14 Ways to Keep Your Home Comfortable for Less $

Your HVAC system does more than keep your home comfortable. It also cleans the air. Your AC, when working properly, lowers humidity in the hot months.

Unfortunately, heating and cooling are expensive, and can comprise up to half of your remaining household budget after mortgage/rent. That’s why you should have a Cincinnati HVAC contractor you trust come out twice a year to conduct regular maintenance on your system.

With regular attention, your furnace/heat pump and air conditioner will operate mor cost-efficiently and last longer.

Things you can do yourself to cut energy costs:

1. Lower the temperature on your thermostat in the winter, and raise it in the summer, during you’re not at home. You could save up to five percent on energy usage for every degree you change the thermostat setting.

Wear an extra layer of clothing in the winter to stay warm, and wear lighter, well-ventilated clothes in the summer. You might be surprised how quickly you become acclimated to a “new normal” in your home.

Keep your thermostat at 65 in the winter, and 80 in the summer while you’re away from home for more than a few hours. If you have a heat pump, only lower it by 2 or 3 degrees from your typical setting to avoid making the costly-to-operate auxiliary (emergency) heating element kick on when you turn the thermostat back up.

A programmable thermostat will adjust your temperature settings according to a preset schedule. You can program it to warm your house just before you wake up, or warm/cool it just before you get home.

2. Repair leaky faucets. Even a small drip can waste a bathtub full of water each month! Consider replacing old faucets and shower heads with low-flow fixtures. They release less water without feeling like you are using less.
3. Seal air leaks between doors and their frames with weather-stripping. Fill leaks between window frames and walls with caulking. Other areas that may need to be sealed are

• places where building materials meet on the exterior of your home (such as drywall and foundation) and
• spots where utility lines or pipes enter your home.

Walk along the inside of outside walls with a smoke pencil or candle, holding it against suspect areas. If the smoke or flame wavers, that’s probably an air leak.

4. Seal light switches and electrical sockets with low-cost foam gaskets.
5. Make sure your fireplace is properly vented to prevent it from drawing heated air to the outside.
6. Remove window AC units in the winter to prevent them from drafting in cold air.
7. Insulate hot water pipes.
8. Lower your water heater temperature a few degrees. This won’t impact the heat of your water.
9. Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents. While they’re more expensive, they’ll last 6-10 times longer.

• Install lighting dimmers, timers or motion sensors.
• Install a ceiling fan in rooms you frequent. These will allow you to turn the thermostat up a few degrees. With most ceiling fans, you should put the fan-blade direction on clockwise for winter and counter-clockwise for summer.

12. When summer nights are cool, open your windows and turn off the AC, then turn it back on in the morning before the sun starts heating up. Don’t leave windows open when the outside temperatures is higher than the indoor temperature.
13. On hot days, close curtains and shades. In the winter, let the sun shine in!
14. Work with trusted Cincinnati HVAC companies when your system needs maintenance, repairs or installation. Among the best is Jansen Heating & Cooling.