Home Series Booklets

Your heating dollars can work harder for you

Stay warm | Free Copy | Art files

No matter what type of heating system you have, there are some things you can do to save energy and still stay comfortable at home during the cold-weather months. Besides calling a professional to check your heating system, try several of the tips in this section to reduce your home's energy usage.

From a whole-house perspective, first look for leaks that allow cold air into your home-and heated air out. Then evaluate the insulation levels in your home and add insulation where necessary; attic insulation likely will have the most immediate impact on energy savings, but don't overlook areas such as the foundation, unfinished basement walls and floors above unheated spaces.

Follow these tips to stay warm
A plan for saving energy during cold weather includes analyzing all the elements that go into heating a home-including the habits of the people who live there. So, in addition to making sure your existing heating system is in peak operating condition (or replacing it with a more energy-efficient unit), talk with family members about how a little effort can yield significant results in cutting heating bills-without adversely affecting anyone's comfort.

Walk around your home with this list to discover how many opportunities you have to reduce energy use during the winter. Most of these ideas won't cost anything more than a few minutes of time; the tips that do require a small outlay of cash quickly should pay for themselves through smaller heating bills.

• Make sure all the heated air you're paying for reaches its destination. Move furniture or window coverings that are blocking air registers, baseboard heaters or radiators. A blocked air register can cause an adjoining room to overheat, and upholstery or curtains can trap heat between the wall and the fabric-preventing it from being distributed throughout a room.
• Isolate unused rooms, as long as doing so will not hurt water pipes. Turn down the thermostat in a room with baseboard heat, or close the registers for a forced-air furnace. However, don't allow temperatures in rooms with water pipes to approach the freezing point.
• Vacuum baseboard heaters, air registers or radiators. When you see dust, dirt and lint building up, clean any of these devices that are part of your home's heating system.
• Set the direction of ceiling fans for proper circulation. Run ceiling fans in a clockwise direction during cold-weather months to move the warm air that gathers near ceilings back into the rooms.
• Warm up your bed. Turn down your thermostat and use extra blankets or quilts-or an electric blanket or mattress pad-to stay toasty at night.
• Take out wall or window air conditioners during cold-weather months. For a wall unit, cover the opening with a thick plywood panel backed by rigid foam insulation; caulk to ensure the unit is weather-tight. For a window unit, remove it, close the window and fix air leaks. If you can't remove the air conditioner, wrap it in an insulated, waterproof cover made for the job.
• Remove humidity from the kitchen and bathroom with a properly sized exhaust fan. Too much humidity can cause condensation and frost on windows and possibly damage them. But don't leave an exhaust fan on longer-or at a higher speed-than necessary. In one hour, an exhaust fan can blow a "houseful" of heated air outside. In addition make sure these fans are not discharging air and moisture into the attic; they should be vented outdoors.
• Install radiator reflectors. These panels will help reflect heat away from walls and into rooms.

Sidebar

The material in this article was adapted from Home Heating and Cooling, a book published by the Iowa Energy Center. Besides offering more details on the topics discussed here, this publication also covers energy-saving home improvement projects that may be eligible for rebates from local utility companies; low-income assistance and grant programs; special financing opportunities from banks, credit unions and other lending institutions; state incentives; and federal income tax credits.

To get a free copy of this book:

• Call your utility company to see if you can stop by the office and pick up a copy;
• Download a PDF copy at the Iowa Energy Center Web site: http://www.energy.iastate.edu/homeseries;
• Request a copy by e-mailing the Iowa Energy Center at iec@energy.iastate.edu; or
• Call the Iowa Energy Center at 515-294-8819 to ask for a copy to be sent to you by mail.

[Download book cover image: jpg,pdf]

Contact:
Amy Myers, Iowa Energy Center, (515) 294-4391, myers@energy.iastate.edu

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