Tips for Keeping Your Home Warm This Winter
With temperatures dropping by the day, you’re likely already relying more on your home’s heating system. While you might think that you can just turn up the temperature on your thermostat, there’s more to staying warm than that, especially if you don’t want to deal with ridiculously high heating bills. If you want your home to feel warm and comfortable this winter season without breaking your budget, here are just a few things that you should do.
1. Seal Drafts in Your House
Before you settle into your house for the winter, check your house for any drafts or cold spots. You can usually feel these drafts if you walk by a window that isn’t properly sealed, but you might also feel drafts in your basement if any tiny cracks in your foundation or parts of your house aren’t properly insulated. Apply weather stripping to windows that are too drafty, and apply caulk to any gaps in your basement or elsewhere in your home.
2. Program Your Thermostat
As tempting as it may be to just turn your thermostat up to a high temperature whenever it gets cold outside, this won’t help you as much as you think. Cranking up the thermostat simply places added strain on your home’s heating system, resulting in higher utility bills.
If you want your home to feel comfortable in the winter without raising your heating bills too high, set your thermostat to 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Program your thermostat so it maintains these temperatures when everyone is home, and lower it slightly when everyone is at work or in school. If you don’t have a programmable thermostat, contact Guaranteed Comfort Heating & Cooling about having one installed.
3. Close Your Chimney
If you have a gas or wood-burning fireplace, keep your chimney’s damper closed whenever you’re not using it. The damper is a plate that sits just below the flue of your chimney. It lets smoke go up the chimney when it’s open, and it prevents warm air from escaping when it’s closed. If you always feel a draft whenever you stand near your fireplace, check the damper to make sure it’s closed.
4. Let a Little Sunshine In
Just because temperatures are dropping and the sun sets earlier than it does during spring and summer, it doesn’t mean that you can’t rely on some natural heating sources from outside. On particularly sunny days, open the blinds and curtains, allowing the sun to come into your home, providing an extra source of heat.
5. Check Your Air Vents
If it seems like your home isn’t heating up as much as it should, check your air vents. Some of them could be closed, clogged with dust, or sitting underneath furniture. Make sure that they’re all open, wipe them down if they’re too dusty, and rearrange your furniture so they’re always unobstructed.
6. Change Your HVAC Filter
Changing your HVAC filter is something that you should be doing every month anyway, but it’s an easy task to forget. Even if you have a filter that supposedly lasts six to nine months, you should at least check it every month to make sure it’s not clogged with dust. Not only will a dirty lower your home’s air quality, but too much dust will reduce the airflow through your vents and force your furnace to work harder to maintain a comfortable temperature.
7. Contact Guaranteed Comfort Heating & Cooling in Windsor, ON for a Furnace Tune-Up
If you want to make sure that your furnace is in good shape this winter, contact Guaranteed Comfort Heating & Cooling about scheduling a furnace tune-up. This should be done at least once every year, preferably in the fall before it starts to get really cold outside. This tune-up will help ensure that your furnace is working efficiently, but it can also uncover minor issues that can be fixed before they become serious repair bills in the middle of winter.
In fact, you should contact Guaranteed Comfort Heating & Cooling for any of your HVAC needs, whether that is a furnace tune-up or a new air conditioner installation. We can also install air purification systems, heat pumps, and anything else that your home might need.
For more information about our HVAC services, contact Guaranteed Comfort Heating & Cooling in Windsor, ON today.