When the chilly winter months arrive, keeping your home well-heated can be a painfully expensive endeavor, even in our relatively moderate climate here in Georgia. At Garrett Mechanical in Marietta, we understand the hefty price tag attached to the rising local energy bills because we’re dealing with the same rates ourselves.
Everyone wants to keep their home warm and cozy in the wintertime. However, keeping your energy costs low during peak winter weather is vital to managing your household budget. Even if your heating bills aren’t exactly a pressing financial matter, you still want to ensure that your hard-earned money doesn’t seep through the cracks of an inefficient heating system.
In this guide, we’ll instruct you on how to warm your home more efficiently. After following these simple tips, you can keep those extra savings in your pocket where they belong.
START BY EVALUATING THE BASICS
When your winter heating bills are higher than usual, you can start mitigating this problem by analyzing a few points that commonly lead to an inefficiently heated home. Let’s take a look at a few reliable places to start checking below:
INSPECT YOUR HOME’S INSULATION
If your energy bills are unusually high, or you suspect your system isn’t heating as it should, your insulation could be the main culprit. This is one of the first potential inefficiencies to check. A well-insulated home is necessary before you can have any expectation of an energy-efficient home heating system.
Think of your insulation as a heavy, cold-weather blanket wrapped around your living space to keep the warmth from your heating system inside where you want it. Good insulation will slow the transfer of heat, preventing your system from overworking to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures during winter. This, in turn, equates to an efficiently heated home and the substantial energy savings that go along with it.
CHECK FOR LEAKS AND DRAFTS
Your insulation is only one potential starting point in your investigation. Our region in Georgia supports a diverse and unpredictable climate. The winter months can bring some unexpectedly sharp drops in temperature. So, if your energy loss is attributable to draft leaks around your doors, windows, and electrical outlets, you can expect needlessly high energy bills in winter.
You might be able to identify some of these on your own. However, one of our professional heating and cooling experts at Garrett Mechanical can gladly inspect for home insulation inefficiencies like these. Our experience lets us quickly identify these common escape routes for your heat.
Drafts and leaks can unnecessarily increase energy bills for years without homeowners ever noticing. The trouble with this is that this inefficiency also causes your heating components to work harder than they should to compensate for the loss. This can take years of the useful life of your home comfort system if left unchecked.
You can find repair materials at your local home improvement store, such as fiberglass, caulking, and foam board. But if you’re inexperienced with the various home insulation procedures, we recommend that you at least start with a professional consultation. This way, you’re not missing any inefficiencies in your home, and you won’t end up wasting time and money on installing a solution that didn’t do the trick.
EVALUATE YOUR THERMOSTAT MANAGEMENT
The way you control your thermostat can significantly impact your monthly heating bill. If you don’t own a smart or programmable model, this can make all the difference in lowering your home energy consumption.
Modern thermostats let you set specific temperatures for different times of the day. You can even adjust your indoor temps for various times of the week. This convenient and adaptable function helps you reduce costs by changing your heating requirements when you’re away or at night when you’re asleep. The nice thing about smart programable thermostats is they can start heating your house before you come home for the day.
CONSIDER UPGRADING TO A MORE EFFICIENT HEATING SYSTEM
If your home is adequately insulated, your heating inefficiencies could be attributable to an older heating system. It’s just like driving a 20-year-old car. The vehicle still might work perfectly fine. However, with today’s oil and gas prices, your monthly fuel bill will likely start to look like the average car payment.
The same principle follows with your home heating system. So, how can you tell if your current heating solution is efficient? The heating and cooling industry evaluates a unit’s energy consumption according to its annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) rating. This percentage reflects how efficiently a furnace or boiler turns fuel into heat over a typical year.
When your furnace or boiler has a higher AFUE rating when compared to other current modern solutions, this means you’re getting more heat for every dollar spent. Returning to our car analogy, this is not unlike an MPG rating. The initial costs of upgrading might seem off-putting at first glance. However, a cost-benefit analysis could reveal that a newer, more efficient heating system will offset this expense in less time than you might imagine.
In addition to this, you’re less likely to experience breakdowns and disruptions to your heat with an upgraded system. You can also expect to pay less for maintenance and repairs on an upgraded heating system. Factor in the costs you’ll save on energy bills, and this investment starts to get much easier to rationalize. Our team at Garrett Mechanical in Marietta can provide a thorough assessment of your existing heating system.
We’ll also walk through an analysis of the potential benefits and savings you’ll realize if you choose to replace it with a more efficient unit. We always aim to help our clients make an informed heating system upgrade decision that aligns with their long-term financial plans and home comfort requirements.
RESOURCES AND SERVICES FOR YOUR NEXT HEATING SYSTEM CONSULTATION
If you’re ready to take the next step and improve your home’s heating efficiency, our team at Garrett Mechanical can help ensure you do it the right way the first time. Maximizing home heating efficiency may not be as straightforward as it seems initially. You’ll likely need to upgrade overlooked areas of your home and adopt newer, smarter technology to comfortably adjust your energy consumption habits.
With the right strategy, you’ll be able to lower your energy costs and recover your initial investments quickly. You’ll realize the long-term benefits of a more efficient system sooner than you think. Every home has the potential to become more efficient. We at Garrett Mechanical pride ourselves on giving our Marietta clients a straightforward analysis of the most practical and affordable path to achieving this.
Consider scheduling a comprehensive energy efficiency audit with our team of heating and cooling specialists at Garrett Mechanical today. We can advise you on potential upgrade solutions, including advice on the poorly insulated areas of your home. We’ll get you up to speed on the latest smart thermostats and instruct you on how these products can translate to healthy annual savings. Turn to us for heating maintenance too!
At Garrett Mechanical, we also provide the full range of home cooling, plumbing, and electrical services to dozens of Georgia municipalities. For more information on our services, call your trusted local team of experts now!
