Energy Saving Tips to Lower Your Heating Bill

Keep the Cold Out, and the Heat In

Poor insulation and tiny openings let the cold air in and allows the heat to escape. Many of these small cracks and openings can be closed up simply and permanently with a can of expanding foam, which is available at nearly every hardware store.

From the outside, check around the parameter of your house and look for every cable or pipe that enters into your home. In most cases, the hole drilled into the side of the house is slightly larger than the pipe or wire. The resulting gaps not only allow heat to escape, but might also enable insects and mice to enter into your nice warm home. Examples include telephone, cable TV and Direct TV access points, the filler pipe to your oil tank, and outside faucets for lawn sprinklers and garden hoses. In some cases, there may be a sleeve or collar covering the hole which can be removed to access the gap. Use the expanding foam to seal these areas completely.

Fill The Gaps

Check for gaps around -- and under -- the moldings of exterior window frames, door jams and garage door frames, especially if the door opening was made in a poured concrete foundation. Even where the concrete foundation meets the wood of the home (known as the sill plate) can have small gaps and openings.

Also check the dryer vent; chances are good that the light plastic cover is hiding a large gap where the hole was cut through the side of the house. Fill these gaps with the expanding foam.

Insulate For Savings

Inspect the insulation in your attic. . Chances are, the building contractor installed just enough insulation to meet the local building codes in your area.

Wear gloves while checking for areas where ductwork and wiring penetrate the ceiling below.

If the insulation was pulled back, carefully and neatly replace the insulation to keep the rising warm air from the living space from escaping into the colder attic.

Adding another layer of insulation is relatively inexpensive and can be done by most DIY types, but you may want to contract with a professional. This minor expense will pay you back quickly, both in energy savings and in increased comfort of warmer rooms.

The extra insulation will also help keep your home cooler in the summer, trapping more warm air in the attic before it enters the living spaces below.

Schedule Your Heat

Installing a programmable thermostat is one of the best ways to reduce the amount of energy used to heat (or cool) your home. Most programmable thermostats have only a few, color coded wires and include detailed instructions to simplify the installation. There are many makes and models available to match your heating and air conditioning system, and most of the large home centers offer a wide selection with the instructions on the outside of the box to help guide you in selecting a compatible thermostat for your specific heating system.

A seven day programmable thermostat offers the most flexibility, and allows you to set up schedules to heat your home comfortably while you're there, yet allow the inside temperature to drop slightly while you are at work. We use a schedule to lower the heat every evening at 9:00 PM, and then schedule the heat to kick up at 5:30 AM the next morning. This gives the furnace enough time to take the chill out of the air before we get up. The schedule drops the temperature several degrees during the weekdays, and kicks it back up late in the afternoon before we get home from school and work. Using the seven day schedule, we set different time schedules for the weekend.

Just using a programmable thermostat saved us more than 5% off of our heating bills -- without changing the comfort level of our home. Lowering the thermostat just a few degrees will save even more.

Convert Standard Light Bulbs to CFLs

Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CLFs) use less electricity and last longer than traditional incandescent light bulbs. Using approximately 75% less energy, the pay back for purchasing CLFs is typically less then a year. And because CLFs last five to ten times longer than a standard bulb, the savings is increased -- as much as $50 over the lifetime of a Compact Fluorescent Lamp.

No longer limited to just the curly spiraled look, CLFs are now available in styles designed to fit many types of lamp and ceiling fixtures, track and recessed lighting, and for use outdoors. Some models even work with dimmers - just be sure to read the labels carefully before making your purchase.

Innovations in CLF design has improved the brightness and the lighting spectrum (the color of the light) over the early Compact Fluorescent Lamp. Not only are the new CLF much more energy efficient, they also look good when in use around your home.

LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) are the latest trending interior lighting. While still very expensive, costing as much as $50.00 or more per bulb, LEDs are more energy efficient than CLFs and can last for a decade. Prices will likely drop as manufacturing production and consumer demand picks up. Imagine, changing a light bulb only once every ten years.

There are many, many other small changes which can help to conserve energy and save money. Here are 5 more Energy Savings Tips:

Look carefully around your home for unnecessary lights, especially in electronics and appliances, and turn them off whenever possible.

Reduce 100 watt bulbs to 75 watts. Better yet, replace standard light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps.

Lower the temperature on your hot water heater.

Replace the filters in your forced hot air heating system every two months.

Check faucets for small drips and replace the washers.

All of these relatively small and easy steps will add up to significant savings, and help to put a few dollars back into your pocket.