As colder weather approaches, many of us brace for our winter heating bills. We want to save money and also live in a comfortable home. Use these tips to heat your home efficiently and you can achieve that goal.
Isolate Unused Rooms to Heat Your Home Efficiently
You might have a room in your home that is very rarely used. It may be a formal dining area, a guest room, or a hobby space. It doesn’t get as much traffic as the living room, kitchen, or bathrooms, so don’t heat it as if it does. These rooms can be closed off from the rest of the house. Close the doors and shut the heat registers. The thermostat won’t be able to detect that the room is not heated.
Use Local Heat in Busy Rooms
For efficient home heating, it is helpful to add extra heat in the rooms that struggle to remain warm, like areas that are furthest from the thermostat. Instead of turning the heat up a couple of degrees, take another approach.
Space heaters go a long way toward taking the chill out of a cool room. While using only space heaters to heat the whole house is not efficient, you can keep your thermostat a couple of degrees lower by supplementing a busy area with a single space heater. When using any type of space heater, turn it off when you leave the room and keep it away from furniture, drapes, and flammable items.
Use Solar Energy to Heat Your Home Efficiently
There is no more affordable way to heat your home efficiently than with free heat. The sun can do a lot to warm your house, so take advantage of its energy. Solar energy can provide warmth by simply opening your curtains and blinds. Keep them open, especially on the sunny side of the house, for as many hours as you can each day. You may even want to trim a few tree limbs to create a clear path for passive solar heat. Alternatively, keep heavy drapes closed at night to insulate the windows.
Circulate the Warmth
Distribute heat through the house by circulating the air. Your thermostat is in one room, so if that space has extra warm or cold air, your thermostat won’t have the best information.
By leaving ceiling fans turned on, the air in your house will circulate, giving your thermostat accurate data. During fall and winter, keep your ceiling fans rotating clockwise so warm air is directed downwards.
More Steps You Can Take
Keeping your home heating bill under control is a top priority in the winter, but you also want to stay warm. By completing steps like upgrading insulation, replacing weatherstripping, changing the HVAC filter, and having your HVAC system serviced, you can do even more to heat your home efficiently.
Assure Home Inspection offers home inspections in the Chicago area. Contact us to request an appointment.