Thursday, December 6, 2007

55 RULES FOR CUTTING HOME HEATING BILLS

55 RULES FOR CUTTING HOME HEATING BILLS

1. Heat your home with energy that is cheapest in your area.

2. Consider heating your home with solar heat. It costs the least.

3. Insulate your water heater. This will pay for itself quickly.

4. Open draperies and shades in winter to let in sunshine.

5. Keep thermostat at 68 degrees; 55 degrees at night.

Install an automatic timer.

6. Heat only those rooms that are in use.

7. Cut heat loss in half by weatherstripping doors and windows.

8. Check for cracks around fireplace. Keep heat in by caulking all

cracks.

9. Insulate your attic and all outside walls.

10. Be sure your thermostat is not located in a normally cold or hot

place.

11. In winter, set thermostat low. In spring and fall, turn off heat.

12. Wear warm (closely knit fabrics) clothing indoors during cold

weather.

13. When away from home, turn off heat and hot water heater.

14. Keep windows closed during cold weather.

15. Inspect your furnace. Keep parts clean. Replace air filters when

necessary.

16. Wrap heating ducts with duct tape where exposed to cold air.

17. Don't peek into the oven. You lose 20% - 50% of the heat each

time you do.

18. Have your furnace serviced by an experienced professional once

a year.

19. Avoid use of kitchen, bathroom fans in winter. They waste

household heat.

20. Keep fireplace damper closed when not in use.

21. Make sure that furnace cold air register is not obstructed.

22. Check efficiency ratings before purchasing portable heaters of

any kind.

23. Cooking utensils with flat bottoms and tight fitting covers save

heat.

24. Be sure pots and pans are right size for range burners and

elements.

25. Plan some meals so that entire meal can be prepared in oven at

same time.

26. Thaw frozen meats to almost room temperature before cooking.

27. Never use range or oven to heat the kitchen. This could prove

dangerous.

28. Turn off oven about 5 minutes before cooking time os over.

29. Use storm or thermal windows in cold areas.

30. During winter months, arrange furniture away from outside walls.

31. Remove awnings from sun-exposed windows during winter

months.

32. Insulate floors over unheated spaces such as crawl spaces and

garage.

33. Close off attic, garage, basement, spare bedrooms, storage

areas, etc.

34. An electric blanket is much less expensive than heating your

bedroom.

35. cover pots and pans when heating liquids.

36. Install storm doors before cold weather arrives.

37. seal gaps around pipes, wires, vents. Caulk baseboards.

38. Turn off heat when the fireplace is being used.

39. A glass front or glass screen will reduce fireplace heat loss.

40. Dust or vacuum radiator surfaces frequently.

41. Don't forget to weatherstrip your attic door to prevent heat from

escaping.

42. Insulate your mattress and bed frame with wrapping paper or

plastic sheets.

43. Repair holes in roof, walls, doors and windows where heat may

escape.

44. Check to see that glass in all windows have full putty.

45. If wood is inexpensive in your area, install a wood burning stove.

46. Turn off your furnace pilot light when heat is not necessary.

47. Teach youngsters to keep doors closed and other ways of

conserving heat.

48. Talk to your utility company for other suggestions for saving heat

HOW TO SAVE ON HOT WATER......

49. Keep hot water thermostat set at 110-120 degrees.

(Most are set at 140 degrees).

50. Repair faucets. A dripping faucet can waste 15 gallons of hot

water a day.

51. Install an automatic timer so water is heated only during hours

needed.

52. Wash clothing in cold water with cold water detergent.

53. Install an aerator on your kitchen sink faucet to save on hot water.

54. Save hot water by installing a low-flow showerhead.

55. "Suds savers" on washers allow you to reuse hot water for

several loads.


1 comment:

batticdoor said...

How To Reduce Your Heating Bills This Winter / Energy Conservation Begins at Home

Imagine leaving a window open all winter long -- the heat loss, cold drafts and wasted energy! If your home has a folding attic stair, a whole house fan or AC Return, a fireplace or a clothes dryer, that may be just what is occurring in your home every day.

These often overlooked sources of heat loss and air leakage can cause heat to pour out and the cold outside air to rush in -- costing you higher heating bills.

