While winter and the holiday season can sure put a hurt on your household budget, what with heating bills and increased use of other household utilities, there’s some good news for homeowners who want lower energy bills (basically everybody). Following are some easy and effective ways to lower energy bills as we move into the holidays:

• Use your home’s thermostat wisely to avoid heating an empty house when nobody’s home. If it’s a programmable model, enter setbacks so the temperature is allowed to drop 8-10 degrees when the house is empty for longer than a few hours, and 5-6 degrees (or your preference) at night when the household is asleep. If you still have manual thermostat, remember to set back the temperature yourself at those times.
• Take advantage of the solar heat that shines through windows on sunny days. Open curtains and blinds, and enjoy the natural warmth as your room heats up several degrees, even when it’s freezing outside. Close the window coverings as the sun goes down outside to add a layer of protection against the evening/nighttime cold.
• Use your ceiling fans to help redistribute warm air that collects near ceilings (and doesn’t do anyone any good). Switching the fan blade rotation to clockwise (“winter mode”) will direct air upwards, pushing that upper-room air down into the room where people can feel it. That redistributed warm air also will signal to the thermostat that it’s not yet time to kick on the furnace.
• Take basic weatherization steps by 1) sealing air leaks in the house’s outer perimeter with caulking, weatherstripping or spray foam insulation and 2) upgrading inadequate or missing insulation, especially in the attic. A professional energy audit is a comprehensive way to identify where energy is escaping from your home.
• Schedule seasonal maintenance for your home’s heating system. This will accomplish a number of energy-saving goals, including enhancing efficiency and performance, ensuring safety, and detecting small problems before they become big and expensive.

Please contact us at Powers Heating & Air for more helpful advice on how to lower energy bills in your Peachtree City home this season.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Peachtree City, Georgia and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 770-487-2040.

Credit/Copyright Attribution: “pexels/Pixabay”