How You Can Help Minimize the Heat Leaving Your Home

With the temps dropping, the last thing you should have anxiety over is maintaining a comfortable home. It would be great to be lounging around on the couch enjoying the cozy warmth of your home and not worrying about the colder weather outside. Of course, it typically doesn’t happen that way, and there are a few issues that could be occurring in your home that might result in a need for furnace repair or a higher than normal energy bill.

There are a number of causes for higher utility bills, but we are highlighting a few of the more common ones we encounter.

1. Heat is getting out through the glass of your windows – when the warm air in your home reaches windows that are cold from the outdoor air, that air loses some of its heat. One way to help reduce the loss of heat is to make sure you’ve closed your drapes during the evening hours and only open the drapes on windows that have light coming in during the day.
2. Lack of attic insulation – if your home is older, there’s a likelihood that there is insufficient insulation. This means you could be losing heat through your attic, which forces your furnace to work harder to keep up, and might eventually harm your furnace. It’s not hard to determine if you have enough insulation, take a look and see if the insulation is below or even with the joists. If it is, it’s likely your attic needs some additional insulation.
3. Gaps in windows and doors – as you are taking a look to see if there are any gaps around your doors or windows, keep in mind that they aren’t always easy to notice. Make sure to take a close look at all of your windows and doors to determine whether weather stripping is needed take care of those gaps. Similar to attic insulation, window and door gaps can make your furnace work harder, potentially upping the chance that you’ll need furnace repair.

Hopefully, these tips help you determine any potential issues in your home that impacts your comfort. If you have any questions about furnaces, furnace repair or other ways to combat heat-loss, give us a call at 239-241-5318.