Tips & Tricks
Service your furnace at least once a year
The biggest thing is making sure that your gas or oil furnace is serviced and cleaned at least once a year.
Simply changing an oil furnace filter can make a tremendous difference in efficiency. Yet many people
neglect such routine maintenance.
United States Department of Energy statistics show that 44 percent of the average home's energy use is
devoted to heating and cooling. So give your water heater a tune up as well. The appliance accounts for
nearly 15 percent of your home energy use.
Insulation is key
Your furnace and water heater burn a lot of energy to heat water. Don't let hot water cool off in
uninsulated pipes. Cover them with tube-shaped insulation. Similarly, make sure that heating and cooling
ductwork in your basement, crawl space and attic is insulated and that the joints are taped.
In cold climates, vents for appliances like clothes dryers and stoves should have louvers that allow vents
to be closed. Lots of times, these are stuck open. When that happens, cold air rushes in when they are
not in use.
Priority one when insulating is the roof, where rising heat tries to escape your home. If you already have
insulation, consider increasing the amount in your attic. It's basically adding another blanket on your bed.
But be sure you don't separate insulation layers with a vapor barrier. Also, it's very, very important that the
more you insulate your attic, the more you must ventilate. The attic is a space that you don't want to heat.
Ideally, you'd want the underside of the roof to be as cool as the outside.
About one-third of the air leaking in and out of your home passes through the ceiling, walls, and floors. To
fix, use blow-in or spray-in insulation, which is available for uninsulated walls.
Install weather strips on doors and windows
For more savings, add weather stripping to your windows and doors. You can hire a professional or use a
range of do-it-yourself products. Windows should be caulked on three sides, leaving the bottom to provide
an escape for moisture.
When working on doors, add weather-stripping to the top, sides, and bottom threshold. You can seal the
space under the door with a strip or even a removable “draft snake.”
Heat-loss through windows accounts for 10 to 25 percent of your home heating bill. So invest in quality
storm windows. You'll pay a little to save a lot. They are very, very efficient. Instead of spending $800 or
$1,000 for a new window, spend a couple hundred dollars or less and get a good-quality storm window.
You'll save a lot of money. And don't forget storm windows for your basement windows.
Drafts can add up to higher energy use and a chilly winter. When you get cold air blowing across your
feet, you're cold. In spring or fall caulk the outside of your home. Check under and over windows, beside
windows and doors, and areas where siding meets trim. Gaps are areas where air will enter and cause
cooling drafts. An average house might take three tubes of caulk. You can save an enormous amount of
money by caulking cracks. You should use latex rather than silicone-based caulk, which cannot be
painted. And for gaps too large for caulking, use spray-foam products.
Also, lock window sash locks to close windows more tightly.
Lower thermostats 3-4 degrees
To further reduce heating costs, try lowering your thermostat. Three or four degrees can make a big
difference. You can install a programmable thermostat that will lower and raise the temperature at
convenient times. The easy-to-install thermostats can be set to drop temperatures just before bedtime or
warm the house in the morning before you rise. The D.O.E. estimates you can save 10 percent a year on
heating and cooling bills just by turning your thermostat down 10 to 15 percent for eight hours while you
sleep.
You can also increase energy savings by implementing home heating zones. You can heat your home by
levels, keeping the first floor warmer during the day and the second floor warmer at night. If you don't
have a zone heating system, try to turn off your radiators. Steam radiators usually have a lever so that
you can shut off that radiator, close that room, and not waste heat.
Remove your air conditioner
Remove window air conditioning units in the fall. They are drafty, and they suck the heat right out of your
house. You have to do something to stop that draft. If you can't remove your air conditioner, use an
insulated jacket that goes on the exterior. They are still drafty but better than nothing.
Products we install:
FURNACES
Thermo Pride
Armstrong
Hallmark
BOILERS
HB Smith
Weil Mclain
Peerless
Burnham
Buderus
WATER HEATERS
Vaughn
Crown MS40
Bock
AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEMS
American Standard
Armstong