Getting your house ready for winter takes preparation and paying attention to your house's quirks. These 4 tips from Eastern Maine Home Improvement will help you stay sane and energy efficient.
1) Combat drafts. If you feel a draft from around windows and doors that means you are losing heat and energy. The best solution is to replace or repair either the door or window. For a quick fix, however, you can use a towel or blanket around where the draft is to help seal it off.
2) Change furnace filters. These things can get clogged up with dust, pet hair and other debris floating through our home. It is a great idea to splurge a little bit here, because the more expensive filters last longer and trap more. A good furnace filter can help trap mold, bacteria and viruses, reducing the time people are down with the flu this winter, too.
3) Heater maintenance. Like any piece of machinery, keeping a heater tuned up is going to help it run more efficiently and last longer. It is best to schedule this early for the best availability and scheduling. You may be able to have someone from where you purchased the heater or someone from the utility company to come check out the heater. It usually includes dusting out the working areas, clearing out cobwebs, changing filters, checking for shorts and leaks and making sure everything is running properly.
4) Keep an eye on that thermostat. Keep the temperature around 70 degrees for ultimate comfort. It is estimated that just lowering the temperature on the thermostat by 1 degree can lower the heating cost by as much as 3 percent. Some will turn off the heat when they go off to work in the morning, but that’s not a great idea. It takes more energy to heat a home that has been without heat all day. Instead, maybe invest in a thermostat you can schedule different settings and drop the temperature by a few degrees while no one is home and have it start warming up about half an hour before. That way, it keeps everyone comfortable, but there is not that huge increase in cost to go from no heat to heater when going from some heat to fully heater.
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