When the weather outside is frightful, it’s time to stay inside. But if the windows and doors are drafty and the cold is coming inside, it isn’t very pleasant. There are ways to keep your home warm when the blustery northern winds are howling, and it won’t require expensive upgrades.
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Install a Programmable Thermostat
If you aren’t having to constantly fuss with the thermostat, it’s more likely your utility bill will be much lower. When everyone is gone during the day, you don’t need to keep the house a toasty 70 degrees. A programmable thermostat allows you to schedule different temperatures depending on the time of the day. You can set the temperature so the house is warm when everyone gets home and goes to bed, but it’s kept at a lower temperature when everyone is sleeping or at work/school.
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Use the Fireplaces Sparingly
You’ll feel toasty warm next to your roaring fire, but the rest of the house is going to suffer. The heat that isn’t warming the people huddled around it is shot through the chimney, and cold air is being pulled back into the house in other areas. This is known as the stack effect, and you’ll notice that the rest of the home is a lot colder than it was before you lit the fire. To mitigate this effect, put a glass front onto the fireplace and keep the flue closed when the fireplace isn’t being used.
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Keep Your Vents Exposed
When your house is feeling a bit chilly, it’s possible you’ve inadvertently placed some furniture over your heating vents, blocking the heat from being able to circulate well. Even one blocked vent can make a huge difference in how warm a room gets. If the vents are placed in an inconvenient spot, you can move your furniture back to that spot when it isn’t as important to keep your house warm. Homes with a forced-air central heating system will experience air pressure problems if a vent is blocked, and this decreases the efficacy of the heating system as a whole.
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Making Your Radiators More Effective
If you haven’t updated your heating system with a top Spokane valley furnace business yet, then you’ll need to make good use of your radiators. Applying tinfoil to the back of the radiator reflects the heat into the room instead of towards the ceiling, and you can use regular tinfoil safely. You can also put a shelf or table above (not on) the radiator to keep the heat from floating skywards.
Every house gets chilly on the coldest of days, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay burrowed under thick blankets and wear layers of clothes to stay comfortable in your own home.
