How Can I Keep My Heating Bill Down?

Winter can get expensive. It’s not just buying holiday gifts that will burn through your budget, but also the prospect of paying for whatever form of fuel your furnace happens to burn throughout the cold months of the year. There isn’t anything you can do about the temperatures outside, but there are some steps you can take to keep your heating bill down to a reasonable level until spring rolls around once again.

If you are looking for furnace service in Greensboro to make sure your home stays comfortable all winter long, Berico is the right partner for the job. As one of the best furnace repair companies in the area, Berico has built an excellent reputation one customer at a time. Make an appointment today to get started!

Use a Lower Set Temperature

Perhaps the most obvious way to bring down your heating bill is simply to heat your home to a lower temperature. If you can bring the standard temperature that you use in your home down by even a degree or two throughout the winter, you are sure to see savings.

Of course, that means it will be colder inside the house. You might consider getting used to wearing more clothing around the house or sitting under a blanket when you settle in to watch some TV at night. It will take a bit of experimentation to figure out where the sweet spot is for you and your family, as you aim to balance comfort with cost savings.

Consistent Furnace Maintenance

You could be forgiven if you don’t think too often about furnace maintenance. Life is busy, and it’s certainly easy to get wrapped up in everything else that you have to do day after day. Furnace maintenance probably doesn’t live high on your priority list, and that’s okay.

With that said, if you’d like to move toward lower energy bills, think about having your furnace serviced annually. Doing so will make sure the system continues to work efficiently, and a system that is working efficiently will use less fuel than one that is working hard to produce warm air. Team up with Berico for your annual furnace maintenance and the job can be done quickly and for an affordable price.

Address Duct Leaks

One of the quickest ways to lose efficiency in your system is to have leaks in your air ducts. When there is a leak in the ducts, you’ll be losing some of your heated air to spaces like the attic that don’t need to be heated. As a result, the furnace is going to work even harder to warm the living areas of the house, and you’ll run up a bigger bill.

To determine if you have a leak, listen to the system as it operates. Specifically, pay attention to any whistling sounds you might hear, as those could indicate air sneaking out of the ducts. The work that needs to be done to repair or replace the ducts will depend on the design of your home but working with a professional contractor like Berico is always going to be your best bet.

Change the Air Filter

Consistently replacing the air filter that serves your furnace is one of the best things you can do as a homeowner. The filter needs to be fresh so it can pull particles out of the air that is heading in to be heated. Dirty air is going to build up inside the furnace and gradually degrade the efficiency of the whole system.

Air filters are both affordable and easy to swap out, so this is something that you should be able to address without any help from a professional. Make it a habit to keep a couple of extra air filters on hand and change them out as soon as you notice the old one getting too dirty.  Berico has a partnership that will deliver the right filter to your home on a regular basis so you don’t have to worry about keeping up with when to replace it or even have to shop for the right filter.

Sign up for the Berico filter service here: https://www.berico.com/staging/filters/

Take a Closer Look at Your Windows

Windows are a major source of energy loss in your home. A large piece of glass is going to allow more heat exchange with the outside than will a wall, so any room with a bunch of windows is going to be harder to keep warm. To mitigate this issue, think about covering most or all of your windows with blinds or drapes to help keep more warm air inside.

Also, if you live in an older home, upgrading your windows to new models can help with this problem. Older windows typically had just a single pane, which performed very poorly for energy efficiency. Modern, double-paned windows do much better, and will likely be sealed up tighter around the edges.

Consider Upgrading to a New Furnace

At some point, the best way to proceed may be to simply have a new furnace installed. New equipment is always going to be more efficient than older systems, so it will use less energy to keep your house at a comfortable temperature. And, if you have been finding that you have to pay for frequent repairs on your old system anyway, the upgrade to a new model is going to make a ton of sense all the way around.

Add a Humidifier to Living Spaces

This last tip is something you might not think of immediately when considering furnace efficiency, but it can actually work wonders. In the summer, this part of the world is quite humid, and the last thing you would want to do is add more moisture to the air. However, in the winter, the air dries out, and dry air has trouble holding onto heat. By adding a humidifier to some of the spaces in your home, you can make it easier for the air in those rooms to hold onto the heat that your furnace is creating. That will mean a boost in efficiency, and you might find your house more comfortable, as well.

Is it time for some Greensboro furnace repair work in your home? Heating repair in Greensboro is best handled by the team at Berico, so you don’t need to look any further for a contractor who is up to this challenge. As a leader in Greensboro HVAC, you can trust Berico to do quality work at an excellent price time after time.