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, 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 the most important chore. If you have a furnace or heat pump, regularly changing your air filter helps prevent unneeded wear on your system, helps ensure a good amount of 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 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 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. 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 utility bills) and may produce dangerous exhaust gases, such as carbon monoxide. In addition to having the 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. 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 its efficiency can 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, heat-producing objects, such as TVs and lighting, should never be placed near thermostats. Doing so causes the thermostat to read an artificially high room temperature which leads to the home’s heating system not running very much and the A/C system to run longer than it needs to. This leads to an uncomfortably cooler home in the winter and wasted energy (and a cooler then desired home) in the summer. The photo to the right shows an HVAC thermostat located too close to a TV.

Properly Insulating Your Home

Besides your actual heating system, ensuring that your home is properly insulated can save you money that would otherwise go into running your heating system longer. A good thing about insulation is that it will save you money in all year ‘round. The current attic insulation standards 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 is 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 normally installed to allow for needed air flow into the attic at the soffit vents while still allowing a good amount of insulation.

In addition to a sufficient amount of attic insulation, make sure that the access location into the attic is also insulated. It makes no sense to properly insulate your attic only to leave the access panel or door uninsulated. 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 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. Read my Attic Insulation article.

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.? Visit the website of your utility(s) to find out what rebate programs they offer and the details.

Sealing Exterior Openings

Ensuring that all doors, windows, and other exterior openings are properly caulked or weather stripped helps prevent areas that cold/hot air can enter as well as keeping out insects and water. Doing this can be inexpensive and shouldn’t take more than a few hours. Since energy costs typically keep on rising, each one of these items can be done to put less wear on your wallet.

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, 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). It could be a furnace, boiler, electric baseboard, heat pump, or floor or ceiling radiant heating. We do so using normal operating controls (thermostats) and check the system’s basic heating function.

Find Out Where You’re Losing Heat

Hiring a professional who is a certified infrared thermographer to perform a thermal scan of your home 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 less than 30 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.

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 an alternate electricity or natural gas suppliers. Your local electric utility, such as PPL, MetEd, PennElec, etc. or natural gas utility, such as UGI or Columbia Gas, 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 easily save 25~35% (or more!!) off your electricity or gas costs by using these easy-to-use, free PA programs. 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. Check out the program’s website: 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 Certified Level 1 Infrared Thermographer, an 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.