Tips for Reducing Your Heating Bill

With winter on its way, so are higher heating bills.  When you turn on your furnace every day, that’s more money that needs to be spent keeping it running.  Here are a few tips to keep your heating bill reasonable this winter.

• Make sure your home is properly insulated.  Escaping heat will cause your thermostat to keep the furnace running longer, leading to higher heating costs.
• Clean your warm-air registers (the vents on the floors and walls where the heated air comes from).  Cleaner registers let the warm air flow more efficiently, thus heating the house faster and running the furnace less.
• Ensure your furnace filter is clean.  This can allow more air to pass through it, heating faster and less often.
• Invest in a digital thermostat.  With most digital thermostats, there is a function that allows you to program set heating and cooling schedules.  For example, when you go to bed you can set the thermostat to only run the furnace for a specific time.  You can then set it to start heating an hour or so before you wake up, so that you wake up to a perfectly warmed house.
• A more costly but effective solution is to invest in better insulated windows.  If you notice your heating bill spiking more than you would like, then the investment in windows with optimal insulating properties will pay off in the long run.

These are just some of the many tips that you can utilize to reduce your heating costs this winter.  Just remember, it is important to stay warm, but there is no need to wastefully run the furnace.  Pay attention to how often you are heating your home.