Energy Saving Heating Tips: Save Energy, Keep Your Home Warm

Energy Saving Heating Tips

Heating a home constitutes a good portion of a homeowner’s monthly expenses in cooler weather, but there are quite a few things that every homeowner can do to help lower that expense and also keep their home warm all winter.

Regular Maintenance

Regular maintenance is an important chore. If you have a furnace or heat pump, regularly changing your air filter helps prevent unneeded wear on your system, helps ensure sufficient air flow, and helps keeps your home cleaner. Fiberglass woven air filters typically should be replaced monthly, however paper element air filters are a better type of air filter and generally should be replaced every 90 days (1” thick variety) or every 9~12 months (4.5” to 7” thick varieties). Pleated air filters are much better than fiberglass filters in terms of catching dirt and dust. Boilers and electric baseboard heaters, of course, don’t have use air filters.

Having your heating system serviced annually (no matter the type) by a qualified HVAC professional is also important. Just like a car, heating systems can work more efficiently and safer if they are regularly serviced and properly maintained. They also tend to have fewer failures and fewer expensive repairs when regularly inspected and maintained. A dirty unmaintained heating system can waste fuel (meaning higher gas, oil, LP , or electric bills) and may produce dangerous exhaust gases, such as carbon monoxide (gas, LP, or fuel oil-fired systems only, only course). In addition to having your heating system regularly serviced, if the system vents into a chimney, the chimney should be regularly inspected by a qualified chimney professional. Even a partially blocked or compromised chimney can prevent proper heating system operation and may put your family at risk, besides potentially letting water into your home and other problems. If your heating system is direct-vented, such as with PVC pipe, ensuring that the vents aren’t blocked by anything, such as vegetation, mulch, or snow, is critical. When a qualified HVAC professional services your heating system, safe overall operation and internal components are checked and system efficiency should be measured.

The Thermostat And Its Location

If your family follows a somewhat regular schedule, a programmable thermostat can save energy dollars. Make sure you change your thermostat’s clock when you change from standard time to daylight saving time and vice versa, otherwise your heating and cooling settings will be off an hour.

Also, something that very often gets overlooked….. heat-producing objects, such as TVs and lights, should never be placed near thermostats. Doing so causes the thermostat to read a falsely high room temperature which leads to the home’s heating system not running as often as it needs to and the A/C system to run longer than it needs to. This leads to an uncomfortable home (summer and winter) and wasted energy (summer). Ensure there are no heat producing objects within 3~5′ from your thermostat(s). The photo to the right shows an HVAC thermostat located too close to a TV. A wireless thermostat, of course, can easily be moved. Wired thermostats can be relocated. Also, thermostats should not be located on exterior walls nor in places where sunlight shines or where drafts (such as from an HVAC system or fan) exist. The thermostat needs to be able to measure accurate temperatures in order for your HVAC system to work as designed.

Properly Insulating Your Home

Ensuring that your home is properly insulated can save you money that would otherwise go into running your HVAC system longer. A good thing about insulation is that it will save you money all year ‘round. The current attic insulation standard in our area for a new home is now R-49 (minimum). The R-value is a material’s resistance of heat transfer through the material. The higher the R-value the better. Blown-in cellulose has an approx. R-value of 3.5 per inch. So, 14″ of cellulose should provide about an R-49. Loose fill fiberglass has an approx. R-value of 2.5 per inch and rolled fiberglass has an approx. R-value of 3 per inch. If installing additional insulation in your attic, make sure that needed ventilation, such as soffit venting, is not blocked by the insulation. Cardboard or rigid foam baffles are typically installed to allow for needed air flow into the attic at the soffit vents while still allowing a good amount of insulation. Keep in mind that unconditioned attics should ideally be near the same temperature as the exterior.

In addition to a sufficient amount of attic insulation, make sure that the access location into the attic is also insulated and weatherstripped. This is a very common flaw found in many, many homes that, in itself, can easily reduce your heating and cooling costs instantly. It makes absolutely no sense to properly insulate your home only to leave the attic access panel or door uninsulated. An attic insulated with 14” of cellulose (corresponding to R-49) has only an effective R-value of about R-7 if the average-sized attic access panel (approx. 2.5′ x 2.5′ in size) lacks insulation. Heat is always looking for cooler areas to move to, so an uninsulated attic access panel or door can almost render the attic insulation nearly useless. Not insulating your attic access panel or door is like insulating your exterior walls yet leaving your front door open slightly all year. Adding a properly-sized piece of fiberglass batt or rigid insulation is relatively easy to do and can save you energy and increase interior comfort. This is even more important if you have a pulldown staircase to your attic since the cover is most often larger than a simple 30” x 24” access panel. Installing weather stripping where the access panel or cover closes should also be done. For more information specifically on attic insulation, read my Attic Insulation article.

