During the colder winter months, follow these tips to enhance your home’s comfort level, lower your energy bills, and go green by reducing your home’s energy carbon footprint.

  • Check caulking and weatherstripping around doors and windows for damage or wear, and replace as needed.
  • Cut down on drafts by installing insulation gaskets behind your electric switch plate covers and outlets.
  • Dress warmly when indoors in the winter months (while turning down your thermostat a few degrees) so your heating system doesn’t have to do all of the work to keep you comfortable. Wear warm socks and layers of clothing.
  • In heavy seasonal usage, replace or clean the filter in a forced-air furnace once a month. It pays to have extras on hand.
  • Regular inspection of your heating system by professionals is a good idea, which can head off problems during seasonal peak performance periods.
  • Use an occasional humidifier to keep the interior air damp. Higher humidity is healthier and makes air feel warmer on your skin, so your furnace doesn’t have to work overtime keeping you warm.
  • Reduce drafts from windows by closing curtains and draperies. Consider replacing older windows with Energy Star-rated double-pane insulated windows. According to Energy.gov, replacing older windows helps eliminate weak spots in the home’s thermal envelope, reducing both heating costs and environmental impact.
  • Isolate unused rooms, turning off the heating to those areas and closing the doors, so your furnace can use its energy to heat the areas you are occupying.
  • Consider replacing your thermostat with an Energy Star-rated zone-programmable model. These thermostats can automatically adjust for daytime and nighttime conditions, for periods when you are regularly away, and for variable temperatures in different areas (zones) in your home.
  • One of the best energy-saving tips is to simply turn the thermostat down. Doing this overnight and during periods when you’re away can reduce heating costs by three to five percent for each degree of temperature you turn it down.

Proudly serving the Greater Wichita area, Comfort Systems is your trusted authority on energy-saving tips that are also ecologically sound. Contact us for answers to all your energy-related questions. Also ask about our free air quality analysis.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Wichita, Kansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about energy savings and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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