If you have concerns that your winter utility bill may rival your summer air conditioning costs, taking a few precautions to tighten up your home helps you efficiently heat your home. The best part? Following these tips helps you save money for many Arizona seasons to come – winter, summer, spring, and fall.
Are Your Walls and Attic Properly Insulated?
If your heater struggles to keep your home warm, it may be due to poor insulation in your walls and attic space. In fact, insufficient insulation is responsible for around a quarter of all energy waste in a typical home. Ensuring your home has the right amount – and type – of insulation helps improve your heating system’s effectiveness. It also reduces the amount of wasted energy, as well as wasted energy dollars. Older homes, in particular, are likely to suffer from poor insulation.
Have You Sealed Any Air Duct Leaks?
It never hurts to run a routine check on the seals around your home’s air ducts. No matter how high you turn up the thermostat, if air leaks out of the ducts, you’re not going to get the cozy, warm air you expect when you turn on the heater.
Does the Thermostat Stay Low?
It may sound counterproductive, but there are many great alternatives for heating your Arizona home other than cranking up the thermostat. A few of these include:
- Leaving drapes and shades open during the day and closing them at night
- Leaving the oven door open after use
- Using space heaters
Discovering where air leaks out of your home gives you a repair schedule for the future, even if you can’t complete every repair this winter. The best part is that following many of these tips helps cool air stay inside during the summer, too.
