Energy Saving Tips
Heating Energy Savings Tips
- Make sure your heating system receives professional maintenance each year.
- Clean and replace filters on furnaces once a month as needed.
- Place heat-resistant radiator reflectors between exterior walls and the radiator.
- Insulate your hot water heater tank and hot water pipes to prevent heat loss. This can raise water temperatures
by 2-4 degrees F and you can lower your water.
- Temperature. Set your water heater temperature at 120 degrees. Insulating your cold water pipes prevents
condensation; water damage & mold build up.
- Insulate heating ducts in unheated areas such as attics and crawlspaces, and keep them in good repair, to
prevent heat loss of up to 60 percent at the registers.
- Block the leaks. Check the most common areas that leak, such as recessed lighting, window frames, door frames,
attic hatches, plumbing and electrical bypasses in the attic, and electrical outlets. Use weather-stripping, door
sweeps, foam, and caulk to seal up leaks. This could reduce energy usage by 10-20%.
- Insulate. You should have a minimum of 12 inches of (Fiberglass) insulation in your attic. If you don't know
how to tell, look at your ceiling joists. If you can see them, you need more insulation. Also look into
insulating your walls and floors above crawl spaces, as well as the attic hatch or stairs.
- Check the ducts on forced hot air systems and baseboards on hot water systems. Ducts aren't always easy to see,
but you can often find them exposed in the attic, the basement, and in crawl spaces. Ducts should be vacuumed
once every few years, to clean the abundant dust, animal hair, and other things that gather in that will impede
the flow of hot air through the house. Clean hot-air registers, baseboard heaters, and radiators as needed; make
sure furniture, carpeting and drapes do not block them.
- Don't forget the windows. Storm windows are very helpful, especially if you have old, single-pane glass
windows. Replacing windows can be very pricey and the experts say to do a few at a time. However, in the
meantime, buy a kit you can get at your local hardware store. It is a special kind of plastic sheeting that is
affixed to the window's interior with a hair dryer. The heat from the hairdryer shrinks the sheeting to the
window. It is pretty inexpensive, can be quite effective, and is easy to remove in the spring.
- Remember the chimney. Chimneys need to be swept; however, it does not need to be done every year. Just make
sure it has been at least inspected before you start using it for the year. However, woodstove chimneys should be
cleaned once a year. Buy a cap for your chimney to keep foreign objects out. Also to keep cold air out,
fireplace/woodstove owners should keep the damper closed when it isn't in use. Fireplace owners should also keep
the glass doors shut when it is not in use. If the chimney is not used, install an inflatable chimney pillow or
caulked-in foam plug to better seal.
- Stone wall foundations in old homes are incredibly leaky. Hire a contractor to spray 2 inches of sprayed foam,
or ridged insulation from the subfloor down to the floor this will stop air infiltration, insulate against
freezing temperatures and reduce moisture infiltration.
- Make sure all fan-driven exterior vents (dryer, stove, bathroom etc) have an exterior flap that closes tightly
when the fan is off. Clear vent flaps of lint and other debris so they close tightly.
- Check for holes or cracks around walls, ceilings, windows, doors, light and plumbing fixtures, switches, and
electrical outlets that can leak air in and out of your home.
- Drain a quart of water from your hot water tank every 3 months to remove sediment that impedes heat transfer and
lowers the efficiency of your heater. The type of water tank you have determines the steps to take, so follow the
manufacturer's advice.
- Install heat traps on the hot and cold pipes at the water heater to prevent heat loss. Some new water heaters
have built-in heat traps.
- Insulate at least 6 feet of the hot and cold water pipes connected to the water heater.
General Energy Saving Tips
- Run your kitchen, bath and other ventilation fans for at least 20 minutes after you are done cooking or
bathing, a timer on your fan works great.
- Install a programmable thermostat that adjusts the temperature according to your schedule. Reducing your
thermostat by 7 degrees at night will save you 10% in your heating costs.
- Bleed trapped air from hot water radiators once or twice a season; if in doubt about how to perform the task,
call a professional.
- Use fans during the summer to create a wind chill effect that will make your home feel more comfortable. If
using AC a ceiling fan will allow you to raise the thermostat setting by 4 degrees F with no reduction in comfort.
- Check the furnace. Turn the furnace on now to make sure it is working before the cold weather hits. It is a
good idea to have the furnace cleaned and tuned annually. While this maintenance is being performed by heating
technician, make sure of the following: the thermostat and pilot light are working properly; the fuel pipe
entering your furnace doesn't have a leak; check the heating exchanger for cracks, as a crack can bring carbon
monoxide in to the home; and finally, make sure to change the filter in forced hot air systems. The filter should
be changed monthly during the heating season. Homeowners can change the furnace filter themselves.
- Reverse your fan. By reversing the direction of the fan after summer, the fan will push warm air downwards and
force it to re-circulate. To do this, when you look up at the fan makes sure it is turning clockwise.
