When cold weather settles in for the season, combating heat loss becomes a major concern for many homeowners. The suggestions below can help you improve your home’s energy efficiency, reduce your heating costs, and help you stay warm and comfortable throughout the winter months.
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Check your furnace filter. A dirty filter makes your furnace work harder, and downgrades its efficiency. This means you’ll pay more to heat your home. Depending on your filter type, pencil in a monthly cleaning or replacement.
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Keep your heating registers clean. This is especially important if you have floor registers in your home, because it’s easier for dust, dirt and debris to drop inside and block the flow of warm air.
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Invest in an insulated water heater blanket. This can help keep your water heating costs under control year round. You may be surprised to learn that covering your hot water storage tank with an insulated blanket can lower its energy use by up to 10 percent.
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Insulate your hot water pipes. If your hot water has to make its way through bare pipes whenever you turn on a tap, heat loss is inevitable, especially when those pipes go through unheated areas. Install foam pipe insulation, and you’ll save energy and money.
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Give your home an exterior checkup. Don’t let warm air escape through small cracks and holes in your foundation and siding, around conduits, pipes and wiring, or through gaps in your caulking.
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Inspect your windows and doors. Caulking and weatherstripping only take care of part of the potential heat loss from these two areas. As they age, frame joints can separate. If they aren’t repaired, you’re wasting heating dollars unnecessarily.
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Head up to the roof and check for missing or damaged shingles. Fixing the roof now, before snow and ice builds up, can prevent attic issues that can lead to energy-draining heat losses.
For more tips on reducing heat loss this winter, please contact us at Aladdin Heating and Cooling. We’ve been solving home comfort issues in Novi, Oxford, Utica and the entire Southeast Michigan area for over 70 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Warren, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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