Midwest winters are often brutal with temperatures reaching below freezing for long stretches. This type of weather requires a strong and reliable heating system so your home stays cozy and warm. However, if your system isn’t efficient, this could mean a drastic spike in your utility bill throughout the winter. Combat these high costs of heating with some tips, upgrades, and professional services that can help you boost the efficiency of your heating system while staying warm and comfortable this winter.
Shut Out the Cold
Keeping the cold air out of the house helps keep the inside warmer. Make sure all windows are closed tightly. Even a single open window can cause your furnace to work overtime to keep the entire house at an ideal temperature. Close all the doors and limit your trips in and out of the house to keep the warm air inside and the cold air out.
Bundle Up
If you start feeling a bit chilly while relaxing at home, consider putting on some extra layers rather than dialing up the thermostat. To help you warm up, wear your favorite fuzzy socks, comfy sweater, or fleece robe while sitting around. If you’re lying on the couch, grab a blanket and start up the fireplace. Snuggling up with others is a great way to combat the chill as well. If you get cold in bed at night, try flannel sheets or a heated blanket.
Use Your Ceiling Fans
Ceiling fans aren’t just for a cool breeze during warm weather. During the winter months, change your ceiling fans to move in a clockwise direction on a low speed. Warm air tends to rise to the top of the room, leaving your living space below a little chilly. This clockwise movement creates an updraft that helps move warm air back into circulation, creating a more even temperature in your room.
Seal Leaks and Drafts
Cold air can leak into your house through small cracks in the windows, doors, and walls. If you have a cool breeze coming through, seal the affected area with plastic wrap or other material to stop the cold.
Use Window Coverings
Your window coverings can help block out cold that seeps through the windows. However, they can also be opened to allow sunlight into the house, which can warm your space enough to help lower your furnace’s workload. Keep the shades open when the sunlight shines directly through the windows and closed when the sunlight is absent. This helps offset your heating needs.
Change the Air Filters
Your HVAC system has air filters that block dust and debris from entering your system and causing a heavier workload for your furnace. To help offset heating costs, change these filters every one to three months, preventing buildup and a heftier job for your furnace.
Upgrade Your Thermostat
A programmable thermostat allows you to set the device to make changes automatically based on your routine. You can program the thermostat to lower the temperature in your home when everyone leaves for the day and then raise the temperature just before they arrive back home. This helps cut down on heating when the house is empty but allows you to be comfortable as soon as you step foot in the door again.
Schedule Routine Maintenance
Annual maintenance is essential for the health and longevity of your heating system. Through proper routine maintenance, our technicians ensure your furnace is efficient, reliable, and safe for the upcoming cold season. We inspect, clean, and tune your entire system during annual maintenance. This helps lower stress, pinpoint problems, and keep your system running even when the temperature reaches a brutal low.
Schedule Ductwork Services
If your air ducts are not secure and damage-free, they could allow hot air to escape before it reaches the vent. When this happens, your furnace will have to work harder to get your home to the desired temperature, causing a spike in your heating costs. Our professional technicians can assess your ductwork. We look for areas of weakness and corrosion that can cause small holes or large gaps. We seal areas of concern, repair damaged ducts, and even replace ductwork that has large problems to help keep the hot air where it belongs.
Schedule Professional Duct Cleaning
Air ducts lead from your furnace to the vents, carrying hot air to keep your home warm. Over time, dust and other contaminants can build up inside these ducts, leading to a narrowed passageway for the air to move through. Dirty and clogged ducts have a big impact on the efficiency of your furnace and can lead to insufficient and uneven airflow. Professional duct cleaning is a service that uses special tools and equipment to blast buildup out of the ductwork, leaving the ducts clean and clear for hot air to efficiently move through.
Upgrade Your Furnace
As your furnace ages, it may become less efficient due to wear and tear on different parts. If your system is more than ten years old, an upgrade may be necessary to improve heating efficiency. Our technicians can help you decide on a new system, ensuring it is the proper size and style for your home so you can enjoy lower heating costs.
Switch to a Heat Pump
Heat pumps draw heat from one area and transfer it to another. In the summer they pull it from inside your house and dispense with it outside. In the wintertime, they draw heat from the ground or the ambient outdoor air to warm your home. Heat pumps are more efficient than traditional furnaces since they aren’t actually creating heat, and they’re a great environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional heating systems. As an added bonus, heat pumps work for summer cooling as well, giving you a single system for heating and air conditioning.
Consider Zoning Systems
HVAC zoning systems give you better control over the climate inside your home by allowing you to adjust different areas or zones separately. Zoning systems utilize dampers inside the air ducts coupled with individual thermostats so that you can change the temperature in one zone without changing it in another. Zoning systems are great for larger homes, especially if you have spaces that are seldom used in the winter months. When using them, you can keep your common living areas warmer while keeping costs lower by not heating other areas.
Your Home Heating Specialists
With over 100 years in the family heating and cooling business, we know a thing or two about HVAC systems. Our dedicated technicians have extensive experience in handling all your HVAC needs including repairs, installations, and maintenance. We also offer ductless cooling systems and heat pumps to provide a variety of options for your home comfort. Additionally, our technicians offer ductwork services, indoor air quality services, and humidifiers to help boost the comfort and efficiency your HVAC system provides. For everything related to your heating and cooling system, we have the solution.
Keep your home warm and cozy this winter without breaking the bank when you schedule HVAC services with the top pros in Sioux City. Call us at Kalins Indoor Comfort today for all your heating, cooling, and comfort services.
