Just as dependable as the arrival of cold weather, winter means a rise in energy costs as you heat your home. There’s no way to avoid paying more on your utility bills through the cold months—you’ll use more electricity/natural gas to ensure your family stays safe and comfortable. But you may be paying more for your winter comfort than you have to.
We’re going to look at some of the ways you can lower those heating costs this winter. Our team is ready to help you with our top-notch heating services in Greenville, SC.
Always schedule professional heating maintenance before winter.
This is the key step to take to reduce energy waste with your heating system. Each year that your heater goes without a professional inspection and tune-up, it will lose some of its energy efficiency rating, and that means paying more for the same amount of heat. When you arrange for maintenance, our professionals will mitigate the strain on your heater so it continues to perform at high efficiency for many years.
Change the air filter regularly.
Leaving the HVAC system’s air filter in place is a leading cause of high heating bills—and it’s so easy to prevent if you just set reminders for yourself. The air filter for your HVAC system will gradually become congested so that it throttles off airflow and forces the heater to work harder than necessary. We recommend putting in a new filter every 1-3 months depending on the strength of the filter: one month for flat panel filters and 3 months for pleated filters.
Keep the thermostat set low.
You don’t have to have your thermostat so low that you’re freezing, but you may be setting it higher than necessary or moving it up and down too often. The best way to reduce the amount of work the heater has to do is to keep the thermostat set steady on a low but comfortable setting. We recommend keeping the thermostat set to 68°F during the day when people are home, and lowering it by 8°F at night or when the house is empty.
Don’t shut off the heater while you’re away on vacation.
It might sound sensible to have the heater completely shut down if you’re going to be away for several days or a week or two. However, you’ll come back to an extremely cold house and it takes far more energy to heat up the house than to keep it at a cool temperature. Set your thermostat to 55°F when you’re gone and you won’t have to push the heater hard when you come back.
Never run the heater if it has a malfunction.
If your heater is showing signs that something is wrong, such as odd noises and short cycling, call for repairs right away. Not only is a faulty heater potentially a safety risk to keep running, but it’ll also waste larger amounts of energy trying to work through the malfunction. So even if the heater is still providing heat, get our technicians out to repair it ASAP.
Rely on Carolina Climate Control for all your heating needs. The Moose Is Loose in Your Neighborhood!