With winter descending on Northeast Ohio, no doubt about it, your energy bills will rise. But don’t despair — you probably have plenty of opportunities to lower those bills. And if you get cracking, these savings could apply during the costly holiday season.
Try some of the following tried and true methods for getting lower energy bills in your Lorain area home:
- Install a programmable thermostat, then program it with energy-saving temperature setbacks. The main setback is while your house is empty for several hours while family members are at work or school. You can also program a lower temperature setting at night when the household’s asleep.
- Adjust ceiling fans for wintertime operation. With the fan-blade rotation switched from counter-clockwise to clockwise, the fan will push air upwards, where it will push warm air near the ceiling outward and down into the room. This is where the warm air is needed, down where people live and interact. It also will result in the thermostat not signaling the furnace to kick on quite as often.
- Pull open curtains and drapes to allow the sunshine to warm up rooms on sunny days. Even if it’s frigid outside, the sunshine will raise the temperature inside several degrees. Once the sun goes down, close the curtains for an added layer of protection from the cold.
- Seal leaks in the outer walls of your home, using caulking and spray foam for holes and gaps in the walls, and weatherstripping for openings in window sashes and doors. If you’re serious about home weatherization, schedule a professional energy audit to ascertain exactly where energy is escaping, both via air leaks and insufficient insulation.
- Switch out your old incandescent light-bulbs with LED bulbs, both in year-round lighting and during the holidays.
- Talk to your trusted local HVAC contractor about a seasonal maintenance tune-up on your heating system. This will improve efficiency — helping to get those lower energy bills — plus improve comfort and enhance safety.
For more information on cutting energy in your Lorain area home, please contact us at Energy 1 Heating and Air Conditioning.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Lorain, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about lowering energy bills and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 440-201-2959.
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Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning
1 (440) 246-5440
Serving the Lorain, OH Area