Do you want to cut your home heating bills and save more money for that summer trip? If yes, you’re at the right place. Check out these sneaky ways.
1. Is your home properly insulated?
Insulation allows heat to enter your home in winter and leave your home in summer. It significantly reduces the pressure on your heating and cooling system. Your appliances wouldn’t have to work so hard and thus, save energy.
Insulation can cut back your energy bills by 14%. Even if getting your home checked for insulation and then getting it re-done seems to be a costly process, it will pay off in the long run.
Apart from this, you must also seal your windows and electric fixtures. Putting on thick curtains around windows help a lot to keep the chilly air out in winter.
2. Turn down the water heater
Hot showers are the best things about winter but do you know your water heater wastes a lot of energy in this process. The standard water heaters are set to 140 degrees. If you lower it to 120 degrees, you can still enjoy your hot shower but can save up to 10% of energy.
If you want to save even more, wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket so that it retains the heat inside and keeps the water warm for a longer time, thereby saving on your home heating bills.
3. Get your furnace checked up
Before waiting for the chilly day when you will need your furnace, you must get it prepared to serve you in winters. A yearly furnace maintenance is a must. It is better to get it done just before you’re going to make heavy use of it i.e. at the beginning of winter season.
Do you know that you must change the filters of furnace every month? Doing these two things can save you up to 10% on your home heating bills.
4. Do you use the ceiling fan?
Just by reversing the direction of your ceiling fan in winter, you can make your heating system more efficient. Warm air rises and a fan helps to push it down. This helps in heating a space quickly and therefore, your heating system is saved from a lot of hard work.
This small detail can cut 5% of your home heating bills.
5. Invest in automatic thermostat
Heating and cooling systems waste a lot of energy in trying to maintain the temperature of your house while you’re out. An automatic thermostat can save up a lot of energy. Once you set it up, it can reduce the heating level while you go to the office and also at night.
This can save up to 15% on your home heating bills. Also, try to keep the temperature 1-2 degrees lower than you usually do and see if it’s comfortable enough. If you do that, you can save even more money on heating bills.
6. Save money on lighting
By switching to LEDs, you can save up to 88% of energy on lighting. Yes, we agree, that lighting isn’t even a part of heating bills, but you’re bound to rely more on artificial lights in winter. And that’s why we thought it was necessary to share this simple but effective tip with you.
18% of your energy bill is comprised of lighting bill and do the math and see how much you can save overall. It might not be a huge sum of money, but still, it makes a difference. Moreover, LEDs last for a long time and save you money on buying new light bulbs as well.
Remember that the key to achieving this “save money on heating bills” goal is to be consistent and careful. Do you think you can manage to do that?