4 Ways To Lower Your Energy Bills This Winter
The winter season is closing in for the residents of Texas and with it come higher home energy bills. This is because heating your home tends to be more expensive than keeping it cool in the summer.
What’s more, the holidays during winter mean more people are at home, which increases energy use. With the shorter days, longer and darker nights, and need for brighter holiday festivities, it’s easy to see why energy bills tend to be higher during the colder months.
Fortunately, there are several things you can do to reduce your energy use and bills for the upcoming winter. Here are some tips to follow:
- Keep Up With Furnace Maintenance And Repair
As one of the most important systems in keeping your home comfortable during the cold weather, regular maintenance and inspection of your heating system should be one of the first things you do.
Damaged, aging, or improperly maintained furnaces or heating systems tend to become less energy-efficient as time passes. Without regular inspection, your heating system can accumulate dust and dirt and become worn out. This causes strain on the system and reduces its overall efficiency.
As your system works harder to maintain a comfortable temperature, its operational costs also increase. If left alone, minor issues can become serious damage that requires costlier furnace repair or even replacement projects.
Thus, if you want to save on energy bills this winter, you want to keep up with regular furnace maintenance. You can do simple furnace maintenance and repairs, such as replacing the air filter and clearing out obstructions on ducts and in pipes.
However, if you don’t have the time or don’t know how to properly maintain your furnace, you can always hire experts like Alco Air, a reliable Longview, TX furnace repair and service company, to inspect and keep your furnace in good working condition. They have the necessary equipment and experience to properly service and tune up your furnace for the winter season while ensuring that all potential issues are resolved immediately.
To know more about the company, watch this video:
- Install A Smart Thermostat
Optimizing your thermostat is one of the easiest ways to reduce your energy bill. And you can effectively do that by investing in a smart thermostat.
Smart thermostats can learn your household’s patterns and automatically adjust your heating and cooling needs, depending on whether or not the home is occupied. This helps reduce the use of heating systems when nobody is home for long periods.
In addition, most smart thermostats also have multi-zone functionality. This allows you to easily control the temperatures in specific rooms. The more advanced ones can even provide tracking of heating and cooling functions and allow you to create a personalized schedule of heating and cooling.
- Optimize Your Water Heater
In addition to your heating and cooling system, your water heater is also one of the most energy-intensive appliances in your home. Thus, you want to optimize its use and make sure that it isn’t using more energy than it needs.
One of the best ways to do this is to lower its setting. Did you know that most water heaters are set to 140 degrees? You don’t need your water to be that hot. So, to save money, you can lower the temperature to 120 degrees. This allows you to enjoy warm water for taking showers or washing the dishes without it taking a large bite out of your budget.
In addition, you should also insulate your water heater and pipes to prevent hot water in both your water heater tank and pipes from cooling off faster.
- Insulate Your Home
Other than your water heater, there are other places in your home that need proper insulation. You can start by sealing the windows and doors with caulk or weather stripping. Make sure to insulate any openings, gaps, or holes. If you have an attic, you should consider space modifications that prevent warm air from escaping.
Also, you want to make sure that your windows are covered with curtains or blinds, which serve as an extra layer of insulation to keep warm air in your home. Don’t forget areas such as garages, basements, and crawl spaces, which are the main culprits for poor home insulation.
With proper insulation, you can keep warm air inside your home, optimizing your heating system’s operation and ultimately reducing your energy bills.
Takeaway
As inflation continues to rise, it only makes sense to look for ways to cut your energy use, especially during winter. The above methods can help keep your home toasty and comfortable without blowing out your power bill. This way, you can gain more savings in the upcoming months.
