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As winter hits full swing it’s still not too late to take a few steps to winterize your home. Adding some insulation here, a little plastic window film there can save you real dollars this year. By buttoning up your home you could trim up to 20% off your total energy bills in 2012. Here are a few ideas.
1. Install a programmable thermostat.
A must. There are many different brands on the market that range in price from $40-$100. You can program it to lower the temperature while you’re at work or sleeping and save up to 30% in a well insulated home. What’s more, outdated thermostats are the weakest link in conserving energy. According to the government’s Energy Information Administration, only about 14% of U.S. homes are equipped with modern programmable thermostats. Honeywell®, a leader in control technology, estimates that homeowners can receive one to three months of free heating and cooling by installing a programmable thermostat. Now there are even internet based units that you can control from your smart phone.
2. Change the filters in your furnace.
Most of the American homes now have forced air heating. Dirty filters not only do nothing for your indoor air quality but also make your furnace run longer. Invest in pleated filters, they trap more dirt and will keep your indoor air cleaner. Also remember that humidity in the winter is important to your comfort. A dry home tends to feel colder. Whole house humidifiers do a great job. Portable units can help as well and can humidify up to 800 square feet.
3. Have your HVAC system cleaned and checked.
This is a must! The service call on average is about $100.00. The unit will be cleaned and inspected to make sure it is running at peak efficiency. It’s like tuning up a car; you get better mileage when things are running right. The same holds true for your furnace.
4. Add weather stripping around windows and doors.
A project that any homeowner can do. This also has a real impact on drafts and conserving energy. Door thresholds, window caulking and plastic window film can go a long way in saving your money this winter. If you live in a drafty home, you could save up to 20% with an investment of $25.
5. Winter means cold and cold can lead to frozen pipes.
Make sure all of your outdoor water spigots are turned off from the inside. And that you have removed all hoses off of them as well. If you are not sure if your spigot is the frost proof kind use an insulating cap. These caps lessen the chance that the spigot will freeze and crack. The $5.00 item can save you hundreds of dollars in possible repair bills from broken pipes and a flooded basement.
6. Check the arrangement of your furniture.
Make sure that heating vents are not blocked. Using deflectors you can aid the vents ability to direct the heat where you need it. These are inexpensive and use a magnet to keep them in place.
Even when you do all these improvements sometimes your home can still feel cold. Many of us use portable heaters to heat up those spaces. While this can be a good solution care must be taken to select the right heater for your home. The very first step is to make sure that you have a working smoke detector. If you are unsure when you replaced the batteries do it now. So many times we hear the story of the fire caused by one of these heaters and that a working smoke detector was not present. Never use a heater that uses fuel inside your home. That’s my opinion, and that of many fire professionals. The open flame coupled with the fuel leave too much of a chance of causing a fire. Many of the electric units will heat those rooms well but keep these safety tips in mind:
• Never use an electric heater in a bathroom or laundry room or anywhere that water is present.
• Keep the heater at least three feet from and combustible material like curtains or furniture.
• Never use a heater with a frayed cord or cracked hosing.
• Never plug a heater into an extension cord, they must be plugged into a receptacle in good working order.
• Never disable any of the safety features of the unit.
• Take special care when using a heater in the presence of children.
I hope these tips will help you save a little money on your energy bills this year as well as keep you and your family safe.
I consider myself somewhat of an expert on home comfort and energy efficiency and I have to say this segment was filled with so much miss-information I can’t believe it went out on TV.
Studies have show only about an 8% (best) savings using a set back thermostat and you failed to say turn off the power before working. Shorting the wrong wire will require the home owner to have an expensive service call.
The expensive air filters you promoted are too restrictive for almost all residential heat systems. You could very well cause furnace damage by using these products. If indoor air quality is the concern a filter system designed for that purpose is needed. IAQ cannot be accomplished with a 1 inch filter. Also telling people they can tell the difference using these is really misleading. I will leave it at that as IAQ is a large topic all by itself.
Modern furnace do not require much maintenance. Blower bearings are sealed, in-shot burners don’t get dirty. No air to set up. A check every 2 to 3 years is plenty. Also,
CO from furnaces is not common but you failed to mention boilers and water heaters as bigger CO problems. Having the airflow checked, ducts sealed and insulated where needed would be more important.
Caulking the small leaks will do little to nothing for comfort or energy saving. After doing close to 1000 infrared scans with a blower door it becomes quite clear that the large air bypasses that most home owners no nothing about are the real problem.
I do agree that window film can be a good alternative for sealing a window but you have to keep in mind the problems of over tightening a house can have like mold problems and back drafting appliances and others.
Always have CO detectors. Electric space heaters are the most expensive way to heat in most cases and lowering the temps in the other parts of the house raise the humidity and can cause mold problems.
I hope you wont take this as a flame but use it to elevate the level of information for consumers who are too often given bad advise and fail to see the return on investment or possibly worse causing damage to their homes or endangering their families and truly benefit from home improvements.
Remember… the house is a system. All of the parts need to work together.
Just a quick back ground. I am BPI certified BA, Env. HP/AC, Heat, a past HERS rater, weatherization audits for two agencies, HVAC design and diagnostics, NCI cwert, ACCA member. IR and other fun stuff.
First thank you for watching the segment, and you certainly seem to have experience in the field. Here are some of my opinions on this topic. I only get 4 minutes to cover all of that information so I have to move very quickly to get it all out. That is just the nature of the beast.
It is has been well documented by the EPA that the use of a programmable thermostat over a long period of time can save up to 20% on energy costs. This is information I have been giving for over ten years and stand behind it.
Pleated filters are not too restrictive to a furnace if they are changed regularly. A point I did make in the segment. HVAC contractors are more than happy to install media filters or high efficiency air purifiers that have a higher or lower depending on how you view it MERV rating.
Annual service is recommended by every maker of furnaces in the US in many cases it is even a requirement for warranty coverage. And the fact that I did not mention water heaters or boilers was due to time limitation. Again I only get 4 minutes.
And finally sealing a home from air leaks is one of the cheapest ways to make the home more comfortable and it will lower energy bills. A couple of tubes of caulking can go along way.
I appreciate your comments. And wish you lots of luck in the coming year.