Maximize Your Home’s Heating Efficiency This Winter

Although people around the country consider the Southwest one of the best places to go to for winter retreats from icy weather, residents know that the cold can still be a problem, especially at night. You won’t use the heater in your home nearly as much as your air conditioner, and because of that you may not know about steps you can take to make your heating system more efficient during the winter.

Here’s a short list of ways you can get the most energy-efficient performance from your heater this winter.

3 Ways to Optimize Your Heating

Seal up possible heat leaks: Contemporary residential construction aims to seal up homes in order to prevent heat from escaping to the outside. However, these seals aren’t perfect, and likely there are spots in your house where heat will get out, reducing the effectiveness of your heater and draining power. Before the cold weather starts, have your windows caulked, put weather stripping around exterior doors, and check to see that you have sufficient insulation in the walls and ceilings. You may also want to look into duct testing to determine whether or not you have any leaks within your ducts themselves.

Find energy-saving thermostat settings and stick with them: People often don’t have a good idea how high to set their thermostats during the cold. An ideal energy-saving setting for when you’re awake is 68°F, and 58°F when you’re asleep. The U.S. Department of Energy recommends lowering your thermostat 5-10° a day for at least 8 hours each day. This can add up to an 18% or greater savings on your heating bill each year.

Schedule routine preventive maintenance: Unfortunately, in a place with as much hot weather as Phoenix, people often neglect to take care of their heaters and don’t discover until too late that their heating system has developed serious malfunctions. Regular maintenance, done annually, will help prevent repairs. But it will also assure that your heater is running at its most efficient. A worn down heater will require additional power to reach its temperature goal, so take the simple step of getting it a regular tune-up so it doesn’t cost you extra each month.

At Goettl, we are ready to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call us any time when you need help getting the most out of your home comfort.