a big difference in your heating bill every month.
9. Inspect Your Home’s Ductwork and Fix Any Leaks
Are your home’s air ducts leaky?
If so, they could be causing your HVAC system to have to work twice as hard as it should have to in order to send heat out into your home. By repairing or replacing your ductwork, you can make things easier on your heating system and cut your costs.
10. Service Your Home’s Heating System on a Regular Basis
Your home’s heating system should be serviced at least once every year. If nothing else, an HVAC professional should give it a once-over to see if there are any signs of trouble.
When you service your home’s heating system, you’ll make it more energy efficient. That alone will bring your heating bill down.
Start Bringing Your Heating Bill Down Today
It can get very cold in the winter in Pennsylvania. Prepare your heating system for the subzero temperatures, and it’ll reward you by working more efficiently.
Take some of the other steps listed here, too, to see real results every time you open up your heating bill. You won’t believe how much you can save by making a few simple adjustments around your home.
Contact us to set up service for your heating system or read our blog to learn other tips for maintaining your home’s HVAC system.