- Wrap the pipes. Before the temperature hits freezing, make certain that the water to your hose is shut off
inside your house and that the excess is draining. Next, go looking for pipes in the crawlspaces, basement, and
garages that aren't insulated. Wrap them with pre-molded foam rubber sleeves.
- Clean your gutters. In the fall, once the leaves have fallen, make sure to clean out the gutters on your house, as clogged gutters can cause water
to back up and freeze, causing ice jams. Such ice jams will cause water to seep into your home. When washing out
the gutters, also look for leaks and misaligned pipes.
- Check the alarms. Check the operation of all of your smoke detectors. Also, check to make sure your fire
extinguisher is still where it should be and up to date. Finally, make sure to have a carbon monoxide detector.
Every home should have at least one.
- Use compact fluorescent light bulbs. If every US household replaced just one incandescent bulb with a Energy
Star qualified fluorescent bulb, it would save enough energy to light 7 million homes and save $600 million in
utility bills.
- Air dry dishes instead of using the dishwasher's dry cycle.
- Turn off the computer and monitor when not in use.
- Plug in home electronics, such as TV's and DVD players, into power strips; turn the power strip off when the
equipment is not in use. When you replace this equipment make sure it is Energy Star qualified models.
- Take short showers (5 minutes) instead of baths. 15% of an average home energy bill goes to heating water.
- Use cold water for laundry and save up to $63 a year.
- Wash only full loads of clothes and dishes.
- Look for ways to use lighting control, such as occupancy sensors, dimmers, or timer to reduce lighting energy
use.
- Consider natural-gas on-demand or tank less water heaters. Researchers have found savings can be up to 30%
compared with a standard natural-gas storage tank water heater.
- Consider installing a drain water waste heat recovery system. A recent DOE study showed energy savings of 25%
to about 30% for water heating using such a system.
- Buy an energy efficient water heater. It may cost more initially but energy savings will continue during the
lifetime of the appliance.
- Although most water heaters last 10-15 years, it is best to start shopping for a new one if yours is more than
7 years old. Do your research before you must have one.
- Repair leaky faucets promptly; a leaky faucet wastes gallons of water in a short period of time.
- Install aerating, low-flow faucets and shower heads.
- Select a shower head with a flow rate of less than 2.5 gpm for maximum water efficiency. Before 1992, some
showerheads had flow rates of 5.5 gpm, so you might want to replace them if you are not sure of their flow rates
- If heating a swimming pool, consider a swimming pool cover. Evaporation is by far the largest source of energy
loss in swimming pools.
- You might qualify for tax credits or rebates for buying a solar water heater.
- For a quick hand rinse, do not turn on the hot water. By the time the water gets hot, you finished rinsing your
hands.
Eliminate the Headaches with a Professional Energy Audit
Are you a do-it-yourself kind of person? Someone who likes to save money while taking pride in the work you've done? Are you considering improving the energy efficiency of your home? This time, instead of figuring it out on your own, you might want to consider calling in a professional to conduct an energy audit. I guarantee it will save you time, money and headaches.
There are hundreds of "How To" books out there that address everything from basic electric and carpentry to computing (that one I need). But I've never found one on "improving the energy performance of your home" that's written in basic layman's terms. And trying to find a class that teaches energy improvements is almost impossible. So going it alone without guidance can be a very dangerous and expensive way to make home improvements, and can leave you with the sinking feeling of, "I wish I knew that before I took on this project." In past articles I've written about additional energy improvement work you could incorporate when replacing your siding, roofing, and/or furnace. Today I want to talk about the value of having a professional energy audit that can not only make your home more comfortable and save you money, but leave you feeling comfortable with the decisions you make.
As with the human body, each house operates as a system and while each home has similar characteristics, it is also very unique and further complicated by the inhabitant's lifestyle. Books on energy improvements are purely generic, however, ignoring the details particular to your own home and its unique characteristics.
Some typical mistakes I have seen include: 1. Replacement of windows with the belief it's going to solve all of your heating and cooling problems. 2. Adding insulation to your attic without considering air sealing, the real cause of ice dams. 3. Insulating your basement walls or ceiling without addressing the potential of freezing pipes or creating carbon monoxide poisoning. 4. Replacing your furnace or boiler with the same BTU output of your old unit.
An energy improvement plan for your home can only be identified by a certified BPI / HERS Energy Auditor, who recommends customized, specific improvements based on information found during the Energy Audit, and presents them to you in a prioritized report that takes into account cost, practicality and comfort.
An Energy Audit is also valuable because it can qualify you for an Energy Improvement Loan. EIMs have a lower interest rate than a typical home improvement loan, and are available at most banks.
So now that you have the knowledge, money, and confidence go ahead with those home energy improvements.
Websites for Additional Tips
This information gathered from multiple sources is brought to you by Building Alternatives Inc.
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Alternative Energy Audits, a division of Building Alternatives, Inc.
