How You Can Help Minimize the Heat Leaving Your Home

With the temps dropping, the last thing you need to be concerned about is maintaining a comfortable home. In an ideal world, you would be able to relax in a warm home and not even concerned with the cold temps. Of course, it may not be that easy, and there are a few things that could be occurring in your home that might result in a need for furnace repair or a higher than normal energy bill.

There are a number of causes for an increase in your energy bill, but we are highlighting a few of the more common ones we encounter.

1. Heat is getting out through the glass of your windows – the glass on your windows are cold from the outdoor temps and when the warm air makes contact, that air loses some of its heat. An option to help minimize that impact is to make sure that you close your drapes during the evening hours and only open the drapes on windows that have light coming in during the day.
2. Lack of attic insulation – if you live in an older home there’s a possibility that there is a lack of insulation. This means you could be losing heat through your attic, which in-turn makes your furnace work harder, and might eventually harm your furnace. It’s not hard to determine if you have enough insulation, take a look and see if the insulation is below or even with the joists. If it is, you’ll likely want to add some more insulation.
3. Gaps in windows and doors – sometimes these gaps are more obvious and visible to the naked eye or large enough to feel drafts coming in, but sometimes that may not be the case. Make sure to take a close look at all of your windows and doors to decide whether it requires weather stripping to take care of those gaps. Similar to attic insulation, window and door gaps can force your furnace to work harder, increasing the chance of furnace repair down the line.

We hope these three tips can help you identify any problem-spaces in your home that could be inhibiting the comfort of your home. If you have any questions about furnaces, furnace repair or other ways to combat heat-loss, give us a call at 801-305-4777.