Winter is in full swing, and with it comes cold temperatures and the need to keep your house or apartment warm. Heating a house or apartment can be expensive, however, with energy bills often triple what they are in spring and fall. Thankfully, there are several simple steps that you can take to keep your winter energy bill in check.
[See: 10 Ways to Lower Your Heating Bill.]
Run your ceiling fan on low in a clockwise direction. If you’re standing beneath a ceiling fan in your home, you want the blades to be turning slowly in a clockwise direction during the winter. This typically can be done by flipping a switch somewhere on your ceiling fan.
Running your ceiling fan slowly in a clockwise direction during the winter months forces the hot air that collects near the top of the room to slowly be pushed downward along the walls of the room, creating a very gentle circulation that warms the air near the bottom of the room (where you and your cold feet are). The air is typically moving so slowly that you don’t feel any breeze, so there’s no chilling effect from that. It just warms the room a little, which means that you can utilize this next step …
Turn down your thermostat and find the right balance of temperature and cost. If you have all of your ceiling fans running as described above, you can easily turn down the thermostat a few degrees in your home, saving significantly on your heating costs.
During the winter, experiment with different settings for your thermostat and find the temperature setting that works best for you. It should be at the lowest possible setting, so that you feel comfortable most of the time in your home while wearing comfortable winter clothes, such as socks, a sweatshirt and sweatpants. If you still feel cold, raise it a bit. If you feel comfortable, experiment with a slightly lower temperature.
[See: 8 Energy-Efficient Home Improvements That Save Money.]
Fill drafty gaps in exterior walls. Check all of your exterior walls and find any places where you can feel cold air coming into your home, then figure out how to stop that cold air. Simple fixes, such as putting a towel in place, work temporarily, but you should move on to more robust measures.
For example, if you feel cold air near an electrical socket, consider putting a new cover on that socket or caulking around the edge. You may feel cold air where a cord or pipe enters your home. Block it with insulation or caulk, depending on the hole size. If you feel it around a door frame, install some weather stripping or put a draft-blocker in place.
Make sure window edges are caulked, too. Windows can also leak cool air into your home in the winter. Feel around the edges of all of your windows and see if you can feel cool air coming into your home. If you do, get out a caulking gun and seal those leaks. This is a simple process, akin to using a glue bottle.
Keep air vents and baseboard heaters open and clear. If you spend time in a room, make sure that all of the air vents and baseboard heaters are on and open. You should also make sure that they’re not blocked or obstructed in any way, not just to protect yourself against a potential fire hazard, but to encourage airflow throughout the room rather than constraining it to one area.
Yes, this might require rearranging some furniture, but in doing so, you can really cut down on your heating costs by heating the room more evenly. It may even allow you to lower your home’s overall temperature by a degree or two, saving you even more money.
[See: 10 Creative Ways to Cut Costs This Winter.]
Close air vents and turn off baseboard heaters in rooms you’re rarely in. If you rarely go into a room, such as a spare bedroom, during the winter, seal it off to the best of your ability. Close the air vents, put a draft blocker at the bottom of the door frame and make sure that any windows have their curtains closed.
These simple steps will allow the temperature in that room to drop significantly compared with the rest of the house, which is a good thing because it means that you’re not spending money on the energy needed to heat that room.
Open the curtains when the sun is hitting the window and close them when it’s not. You can apply the same window principle to the rest of the house as you do in that extra room, too. If direct sunlight is hitting a window, open the curtains and let in the natural heat of the sunshine. If there’s no direct sunlight, close the curtains.
This allows you to take advantage of the sun’s natural heat to warm your home. It’s the exact opposite of sensible summer temperature control, when you want the curtain shut when direct sunlight is hitting it.
Follow these steps and you’ll find that your winter heating bill stays in check.
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7 Simple Ways to Cut Your Winter Energy Bill originally appeared on usnews.com
