Secrets to cutting heating costs

A chill wind blows, so you turn up your collar and draw your coat tighter around you. The bad thing is you're sitting in your living room.
Your house needs help !
Fortunately, some fairly simple remedies can help make your heating system work better and your house feel warmer - and we're not talking about jacking up the thermostat to 85 degrees here. In fact, some of them are so easy, you can do them right now.

Just be sure to take your mittens off first

Redirect the heat.   Rooms closest to the furnace are typically the toastiest, while those farther away can be chilly. Merely closing registers partway in the warm rooms and opening them fully in the cold areas can help rebalance the heat.

If you have rooms that you don't use regularly and don't need to be heated, close the registers there and shut the doors. Or close the dampers in the heating ducts that serve unused rooms so you're not sending heated air any farther than it needs to go

Most heating ducts in a forced-air system have a little handle on the side that controls the damper, which is essentially a door When the handle is in line with the pipe, the damper is open. When it's perpendicular, the damper is closed.

Don't overdo the closing of ducts or registers, though, closing too many can restrict air flow in the house. "Less air movement? generally means hotter heat exchanger temperatures which can cause limit switches to ?short cycle? burners and may shorten the life of the furnace if allowed to operate with ?above designed temperatures? for prolonged periods

A word of caution;
Don't close vents if you have a Heat Pump unless you know there are plenty of ?extra ducts? A Heat Pump (or Air-conditioner) is designed to have ?X? amount of air flow through the indoor coil and doing so could harm the unit.

Keep it clean;

Dirty furnace filters allow less air into the furnace, which means less warm air comes back out. Simply changing the furnace filter can improve the flow and distribution of heated air

We recommend checking the filter monthly and replacing a disposable filter or cleaning a reusable one as needed. Besides improving the air flow, you'll be keeping dirt from building up on the furnace parts and decreasing the likelihood of a breakdown, which can really leave you in the cold.

Likewise, dirt on registers, baseboard heaters and radiators keeps some of the warm air from reaching a room. Get out the vacuum and give them a good cleaning.

Do some rearranging.   Heating vents can't work well if they're blocked. Make sure furniture, draperies and other obstacles aren't covering them.

The same goes for cold-air returns. For warmed air to enter a room, cooler air needs to go out, he said. Cold-air returns supply air to the furnace, so if you block their flow, you reduce the amount of air that's available to be heated.

Hydronic heating systems

Boiler system upkeep.   If your house has a boiler system, which circulates water to radiators to create "hot water heat", you may need to turn the water temperature up in extremely cold weather A control on the boiler lets you turn the temperature up or down. Normally the water temperature is set around 140 degrees in winter, but in very cold weather, a setting of 180 may be necessary

Bleeding the radiators periodically (that is, letting trapped air out) will also help them to heat better. Open the bleed valve until only water escapes. Some valves require a screwdriver to open; others use a radiator key.

Placing heat-resistant radiator reflectors between exterior walls and radiators also helps redirect the warmth into a room, (according to the U.S. Department of Energy)

Heat Pumps

A heat pump can't work as well if air flow around the unit is impeded. Put on your coat and galoshes, head outdoors and clear away any leaves, trash or other debris that may have accumulated around the pump and make sure the outdoor coil is clean

Use fans wisely;

Running the furnace fan continuously keeps the house more evenly heated Normally the fan kicks on and off periodically, but switching the thermostat to the "fan on" position keeps room-temperature air circulating all the time and helps it get to the farthest reaches of the house.

It may seem like this isn't an energy-saving measure, however since it takes from four to nine times the electrical current to start a motor than it dose to run it, running the fan continuously requires less electricity than starting and stopping the motor.

You actually gain comfort by keeping the hot air from stratifying up near the ceiling and save on electricity too
The ?down side? of running the furnace blower continuously is getting used to the noise and the ?cold air draft? feeling (it is actually room temperature air) in some cases.

Also the air filter will need changing more often because the blower is continuously ?cleaning the air? and you now have a ?full time? air cleaner rather than ?no? air cleaner when the thermostat switch is in the ?auto? position and the blower is cycled ?off?

