Saving Energy At Your Home This Winter
Another New England winter is on our doorstep, and with it will come higher heating and energy bills. But don’t despair: there is plenty you can do to keep those home energy bills in check!
Ten Home Energy Tips
Here are 10 of the best ways to keep your propane or heating oil bills as low as possible in your northern Rhode Island or southeastern Massachusetts home:
- Apply caulk and weather-stripping to doors and windows to minimize heat loss and keep cold air out.
- When you’re home, aim for a thermostat temperature of 68° for the best balance of efficiency and comfort; when you’re asleep or away from home, turn thermostat back eight to ten degrees* for eight hours to save about 10 percent a year on your heating bills.
- Turn down the temperature of your water heater thermostat. Many have a default setting of 130° degrees or more; 120° degrees is plenty.
- Have your oil- or propane-fired heating system professionally inspected and serviced – without professional heating maintenance, your heating system loses an average of about five percent efficiency per year.
- Check your furnace filters every month during the height of heating season, cleaning or changing them when necessary.
- Keep your fireplace flue damper closed unless a fire is burning; if you don’t use your fireplace at all, consider having your chimney plugged.
- Remove obstructions (furniture, curtains, etc.) from in front of vents, baseboard heaters and radiators.
- Open curtains and shades during the day to let in warmth from the sun, then close them at night to retain that heat.
- Reverse your ceiling fans so they push warm air back into the room rather than drawing it up and away from your living space.
- Replace older incandescent holiday lighting strings with their LED equivalent.
Bonus Tip #11: Buy your fuel from W.H. Riley & Son. You’ll always get competitive heating oil and propane pricing, along with the most reliable propane delivery and heating oil delivery service in our MA and RI service area. Contact us today to become a W.H. Riley & Son customer!
*Avoid dropping temperatures this much on extremely cold nights, as it can put you at risk for frozen pipes.