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Title: Winterizing Your Home
Author: John Bogdanski
Article:
Strategies to Combat Heat Loss in Your Home
The objective of any comprehensive heating program is to allow
maximum heating at the lowest cost. The three areas of influence
that you, the consumer, control are: winterization of your home,
heating oil costs and appliance efficiency. While the latter two
are important to an overall program, winterizing your home is an
integral part of any successful program. A well thought out and
executed program for winterizing your home will invariably give
you the largest return on investment of the three. Savings can
range from 5-20% by employing these simple, yet inexpensive,
measures.
A good winterization program is composed of three main elements:
* Appliance performance * Personal behaviors * Structural
considerations
Appliance performance:
* Change air filters in your furnace at least once a month. Air
filters allow only clean air into the furnace, keeping the
mechanics dirt and grim free. A dirty furnace works twice as
hard as a clean one.
* Insulate your water heater if using heating oil. Maintaining
the temperature longer requires less fuel consumption.
* Keep vents obstructions free. Use deflectors to re-route air
around obstructions.
* Use humidifiers. Moist air creates a humid effect making your
home feel warmer.
Personal behaviors:
* Open the curtains when sunlight is available and close them
when it is not.
* Use common sense. Re-evaluate your actual living space. Close
off spare bedrooms and other areas not requiring heat. Restrict
the in and out traffic of children. Dress warmly.
* Lower the settings on thermostats and consider using
programmable thermostats that automatically vary heat settings
throughout a 24-hour period
* Use ceiling fans can keep the air circulating and spread the
heat in each room. Structural considerations:
* Check the heating ductwork. Insure sections are tightly
fitted, free of holes and sealed with tape. Aluminum tape is a
little more expensive, but holds up better under moisture from
condensation. Winterizing ductwork by wrapping it in insulation
is another option.
* Cold floors result in air inside the home cooling off and
requiring re-heating. While some ventilation is required to
reduce moisture, check the crawl space for excessive drafts.
Seal these with plastic, plywood or Styrofoam. A vapor barrier
may reduce excessive dampness as a means of further winterizing
the crawl space.
* An annual inspection of exterior caulking around all window
and door casings is recommended. Check window glazing in older
windows as another source of heat loss.
* Consider winterizing water lines with foam sleeves. It
prevents freezing and keeps water as warm as possible.
* Check for drafts around external openings in the house:
windows, doors and chimneys. This can be done with a cigarette
or incense. Follow the smoke to the source of the draft. Your
local home supply store will carry winterization tape,
insulating foam, or caulk that will seal these leaks; keeping
heat in and cold out.
* Older single-pane windows often allow heat loss through the
framing of the window itself. Covering these windows with clear
plastic will help remedy this winterization deficiency.
Note: Care must be taken not to exclude the entrance of all
fresh air.
* Insure you have 6-8 inches of insulation in your attic or loft
area. Heat is lost through the roof if improperly insulated.
Materials for this are available at your local home improvement
store.
This is not a total list of all that can be done, but it should
get you started on your individual winterization program. Look
around your home and think it through. Each situation is unique
and will offer you opportunities to save money if you winterize
properly. STAY WARM!
About the author:
For more information on Home Heating Oil Prices and energy
solutions, visit <a
href="http://www.homeheatingoilprices.com">Home Heating Oil
Prices </a> Do your research,save yourself some money. John
Bogdanski a renegade Oil Heat marketing executive, rips open the
curtain, exposing the industry.
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