On the other hand, ventilating fans, such as kitchen and bathroom fans, should be used only as long as they're needed. In just one hour, those fans can suck out an entire houseful of warmed air

Although booster fans for registers or ducts are available to pull more air to underheated areas, "we've had kind of mixed results with them, we recommends buying them only after you've tried other methods to redistribute the heat.

Open and shut case;

Window coverings let you control the amount of sunlight coming into a room and the amount of heat escaping. Use them to your best advantage when the temperature drops.

During the day, open curtains or blinds on windows that face south and west to let the sun's warmth in. On a day when there's a break in the weather, get outside and clean the windows to let even more sunshine in.

At night, closing window coverings helps hold warmth inside. That effect can be increased by installing insulated drapes or cellular window shades, which insulate by means of air pockets between the fabric layers.

Stop air leaks;

Even small cracks and openings in exterior walls let cold air in and warm air out. While it's not wise to seal up a house so tightly that no air is exchanged, most houses can benefit from sealing air leaks.

Some leaks are too small to feel, so We recommend holding a lighted candle near door and window openings. If the flame flickers, air is moving.

In the short run, you can stop a draft under a door or window by simply blocking it with whatever's handy - a few towels, maybe, or an old sock or stocking leg filled with rags, rice or anything else you have around the house. It's not the most attractive method, but it's better than shivering.

When you have a little more time, add or replace the weatherstripping on those doors and windows. It comes in lots of forms, from stick-on gaskets to spring metal strips, but a knowledgeable hardware salesperson can help you choose what's best for you.

You can also apply caulk to any gaps inside the house, such as around window and door frames or holes where wires or pipes enter the house. Save exterior caulking for warmer weather.

One huge leak that's easy to remedy is air escaping up the fireplace chimney. Leaving the damper open when you're not burning a fire is like leaving a window wide open. Close the damper when the fireplace isn't in use.

Plug outlet leaks.   Electrical outlets and light switches on exterior walls are notorious heat robbers, but they're easy to fix with seals available at hardware stores and home centers. The seals are just pieces of foam cut in the shape of the switch plate or outlet cover.
To install one, all you have to do is unscrew and remove the cover, slip on the seal and replace the cover.

Insulate windows;

Windows are poor heat barriers, particularly those without storm windows or double panes. You can cut heat loss through windows by adding plastic film insulation that's made for interior installation.

The film is taped to the window frame and heated with a hair dryer to make it shrink and tighten, so it isn't as noticeable as you might think. Come spring, you just pull it off.

Humidify;

Adequate humidity in the air makes it feel warmer.
The physical phenomenon is the same as what happens when we perspire. When humidity is too low, moisture evaporates off the skin and cools us. So maintaining a proper humidity level in your house will actually make you feel warmer at a lower thermostat setting

The best way to add humidity to the air is with an Aprilaire brand whole-house humidifier, but even setting pans of water around the house will help some.

Too much humidity isn't a good thing, however. If moisture condenses on the windows, turn down the humidifier. Most newer Aprilaire brand units control the level automatically.

Seal the ducts;

Sometimes sheet-metal ducts in a forced-air system leak, usually in small amounts in lots of places, That's not a problem where the ducts run through heated areas, but leaky ducts in cold spaces, such as unheated basements and crawl spaces, can rob a house of heat. Although most all heat lost in a regular basement usually rises upstairs and helps keep the floors a little warmer

We recommend sealing all the seams, as well as little holes and other leaks. We use a special mastic, but most any caulk will work just fine.

Curiously enough, regular household duct tape isn't the best choice for a long-term fix, because the adhesive dries out over time and the tape becomes loose.

Get a tune-up;

If you haven't had your heating system checked by a professional in a while,
DO IT !
A furnace that runs efficiently will heat your house better, and it will also save you money. More importantly, a well-tuned furnace is less likely to create safety and health threats, such as carbon monoxide. An annual inspection is by far the best money you can spend to keep your furnace in top notch efficiency but just having the ?peace of mind? that it is safe and operating properly for another winter is probably well worth the cost of the service