Tips To Help Lower Your Heating Costs This Year

Last winter, did your furnace keep your home a steady, comfortable temperature without causing your utility bills to go through the roof? If you noticed that your utility bills had increased last year, it's time to get someone out to look into what's going on with your furnace. Here, you'll find a few tips that can help you reduce some of the energy loss to help take some of the burden off of your furnace.

The first thing to do is to contact your local HVAC technician. If it's been a while since your furnace has been inspected and maintained, it is likely running very inefficiently. When a system is neglected, it is forced to work harder to produce the same amount of heat. This is because the filter gets dirty and dust and grime build up on the components inside making more difficult for the moving parts to function. An inspection and good cleaning could be all that you need to get your existing furnace operating more efficiently.

If your furnace is outdated, it likely isn't very efficient. The newer models use much less energy than the older models and will save you a ton of money on your utility bills. Discuss this possibility with the technician while he's in your home.

Now to make your home more energy efficient. Not everyone has it in their budget to go out and buy newer, energy efficient windows. So, to reduce the heat loss out of your windows, spend some money on some nice lined drapes. The lined drapes will keep the cold air leaking around the windows from entering the space and the heat that your furnace is working to produce from leaking out.

Keep your vents opened. So many people think that if a room is unused that they should close off the vents to that space and keep it a little cooler in there. The truth is, closing vents off will disrupt the flow of air coming from your furnace. The system was designed with each vent and cold air return vent in mind. If any of the vents are closed or blocked off, the system will not work as efficiently as it could.

Talk with your local furnace repair technician about other changes that you can make to improve the efficiency of your furnace and your home. Hopefully, this year, you'll stay comfortable without all of your money going up in smoke.