Air leaks are the largest source of heating and cooling loss in the home. Air leaks occur through the small cracks around doors, windows, pipes, etc. Most homeowners are well aware of the benefits caulk and weatherstripping provide to minimize heat loss and cold drafts.

But what can you do about the four largest “holes” in your home -- the folding attic stair, the whole house fan or AC return, the fireplace, and the clothes dryer? Here are some tips and techniques that can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes.

Attic Stairs

When attic stairs are installed, a large hole (approximately 10 square feet) is created in your ceiling. The ceiling and insulation that were there have to be removed, leaving only a thin, unsealed, sheet of plywood.

Your attic space is ventilated directly to the outdoors. In the winter, the attic space can be very cold, and in the summer it can be very hot. And what is separating your conditioned house from your unconditioned attic? That thin sheet of plywood.

Often a gap can be observed around the perimeter of the door. Try this yourself: at night, turn on the attic light and shut the attic stairway door -- do you see any light coming through? These are gaps add up to a large opening where your heated/cooled air leaks out 24 hours a day. This is like leaving a window open all year round.

An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add an attic stair cover. An attic stair cover provides an air seal, reducing the air leaks. Add the desired amount of insulation over the cover to restore the insulation removed from the ceiling.

Whole House Fans and AC Returns

Much like attic stairs above, when whole house fans are installed, a large hole (up to 16 square feet or larger) is created in your ceiling. The ceiling and insulation that were there have to be removed, leaving only leaky ceiling shutter between the house and the outdoors.

An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a whole house fan cover. Installed from the attic side, the whole house fan cover is invisible. Cover the fan to reduce heating and air-conditioning loss, remove it when use of the fan is desired.

If attic access is inconvenient, or for AC returns, a ceiling shutter cover is another option for reducing heat loss through the ceiling shutter and AC return. Made from R-8, textured, thin, white flexible insulation, and installed from the house side over the ceiling shutter with Velcro, a whole house fan shutter cover is easily installed and removed.

Fireplaces

Sixty-five percent, or approximately 100 million homes, in North America are constructed with wood or gas burning fireplaces. Unfortunately there are negative side effects that the fireplace brings to a home especially during the winter home-heating season. Fireplaces are energy losers.

Researchers have studied this to determine the amount of heat loss through a fireplace, and the results are amazing. One research study showed that an open damper on an unused fireplace in a well-insulated house can raise overall heating-energy consumption by 30 percent.

A recent study showed that for many consumers, their heating bills may be more than $500 higher per winter due to the air leakage and wasted energy caused by fireplaces.

Why does a home with a fireplace have higher heating bills? Hot air rises. Your heated air leaks out any exit it can find, and when warm heated air is drawn out of your home, cold outside air is drawn in to make up for it. The fireplace is like a giant straw sucking the heated air from your house.

An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a fireplace draftstopper. Available from Battic Door, a company known for their energy conservation products, a fireplace draftstopper is an inflatable pillow that seals the damper, eliminating any air leaks. The pillow is removed whenever the fireplace is used, then reinserted after.

Clothes Dryer Exhaust Ducts

In many homes, the room with the clothes dryer is the coldest room in the house. Your clothes dryer is connected to an exhaust duct that is open to the outdoors. In the winter, cold air leaks in through the duct, through your dryer and into your house.

Dryer vents use a sheet-metal flapper to try to reduce this air leakage. This is very primitive technology that does not provide a positive seal to stop the air leakage. Compounding the problem is that over time, lint clogs the flapper valve causing it to stay open.

An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a dryer vent seal. This will reduce unwanted air infiltration, and keep out pests, bees and rodents as well. The vent will remain closed unless the dryer is in use. When the dryer is in use, a floating shuttle rises to allow warm air, lint and moisture to escape.

If your home has a folding attic stair, a whole house fan, an AC return, a fireplace, and/or a clothes dryer, you can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes.

Mark D. Tyrol is a Professional Engineer specializing in cause and origin of construction defects. He developed several residential energy conservation products including an attic stair cover and a fireplace draftstopper. To learn more visit www.batticdoor.com