Winters can be brutal, especially if you don’t have an economical and practical plan on how to keep your house warm. Your goal during the winter should be to ensure that your home is warm and cozy, without having to spend more money than you need to on energy. Here are 6 practical heating tips in winter.
Close all entrances
You should ensure that your windows and doors are always closed unless it’s absolutely necessary for you to open them. A lot of heat escapes from the house through open doors and windows, and you can save a lot of energy by trapping the warm air inside. In cases where you are heating up specific rooms in the house, you should close the internal doors to stop the heat from escaping to other rooms.
Use window treatments
You need to use window treatments that are designed to retain as much heat as possible within the house. As soon as the sun goes down, you should close your curtains, blinders or shades. It’s wise to open your curtains when the sun is up because sunbeams tend to contribute to the warmth of the home. However when evening comes, that warmth will start to escape, and the only way to slow that down is to use heavy window treatments that have the effect of insulating the house.
Ensure your filters are in good shape
Filters are used to reduce the amount of dust that enters the house through the HVAC system. If the filters are clogged with dust particles, the efficiency of your heating system will reduce, and you will, therefore, need more energy to keep your house warm. You should make sure that you clean your filters every two weeks while the system is in use and replace your filters every year so that your heating system functions optimally and you don’t incur unnecessary costs due to an inefficient system.
Insulate your heating ducts
Heating ducts are always insulted, but the older insulating material is not as effective as the R1.5 material that is used on modern ducts. If your heating ducts were installed a while back, you should find out what sort of material was used, and you should consider upgrading it. As the heat travels from your system to the various rooms, some of it will be lost in the process. The R1.5 insulating material helps to ensure that these losses are very minimal.
Use economical sources of energy
Recent reports have shown that some homes produce extra electricity from solar power, which ends up being wasted. If you have solar panels on your house, you can use some of the power from the panels to heat up your home during the afternoons. If your house is well insulated, some of that warmth will be retained for a while during the evening, so you won’t have to rely too much on the power from your electricity provider.
Be safe
One very important heating tip in winter is about staying safe. Irrespective of the type of heating system that you are using, it’s important to know all the risks that could potentially arise from it, and you should do everything to mitigate against that risk. If you are using gas, watch out for any leakages, keep flammable material away from the heating system, and have a professional periodically check the levels of carbon monoxide in your house. Electrical heating systems are much safer, but they are not without risk.
To get the most from your heating system this winter book an appointment with our professional service team here at North West Heating & Cooling. We can service all types of heating and cooling systems such as gas ducted heating and air conditioning.