Home Heating - The Season is Upon Us
Home heating with oil, gas, lp (liquid petrolium), wood or solar each have their advantages and drawbacks.
Find out how you can maximize your heat per dollars this season by reading and implementing the following tips.
Everyone needs to keep warm in the winter months With the economy down and less personal time, getting and keeping heat are the two most important things you can do to stay comfortable this winter.
Home Heating Oil, Gas, and LP Standards in home heating that add up to a lot of your budget Home heating for bottled LP or natural gas accounts for an average of $3351 per year, across the US.
Depending on local conditions and costs, this can vary by as much as $180 per month.
That's a lot of groceries! If your oil furnace is inefficient, it can cost a lot more! Here's the tips for what is the most convenient and most used heat source: 1) have your furnace checked and cleaned regularly! An inefficient furnace or boiler can cost you - it takes more oil or gas to raise the temperature in your house if it's not working at peak efficiency.
Be sure that your oil furnace is cleaned and checked annually by your oil company 2) change your filters! If your central heating is trying to push air through a caked up filter, it's not only wasting heat, it's wasting electricity.
The fan has to push harder and longer, and the reduced air flow means less warm air throughout the home.
3) clean the registers! If you have heating registers along the wall, they can get full of dust, hair and more.
Since they work by convection (warmed air rising), if they're clogged, it takes more time and heated water to warm the air around them.
The fins act as "heat sinks" the heat from the pipe in the middle of the register, and the air moves up through them, getting heated in the process.
Lifting off the lids and vacuuming them clean will make a big difference in how fast the room warms up.
4) upgrade if you can to an energystar rated furnace! A high Energy Star rated furnace is one of the most efficient ways to get the most heat out of the money you're spending on fuel.
90% or better ratings give you some of the best heat/$ ratio.
Wood, Coal, and Pellets Higher maintenance, sometimes lower cost, and pollution issues Heating with wood has become popular again, especially after the last couple of years.
There are many varieties of wood heaters available, from outdoor furnaces that pump the heat into the house via a fluid (water/antifreeze mix), to wood stoves, fireplace inserts and coal stoves.
While not as convenient, they can be more cost effective, depending on your location and availability of fuel.
1) Keep it Clean! If there are ashes built up in the hopper or under the grate, the air can't flow and this won't allow for efficient burning.
Keep a metal container nearby to scoop the ashes into - you never know when there's an ember waiting for more oxygen! 2) Check it Regularly Have it checked by a professional to be sure it's in good working order.
Automatic feeders can get stuck/clogged, they can break as well.
Be sure the seals are intact and working around the doors.
Always keep a fire extinguisher nearby! 3) Have the Chimney swept annually Chimney fires are one of the most common types of house fires.
Creosote, an oily substance can build up in the chimney and catch fire.
4) Keep a good supply of fuel, and keep it dry! Running out of wood or pellets can cause a cold morning, plus, you'll have to restart the fire and get the stove back up to operating temperature.
5) Have a backup Many times, the wood stove or coal stove IS the backup.
If it's the main source of heat, you should have a gas or oil burner in case you need to replace your primary source of heat.
Government Help for All Getting a Home Energy Audit - or doing it yourself Getting a home energy audit can range from a free simple "look-see yup you really should replace those windows, here's a couple of free CFL lights", to a more thorough (and costly - about $500) full home energy audit where they attach a "blower door", suck the air out of your house and do a thermal analysis to see where the leaks are all over your house.
This is the most comprehensive audit, but a lot can be done on your own Insulation - Keeping The Heat You've Go Small drafts add up to big losses 1) Great Stuff! - get some, don the gloves and old clothes, then seal everywhere you can: around the pipes going out of the house (in the cellar, in the attic), around the foundation of the house - the sill of the house - where the basement or crawlspace meets the base of the house is often not a perfect fit.
2) Seal around the Chimney Use the proper sealant for this! You don't want a fire starting because you "cheaped out" and tried to use the Great Stuff where it shouldn't be used! 3) Make plastic covered frames for the windows to put up in the winter Shrink wrap type plastic is available on most hardware stores that is made to take down in the summer, then buy more in the winter and redo.
You can save a lot by making frames that fit into the windowframe, then covering both sides of the frame with this shrink-wrap, making a double layer with an air pocket.
Using reusable caulking, you simply attach these to the inside (or outside if you have curious pets or children that would poke holes in them).
4) Put a blanket on it! Insulate your water heater.
It loses it's heat to the cellar air if you don't, and you keep reheating the same water more often.
5) Insulate the attic first, then the cellar Heat rises.
If you've got to make a choice, insulate the attic first.
Be sure your soffit vents are properly installed, too otherwise you'll find ice dams and water damage galore! 6) Once all of that's done, you can check for leaks by either buying a Black & Decker TLD100 Thermal Leak Detector, or - if you've got one - you can use an infrared thermometer to check for leaks around the windows, electrical outlets and near the ceiling, where some of the wall insulation has settled.
Solar Heating Using The Sun to Warm Your Water And Your Home Once you've properly insulated, you can look into additional systems of heating like solar air and solar water heaters.
Solar air heaters warm your home during the sunny days, and close up at night to keep the heat.
Properly installed, they can take a bite out of your heating bill, and sometimes eliminate it altogether.
1) Be sure there are no air leaks around your solar heater! Sure it'll be warm during the day, but it will suck the heat out at night, and during the cloudy days as well.
2) Be sure that it closes at night when it's not producing heat! Same as above.
If you're going to spend the time and money to make/install one, be sure it's done right! 3) Keep the snow off of it! This can be tricky with the evacuated tube variety of solar water heaters.
Be sure to use a soft brush, and don't bump them with the wood end! Those tubes are expensive to replace.
