As the warm days of the Twin Cities summer fade away, it’s past time to think about heating your home during the colder months ahead. Winterizing your home not only keeps your house warmer, but also reduces the amount of energy you need to heat your home. These winterization tips will help you and your family stay warm and cozy, and allow you to save a few bucks along the way.
- Get a furnace check-up. Before you run your furnace, have a professional HVAC technician inspect it to se
e if it’s running properly and if it needs any repairs or updates. He should clean and adjust parts and components, and check venting and ductwork. Proper furnace maintenance keeps your furnace running safely and at peak efficiency, while saving you money. - Reverse your ceiling fans. We all know that ceiling fans help make you feel cooler in the summer, but they also can help warm your home in the winter. Reversing the rotation of the fan blades to clockwise blows air upward, pushing the heat pooling near the ceiling outward and down into the room where you – and your thermostat – can feel it.
- Seal leaks. Check around windows, doors, heating ducts, wall switches and pipes that come through your floor, wall or ceiling to see if they are properly sealed. Caulking or weatherstripping any leaks will reduce your heating bill by as much as 10 to 15 percent.
- Clean or replace furnace filters. HVAC filters collect dirt and dust, and keep these particulates from being sucked into your furnace and blown into your home. When the filter gets dirty, your furnace does not run as efficiently. Inspect filters once a month and replace them when they’re dirty.
- Let the sunshine in. Open sun-facing window curtains, shades and blinds during the day to allow the sun to heat your home naturally. Close curtains, blinds or insulated drapes in the evening to provide a layer of insulation.
- Put plastic on your windows. Covering your windows in plastic will eliminate most drafts. You can buy inexpensive, easy-to-install window insulation kits at almost any hardware or department store.
If you would like to hear more winterization tips or have any other questions about heating or cooling your Twin Cities home, please contact the professionals at Marsh Heating & Air Conditioning for advice and assistance.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about winterization tips and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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