If you’re tired of high heating bills in the winter, take a look around your house. You might be able to save some money by adding insulation in the attic, sealing air leaks and having your heating system maintained. Heat transference through the attic and air infiltration can add substantial amounts to the cost of heating your home, and both are relatively easy to do and inexpensive projects. Professional furnace maintenance increases efficiency.
Insulation
Homes in our climate should have at least 16 inches of insulation in the attic to minimize heat losses in the winter. The easiest kinds to use in the attic are blown-in cellulose or fiberglass batts. Blown-in is a two-person job. Someone has to place the loose insulation into the blower and another person has to direct the hose. Batt insulation is easy to roll out and place between the ceiling joists.
Air Leaks
Air leaking indoors or out drives up your heating bills and you can pinpoint the leaks throughout your home by closing all the windows, turning off gas appliances and turning on all the ventilating fans in the bathrooms and the kitchen to high. Walk through your home with a lighted stick of incense and note where the smoke wavers more than normal, which indicates an air leak.
Write those places down and later, use exterior caulk, expanding foam or weatherstripping to fill the cracks or holes. Focus on places around window and door frames, locations around pipes, wires or cables entering your home and the attic hatch.
Maintenance
An HVAC technician cleans your entire heating system and verifies its safe operation. The technicians go through each part and clean them, making adjustments when necessary and inspecting the electrical components. They check the flue, burner and heat exchanger, steps that assure your safety and its heating efficiency.
If you’d like to learn more about how maintenance can lower heating bills, contact Aladdin Heating & Cooling. We’ve proudly provided HVAC services for Southeastern Michigan, including Troy, Rochester and Rochester Hills for more than 65 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about cutting your heating bills and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Aladdin Heating services Novi, Farmington, Farmington Hills, Southfield, Oak Park, Ferndale, Beverly Hills, Berkley, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Bloomfield Twp., Bloomfield Hills, West Bloomfield, Madison Heights, Clawson, Sterling Heights, Warren, Troy, St. Clair Shores, Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Woods, Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe Park, Detroit, Utica, Shelby Twp., Rochester, Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, Lake Orion, Oxford, and Clarkston.
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