How to Save on Your Heating Bill
Your monthly heating bill can take a big bite out of your household budget, especially when some cold weather settles in during a North Texas winter. While we can’t eliminate that bill entirely, the advice in this article can help you cut down on energy spending during the coldest parts of the year and teach you how to save on your heating bill.
If any of the steps for how to save on your heating bill require the help of an experienced HVAC contractor, be sure to turn to Walker Air • Plumbing • Electric for assistance. Thanks to our many years in business and the wide range of services we offer, you can be sure that we are ready for any challenge. Call today to get started!
Set an Appropriate Program
One of the best ways how to save on your heating bill is to manage your heating system properly in the winter months and set your thermostat to do the work for you. If you always rely on yourself to raise or lower the temperature manually, you are sure to forget from time to time. That means you might spend money on energy to heat the house while you are away at work for the day, for example.
Fortunately, modern thermostats make it easy to set programs that bring the temperature up and down appropriately. As a starting point, set a program that is going to turn the heat off – or at least down – while you know no one will be home. This is commonly the case during the daytime hours on weekdays, but of course, you’ll need to customize it to match your family’s schedule. Set up a logical program at the start of the winter and then continue to fine-tune it to dial in the efficiency.
Reasonable Expectations
Part of keeping your heating bill as low as possible comes down to having reasonable expectations about how your house should feel in the winter. When it’s cold outside, it’s not reasonable to expect to walk around the house in shorts and a t-shirt – that would simply require a ton of energy usage to maintain such temperatures. Instead, plan on dressing appropriately for the season, wearing long pants, long sleeve shirts, and sweatshirts depending on conditions. Also, keep a few blankets close at hand to warm you up when sitting or lying down. The Dallas area enjoys plenty of warm weather throughout the year, so it’s only a short period of time when you may need to bundle up a bit to be comfortable.
Keep Up with Maintenance
Lagging behind on maintenance can cause your heating bills to jump up as a result of lost efficiency in the HVAC system. One of the easiest maintenance points that comes to mind here is changing your air filter. A fresh air filter allows your system to breathe freely and that will help it run properly while using less energy. Air filters are affordable and easy to change on your own, so that’s a maintenance key that anyone can manage. Also, it’s worth considering an annual visit from a professional team like Walker Air • Plumbing • Electric to have general service performed where the system can be fine-tuned and prepared to make it through another winter successfully. You can do this by using our WAM plan.
Manage Vents Strategically
You may not think often about your HVAC vents, but managing them correctly can cut down on costs. As a default setting, you probably have all the vents in your home wide open – which makes sense if you need to warm every room. But what if some spaces in your home don’t need to be warmed? For example, you might have an extra bedroom that is not used or a downstairs space that you rarely visit. By closing the vents in those areas, you’ll stop the warm air from flowing to places where it is not needed. That means less energy is used overall to heat your house, and you can bring down your monthly bill. Of course, you can also turn those vents back open if you need to warm those parts of the house once again.
Prepare for the Coming Cold
It’s a good idea to make sure your HVAC system is ready for the cold weather that will arrive next winter by taking steps now to get ahead of the game. Determine what actions will be necessary to get your system ready to go and contact Walker Air • Plumbing • Electric if we can be of assistance. Thank you for visiting!
