The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors notes that half of a home’s energy bills are usually from heating and cooling. You can minimize your energy bills in Roseboro, NC, by optimizing your heater’s efficiency, improving your home’s insulation and making wise home setup choices.
Change the Air Filter
One of the biggest causes of high energy bills during the winter in Roseboro, NC, is dirty air filters. You need to change or clean the air filter periodically. Check the manufacturer’s recommendations to know how often to change the filter.
Most heating systems require air filter changes every one to three months. We recommend changing the air filter monthly to keep the heating system as efficient as possible.
Schedule a Heating Tuneup
All heating systems in Roseboro, NC, need a tuneup once a year. Professional maintenance keeps your heating system efficient and prevents high energy bills, even during the coldest month.
You shouldn’t have significant increases in your heating bill. A jump in your heating bill means your heating system needs repair, assuming you stayed on top of changing the air filter and scheduling annual maintenance.
The best time to schedule a heating tuneup is the end of fall or just before you turn on your heating system for the cold season. Professional maintenance provides additional benefits besides excellent energy efficiency, such as safe operation, reduced heating problems and effective heating.
Use a Programmable Thermostat
Setting your thermostat down a few degrees at night helps save money on your energy bills, but who wants to manually adjust it every night and morning? Programmable thermostats make it possible for you to stick with this habit and makes your life more convenient. You can program it to adjust the set temperature based on your schedule.
Smart thermostats take this feature a bit further. They can learn your household’s habits to automatically adjust the temperature for you. You can still manually program your preferred settings in a smart thermostat too.
According to the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, you can reduce your heating bill by 2% for every degree you lower the thermostat. You should keep it at a lower temperature for at least eight hours a day. This is easy to do by lowering it while you’re at work or sleeping.
Don’t Use Incandescent Lights
The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors says that incandescent light bulbs only use 10% of the energy they consume for providing light. The remaining 90% turns into heat. Lighting can take up 11% of your energy bill, so it’s worth using the most energy-efficient lights you can find.
LEDs and CFLs are good choices in light bulbs with LEDs being the most energy-efficient. Both of these light bulbs last longer than incandescent lights too.
Improve Your Home’s Insulation
Sealing air leaks with caulk is an inexpensive way of improving your home’s insulation and preventing high energy bills. Check for air leaks around windows, doors, baseboards, switch plates, mail slots, electrical outlets, attic hatches, fireplace dampers and around pipes.
Remember to check for air leaks in the attic too. If a hole is too large for caulking, you can plug it. For sealing openings around plumbing vent pipes, you should use expanding foam.
Place Refrigerator in an Ideal Location
Where you place your refrigerator affects its energy use. Don’t set it up near stoves, dishwashers or heat vents. The heat causes refrigerators to use more energy in cooling off.
Don’t forget to consider sunlight. If possible, you want your refrigerator placed where it won’t have direct sunlight on it. Heat from sunlight heats your refrigerator up.
Strategically Use Your Ceiling Fan
Ceiling fans can help you feel warmer in the winter by pushing warm air down. You need to set the rotation to turn clockwise for the ceiling fan to push warm air down. Most ceiling fans have a switch at the base that reverses its rotation.
Also keep the ceiling fan on the lowest setting during the winter. Higher settings will cause you to feel colder because of the strong draft.
Save money by limiting energy use wherever you can. Everything adds up to make significant savings on your energy bills. Contact Bass Air Conditioning Company to schedule professional heating maintenance in Roseboro, NC.
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