If possible, have them located under an overhang in snowy areas to protect them.
Find out how you can maximize your heat per dollars this season by reading and implementing the following tips.
Everyone needs to keep warm in the winter months With the economy down and less personal time, getting and keeping heat are the two most important things you can do to stay comfortable this winter.
Home Heating Oil, Gas, and LP Standards in home heating that add up to a lot of your budget Home heating for bottled LP or natural gas accounts for an average of $3351 per year, across the US.
Depending on local conditions and costs, this can vary by as much as $180 per month.
That's a lot of groceries! If your oil furnace is inefficient, it can cost a lot more! Here's the tips for what is the most convenient and most used heat source: 1) have your furnace checked and cleaned regularly! An inefficient furnace or boiler can cost you - it takes more oil or gas to raise the temperature in your house if it's not working at peak efficiency.
Be sure that your oil furnace is cleaned and checked annually by your oil company 2) change your filters! If your central heating is trying to push air through a caked up filter, it's not only wasting heat, it's wasting electricity.
The fan has to push harder and longer, and the reduced air flow means less warm air throughout the home.
3) clean the registers! If you have heating registers along the wall, they can get full of dust, hair and more.
Since they work by convection (warmed air rising), if they're clogged, it takes more time and heated water to warm the air around them.
The fins act as "heat sinks" the heat from the pipe in the middle of the register, and the air moves up through them, getting heated in the process.
Lifting off the lids and vacuuming them clean will make a big difference in how fast the room warms up.
4) upgrade if you can to an energystar rated furnace! A high Energy Star rated furnace is one of the most efficient ways to get the most heat out of the money you're spending on fuel.
90% or better ratings give you some of the best heat/$ ratio.
Wood, Coal, and Pellets Higher maintenance, sometimes lower cost, and pollution issues Heating with wood has become popular again, especially after the last couple of years.
There are many varieties of wood heaters available, from outdoor furnaces that pump the heat into the house via a fluid (water/antifreeze mix), to wood stoves, fireplace inserts and coal stoves.
While not as convenient, they can be more cost effective, depending on your location and availability of fuel.
1) Keep it Clean! If there are ashes built up in the hopper or under the grate, the air can't flow and this won't allow for efficient burning.
Keep a metal container nearby to scoop the ashes into - you never know when there's an ember waiting for more oxygen! 2) Check it Regularly Have it checked by a professional to be sure it's in good working order.
Automatic feeders can get stuck/clogged, they can break as well.
Be sure the seals are intact and working around the doors.
Always keep a fire extinguisher nearby! 3) Have the Chimney swept annually Chimney fires are one of the most common types of house fires.
Creosote, an oily substance can build up in the chimney and catch fire.
4) Keep a good supply of fuel, and keep it dry! Running out of wood or pellets can cause a cold morning, plus, you'll have to restart the fire and get the stove back up to operating temperature.
5) Have a backup Many times, the wood stove or coal stove IS the backup.
If it's the main source of heat, you should have a gas or oil burner in case you need to replace your primary source of heat.
Government Help for All Getting a Home Energy Audit - or doing it yourself Getting a home energy audit can range from a free simple "look-see yup you really should replace those windows, here's a couple of free CFL lights", to a more thorough (and costly - about $500) full home energy audit where they attach a "blower door", suck the air out of your house and do a thermal analysis to see where the leaks are all over your house.
This is the most comprehensive audit, but a lot can be done on your own Insulation - Keeping The Heat You've Go Small drafts add up to big losses 1) Great Stuff! - get some, don the gloves and old clothes, then seal everywhere you can: around the pipes going out of the house (in the cellar, in the attic), around the foundation of the house - the sill of the house - where the basement or crawlspace meets the base of the house is often not a perfect fit.
2) Seal around the Chimney Use the proper sealant for this! You don't want a fire starting because you "cheaped out" and tried to use the Great Stuff where it shouldn't be used! 3) Make plastic covered frames for the windows to put up in the winter Shrink wrap type plastic is available on most hardware stores that is made to take down in the summer, then buy more in the winter and redo.
You can save a lot by making frames that fit into the windowframe, then covering both sides of the frame with this shrink-wrap, making a double layer with an air pocket.
Using reusable caulking, you simply attach these to the inside (or outside if you have curious pets or children that would poke holes in them).
4) Put a blanket on it! Insulate your water heater.
It loses it's heat to the cellar air if you don't, and you keep reheating the same water more often.
5) Insulate the attic first, then the cellar Heat rises.
If you've got to make a choice, insulate the attic first.
Be sure your soffit vents are properly installed, too otherwise you'll find ice dams and water damage galore! 6) Once all of that's done, you can check for leaks by either buying a Black & Decker TLD100 Thermal Leak Detector, or - if you've got one - you can use an infrared thermometer to check for leaks around the windows, electrical outlets and near the ceiling, where some of the wall insulation has settled.
Solar Heating Using The Sun to Warm Your Water And Your Home Once you've properly insulated, you can look into additional systems of heating like solar air and solar water heaters.
Solar air heaters warm your home during the sunny days, and close up at night to keep the heat.
Properly installed, they can take a bite out of your heating bill, and sometimes eliminate it altogether.
1) Be sure there are no air leaks around your solar heater! Sure it'll be warm during the day, but it will suck the heat out at night, and during the cloudy days as well.
2) Be sure that it closes at night when it's not producing heat! Same as above.
If you're going to spend the time and money to make/install one, be sure it's done right! 3) Keep the snow off of it! This can be tricky with the evacuated tube variety of solar water heaters.
Be sure to use a soft brush, and don't bump them with the wood end! Those tubes are expensive to replace.
If possible, have them located under an overhang in snowy areas to protect them.
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