Stop! Don’t Make These Heating Mistakes This Year

Homeowners often look for ways to lower monthly heating bills. Unfortunately, there are lots of ways that hurt more than help. 

Before the temperatures dip below freezing, and you start playing with your thermostat to control the flow of heat, consider these simple ways of ensuring your home stays as efficient as possible. 

Stop heating an empty house

With more family members moving back into life outside of the home, it’s easy to forget basic rules about efficient heating. Your home doesn’t have to be heated in the same manner as when you’re at home. Bump your furnace down a few degrees when you’re gone at work, school, or running errands for the day. If you haven’t invested in a smart thermostat, now is the time. It will allow you to set the temperature based on your normal schedule, and give you the opportunity to control your settings from anywhere you have internet access. Plus, with smart technology, it’ll learn your patterns, and be able to help you stay more efficient every day of the week. 

Stop leaving doors and windows open

Want a little fresh air? Why not crack the window in the room you’re sitting in? While it may seem like a good idea, it’s a big heating mistake, making your furnace work harder. Today’s homes are designed for efficiency, especially if you have newer double or triple pane windows. They fit tightly into the track to create a seal that stops airflow from moving around it. Your heating system is also designed to properly carry heat to every room in your home. When you break that process, it causes your furnace to work harder to compensate for the variation. 

Stop adjusting the heat manually

Do you turn the heat down when you leave? Bump it back up when you feel chilled? Is it a constant game of up and down while you try to maintain a comfort level for every aspect of your day? That decreases efficiency. Every time you adjust the thermostat manually makes the heating equipment work a little harder to keep up with demand. That can cause wear and tear on the individual components, as well as use more electricity for the up and down spikes. 

Stop neglecting maintenance

If it’s isn’t broken, don’t fix it. That’s an adage we live with in all areas of our lives. Yet with expensive equipment like your heating and cooling system, ignoring it until it’s broken isn’t the best approach. A lot of strain is put on the individual components as it operates in all kinds of conditions. A simple maintenance visit will ensure every piece is ready to perform throughout the coming season. 

It can mean the difference between a warm and cozy winter season, or risk the chance of having your equipment go out at the most inopportune time. 

Are you making any of these heating mistakes?