Save Energy and Keep Warm This Winter

As many Austinites can attest after getting their heating and cooling bills, Austin Energy’s rates and surrounding counties and cities can still hit the budget hard. So as the temperatures drop this winter, your heating bill goes up. According to the US Department of Energy, your heating accounts for about 30% of your energy use for the entire year, which is why the EPA recommends energy efficient upgrades. This means that your furnace is the largest energy consumer in your home. If you can save energy on your heating, you can save on heating bills too! It will significantly reduce your overall energy consumption and utility bills if you follow the following tips. Here are a few easy tips that we put together to help you save energy without sacrificing comfort.

• Have your furnace serviced. This is one of the single most important things you can do to ensure that your furnace runs efficiently. Over time, your hoses, filters, and other components of your system can get dirty and even clogged. This makes your unit work harder and reduces its efficiency which means you spend more money to get less heat. Contact us for furnace repair in Georgetown for fast, professional service.
• Ditch the drafts. Cold air can leak into your home in the form of drafts from underneath doors and through windows that are improperly sealed. Use a rolled up towel to block off the bottom of your doors. Make sure that all of your windows and door frames have weather stripped and are caulked.
• Use your fan, in reverse. Flip the switch on your ceiling fans from down to up. This will cause them to rotate clockwise and help circulate warm air from the ceiling and distribute it throughout your home.
• Bundle up. Wear warm clothes even when you’re inside.
• If you have a fireplace, use it. This will help keep your home warm while using your furnace less often.

Follow these tips to stay toasty this winter without breaking the bank. You might also want to look into buying a more energy efficient furnace if yours is older than 1992. This can save you thousands of dollars in the long run. Call us today to see if it is time to upgrade.