Finding ways to conserve heat during the wintertime, in addition to saving you money on heating bills, will also allow you to get better results from your furnace and enjoy a comfortable cold season. You’re likely to be spending quite a bit of time inside your house while the weather outside is harsh, which means you’re going to need to find ways to consistently stay warm, aside from just cranking up your thermostat all the time. Relying too heavily on your furnace will be bad for both the appliance and for your wallet in the long run. Below, we’ve compiled seven handy steps you can take to conserve as much heat and energy as possible this winter.
1. Invest in a Space Heater
Oftentimes, when you’re at home, you and your family or any visitors are going to be spending the majority of your time in a certain area of the house. When this is the case, having the furnace cranked up for the entire home is actually wasting quite a bit of heat and energy that doesn’t need to be used. To remedy this, consider investing in a space heater for one or several of the most popular areas in your home, whether it be the bedrooms, living room, dining room, or elsewhere. By using an electric space heater, you can give your furnace much more regular breaks, which will allow it to be more energy efficient while enjoying a healthier and longer lifespan. For a slightly larger investment, you also have the option of buying a more advanced heater, which may come with a programmable thermostat and/or a remote control.
2. Utilize Your Curtains
By being deliberate about when to open and close your home’s curtains, you can actually conserve quite a bit of heat. Curtains, especially of the thicker variety, are excellent at keeping warmth trapped inside the house. This is mostly because the windows or glass doors that they cover are known to be major sources of warm air escaping. So, if you consistently close your blinds in the evening, it will allow you to lower your thermostat and save some energy. However, during the afternoon, particularly on sunny days, keep your curtains open wide instead. This way, much of the warmth from the sunlight will spill into the house, providing you with an abundance of natural heat. Being able to give your heating appliance these regular periods of rest will add up to excellent results over time, such as lower chance of breakdowns and greatly reduced monthly heating bills.
3. Turn Down the Thermostat at Night
When you’re cozy under the covers in bed, odds are, you don’t need the temperature of your house to be quite as high. This winter, consider slightly lowering your thermostat each night before you tuck yourself into bed. It doesn’t have to be anything drastic, anywhere from 7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit is plenty to make a significant difference. By giving your furnace this break for eight hours or so each night, it can save you quite a bit of money over time and help your heating appliance to continue running smoothly and efficiently. On average, lowering the temperature by that relatively small amount will save you around 10% on your annual energy bills.
4. Locate and Seal Air Leaks
Letting heat escape your home is the exact opposite of conserving it, but that’s what’s happening if your home has air leaks. They don’t have to be large openings to have a real impact, and these leaks are most commonly found around the edges of windows, garage doors, other doorways, and in basements. These gaps and cracks not only allow warm air to escape, but they also allow cold air to seep into your home, forcing your furnace to work much harder to provide adequate heat. The presence of these leaks will put more wear and tear on your heating appliance, give you less control over your home’s climate, and overall make for a much less pleasant winter season. We recommend thoroughly inspecting your entire home for any of these leaks, and using caulk or insulation to ensure that all of them are carefully sealed. You can attempt to do the job yourself, but if you aren’t confident that you’ll be able to do it correctly, go with professionals instead.
5. Replace Your Furnace’s Air Filter
Your furnace’s air filter is tasked with one of the most important jobs for keeping your household warm. When everything is clean and working smoothly, the air filter traps dust, dirt, and other loose debris, and prevents them from building up inside the furnace and causing clogs. However, when the air filter itself becomes too clogged up with these particles, that’s when you have an issue. The furnace has to be able to consistently pull air through its filter, but when the filter is too clogged up, it has to work much harder, and exert much more energy to successfully do so. This will result in much less effective heating of your home, and it’s also very bad for the health of the heating appliance. To prevent this, simply clean your furnace’s air filter on a monthly basis, and whenever necessary, replace it with a new one.
6. Use a Humidifier
When the air in your home gets dry during the winter, it can actually cause you to feel like it’s colder than the temperature outside would have you believe. This is due to the fact that without adequate moisture being present, it’s very difficult for air to effectively transfer heat around. This is where a humidifier can come in handy. By adding moisture to your home’s oxygen, it can immediately make the house feel significantly warmer. This way, you won’t have to rely so much on your furnace, and you will be able to turn down the thermostat while remaining nice and warm.
7. Wear Warmer Clothes
Sometimes, the best solution really is the most simple one. Consider dressing more warmly when you’re just relaxing at home, even if only for a day or two a week. While you’re bundled up in clothing, you won’t need the heat of the furnace to be cranked up, and you will conserve quite a bit of costly energy. Alternatively, you can make use of blankets more often, if you prefer doing it that way.
We at Polar Air & Heating, Inc. have been offering outstanding service to the residents of the greater Las Vegas, NV, area since 1998. We understand how harsh the climate can be in Las Vegas, and it’s our number one priority to keep you and your family comfortable all year. We only use top-quality brands, as evidenced by the fact that we are Lennox Premier Dealer and offer a lowest price guarantee. We offer 24/7 emergency service and always respond quickly to customer requests. In addition to our heating and cooling work, we also offer reliable indoor air quality services to our clients.
Give us at a call at Polar Air & Heating, Inc. now, and get an appointment on the books with one of our skilled technicians.
