It is so important to be comfortable within your home
. With the temperatures reaching into the high nineties comfort has come from our central air conditioning unit. The same is true when the temperatures dip into negative digits in the winter. It is important for us to keep the temperature within our home constant to keep comfortable. For us in the winter we are good at or above sixty-four and the summer seventy-four is just right. There are some basic common sense tips we have implemented in our home to help us in this effort.
The first step in home heating and cooling efficiency is having a professional come in and evaluate your current furnace and air conditioning units. Professionals come in and see that the units are truly energy efficient and might only recommend yearly maintenance to keep them tuned up and running smooth. They also come in and explain if your system is outdated and could use an upgrade. It is important to take their advice. An update heating a cooling system will save you money and increase the value of your home.
Additional Tips To Energy Savings:
It is important to use weather stripping to keep drafts at a minimum. Adding weather stripping is a cheap and easy to install heating and cooling efficiency product.
The next tip is something we practice as our children are culprits of not shutting doors. We have installed automatic door closers on all of the doors leading outside of our home. This prevents us from yelling about the doors not being fully shut and keeps the kids out of trouble. I am sure this saves us several dollars a week, at least.
We have added blackout shades and room darkening blinds to door walls and windows. This keeps the weather outside out and the inside temperatures in. This makes a huge difference in the sleep we get without the sun peeking in our windows in the summer months as well.
In the winter months keep blankets handy. Wrapping up and taking the chill out of your skin helps reduce the likely hood you will reach the furnace dial to turn the heat up.
Another tip I strongly suggest is to change the room's temperature by one degree from what you would usually set it on. Believe it or not this can save you as much as seven percent off the heating and cooling bill.
The location of your thermostat is important as well. If your thermostat is in a very drafty space it will run even when other rooms in the house are at a decent temperature.
Another great tip for heating and cooling comes more from basic care of one's self. Don't layer clothes on in the summer when you are cooling the house and the opposite is true in the winter. It is not smart to walk around half dressed when you are trying to heat the home. In the summer you can cool your body easily by jumping in the shower. In the winter warm up with some cocoa or hot soup. Trust me it really works!