If you still feel cold air around windows (especially single-pane windows), you can also install window insulation plastic insulation at them, such as by Frost King and other brands. These products get taped into place on the interior side of your windows and then, using a hair dryer, helps better seal the opening to limit cold air flow into your home at windows. Single pane windows should have storm panes installed (not screens) to help limit air flow entry.

Air Sealing Exterior Openings

Tag-teaming with properly insulating your home, goes properly air-sealing openings at your home’s exterior and attic. Ensuring that all doors, windows, and other exterior openings and joints are properly caulked or weatherstripped can go a long way towards prevents cold/hot air entry as well as keeping out insects and water. This includes places where wiring and pipes penetrate into your home from the exterior. Any location your conditioned space joins non-conditioned (meaning, non-heated areas) space, needs proper insulation and air-sealing. This can include basements, crawl spaces, attics, storage spaces, etc. Properly air-sealing your home can be inexpensive and shouldn’t take more than a few hours, and in addition to properly insulating your home, can go a long way in reducing your energy bills. Since you can lose a considerable amount of heat into your attic (winter time) or gain a considerable amount of attic heat back into living space (summer), air sealing where wiring, plumbing, and ductwork enters your attic from living space (such as at openings in framing) plays a large part of the attic-insulating process that most people (and even contractors) don’t even think about.

Give Your Supply And Return Registers Some Space

Something that may seem like common sense, but should still be said anyway.. make sure your heating supply/return registers or radiators aren’t blocked by furniture, boxes/stored items, drapes, covers, etc. and that the registers are actually open. I seem to find a good number of homes that have one or more registers or radiators blocked by furniture or drapes, for example. No wonder certain rooms are colder in the winter.

As part of a home inspection, the home inspector should operate the home’s heating system(s) no matter the type… furnace, boiler, electric baseboard, heat pump, or floor or ceiling radiant heating. The home inspector does so using normal operating controls (meaning, the thermostat(s)) to ensure the system’s basic heating function.

Find Out Where You’re Losing Heat

Hiring a professional who is a certified infrared (IR) thermographer to perform a thermal scan of your home (such as part of a whole-home energy audit) should be considered. An infrared thermography scan is done to help locate areas of missing insulation (even small gaps) in walls, ceilings, etc. as well as to find areas where cold air enters the home. The scan process is very straightforward and can be done in 30~45 minutes for an average-sized home. The camera will provide digital proof of where the home is wasting energy. An infrared thermography scan is not a complete energy audit, but is an alternative in terms of time and money. The IR scan can also help locate active and recent water leaks (from plumbing, roofing, condensation, etc.), as well.

Utility Rebates

Did you know that many utilities (such as UGI and PPL) offer rebates for homeowners doing energy upgrades such as new high-efficient furnaces, heat pumps, boilers, as well as water heaters, windows, doors, weatherstripping, attic insulation, etc.? They also offer them for other appliances such as dehumidifiers and refrigerators, as well. Visit the website of your utility(s) to find out what rebate programs they offer and the details.

Shop For Cheaper Energy Suppliers

Something that all PA homeowners can also do it change their electricity or national gas supplier thanks to the PA Electric Choice and PA Gas Switch Programs. These programs started in the 1990s and lets PA homeowners and businesses choose alternate electricity and/or natural gas suppliers. For whatever reason, most homeowners don’t make use of these free programs to easily save money each month. Your local electric utility, such as PPL, MetEd, Penelec, etc. or natural gas utility, such as UGI or Columbia Gas, will still service your home or business, but the company that your utility actually buys your electricity or natural gas from is your choice and you can sometimes save up to 35% (or more!!) off your electricity or natural gas costs by using these easy-to-use, free PA programs. Of course, electric and natural gas rates change regularly, so checking the prices of your utilities and the many available suppliers on a regular basis is important to ensure you’re getting the cheapest electric and gas service. You simply enter your zip code and the site will show you current electricity or natural gas offers and also lets you know your utility’s ‘price to compare’ current price. Scan the options to find a cheaper price than you’re currently paying. I suggest always choosing a fixed-rate offer (not, variable rates). Check out the program websites: https://www.papowerswitch.com or https://www.pagasswitch.com and start saving money on your electric and/or natural gas bills today.

Here are some other similar energy-efficiency related articles:

Energy Saving Air Conditioning Tips
Energy Saving Heating Tips

The EPA also has winter energy-saving tips.

Matthew Steger is a former Certified Level 1 Infrared Thermographer and ASHI Certified Inspector (ACI), and an electrical engineer. He can be reached at matthew@thehomeinspectorsnotebook.com. No article, or portion thereof, may be reproduced or copied without prior written consent of Matthew Steger.