If you’re gearing up for winter, you might need a little more than snow boots to get yourself ready for the cold weather. Winter means lots of wonderful things, like snow and hot chocolate, but it can also cause additional expenses, like high heating bills. If you want to start saving money, but still heat your home throughout the next few months, we have some winter energy saving tips that are sure to help you out.
Keeping the heat cranked all day doesn’t necessarily mean your home is going to stay warm. During the winter months, your energy usage will increase if your heat is always running, which is a waste if you’re not home to enjoy it. Be smart about your heating, and only adjust the temperature when you need to, like when you get home from work. If you’re bad about adjusting the temperature, think about getting a smart programmable thermostat like the Nest to help reduce costs.
Another good way to circulate heat throughout your home, without raising the bills? Use your ceiling fans. Most ceiling fans have a winter setting, to help move warm air throughout your home. The blades will spin in the opposite direction, pushing warm air into your room rather than pulling it out. Instead of your energy system working harder, you’ll let the heat spread to places that need it most, like your living room and bedroom.
One of the biggest tips to help reduce high heating bills? Make sure you’re air vents aren’t blocked! Having rugs, couches, or other pieces of furniture covering up air vents that provide the most accessible airflow isn’t going to help you in the long run. Energy bills will skyrocket, just because your heating system is working in overdrive, and you won’t even feel the warmth. This can also damage your HVAC system, reducing its lifespan, creating additional expenses for you in the long run. You can save a lot of energy just by making sure all your necessary air vents are open and spreading heat throughout your home.
In wintertime, things can get especially dusty. All that dust doesn’t just collect in your house: it will sit in your HVAC filters, which stops the warm air from circulating throughout your home. One of the easiest ways to save energy is by changing your air filters, so all the necessary heat can travel around your home. If you’ve changed your filters, but are still receiving high energy bills, it might be time to have a new HVAC system installed.
A good practice during winter is to close off places that can potentially take heat away from your home. The guest room no one stays in? Close the door and shut the air vent so that heat flows to other areas in your home. The wood-burning fireplace you rarely use? Close the chimney hatch, so heated air doesn’t travel out of the house. It’s also important to cover drafty older windows that let in cold air, especially at night once the sun goes down. There’s no point in wasting precious heat that travels into all of these unnecessary places throughout your home.
These quick home hacks will reduce heat loss and make sure your home stays toasty all winter long, at no additional cost to you. However, sometimes the unexpected happens, and it’s a good idea to make sure you’re prepared in case your heating stops working. Things like maintenance contracts can help protect your home year-round.
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