How Do I Conserve Heat During the Winter?

Winters in Puyallup, WA, are chilly, and your heating system will work hard in order to keep your home warm and comfortable. You don’t want to pay any more for home heating costs than necessary, so it’s important to consider how you can conserve heat during the wintertime. Use these eight tips to reduce heat loss from your home during the winter months of the year.

1. Seal Gaps and Cracks

Your heating system works hard to warm your home. You don’t want the heat to leak to the outdoors. Inspect the caulk and weatherstripping around doors, windows, and vent openings. If it’s damaged, cracked, or missing, replace it with the right type. Check around the openings for cable, plumbing, and electrical components. There may be gaps where cold air can infiltrate your home. If you have a fireplace, make sure that its damper and glass doors are closed when it’s not in use.

2. Add Insulation

Determine if your home meets the Department of Energy’s recommended R-value for insulation. If it doesn’t, add enough sprayed foam, blown-in, or rolled insulation. Focus on your attic and perimeter walls. An energy audit of your home can find where the air is leaking to the outdoors due to poor insulation.

3. Hang Heavy Drapes

In the winter, hang heavy drapes over your windows. Keep the drapes closed at night. This prevents the warm air inside from leaking through the window frame. On sunny days, open the windows. The sun’s energy will add some warmth to your living space.

4. Check Your Air Ducts

Leaky air ducts can allow the heated air to get wasted in the voids of your home’s walls, sub-floor, attic, and crawlspace or basement. Look at your ducts, and pay special attention to seams and turns. Look for dents, cracks, gaps, and other areas where the heated air may leak out. Your ducts may benefit from sealing, repairs, or replacement if a lot of air is leaking from them. Old, leaky ducts can waste as much as 30% of the air from your heating system.

5. Cook or Bake

Cooking meals generates a lot of heat. When you boil water on the cooktop or bake lasagna in the oven, some of the heat will be released into your living space. Although you should never use your oven as a space heater or as a source of heat, the warmth from cooking can help keep your home a little warmer during the daytime. The clothes dryer and dishwasher will have a similar effect on warming your home while they’re in use.

6. Improve Airflow

Use a ceiling fan to push the warm air down from the area near your ceiling to the lower part of the room where you sit or lay. In the wintertime, the direction of your ceiling fan’s movement should be clockwise. This motion will create an updraft of the cold air. The cold air will be pushed toward the intake vents in the upper part of the room. The warm air will move across the ceiling and down the walls, closer to where you spend most of your time. Set the fan to its lowest speed.

7. Use Draft Dodgers By Your Doors

You may have been to someone’s house where a long, heavy tube of fabric was at the bottom of the door. Many people call these a “draft dodger.” The purpose is to block cold air drafts around the bottom of the door. You can use a rolled-up towel, blanket, or even a coat to do the same thing.

8. Conserve Your Own Heat

Instead of turning the thermostat up to 78 degrees so that you can wear shorts and a T-shirt in January, use your own body heat to stay warm. Conserve your body heat by layering clothing. Start with a thin layer of synthetic fabric that wicks moisture away. Add cotton or blend layers, such as a knit top or woven flannel shirt. Wear a wool sweater and wool socks.

At Puyallup Heating & Air Conditioning, we’re proud to be the trusted providers of heating maintenance in Puyallup. We’re also available for air conditioning maintenance and heating and air conditioning repair and replacement services. You can also count on us for energy-efficient tankless water heaters and helpful indoor air quality solutions. To learn more about conserving heat during the winter, get in touch with us at Puyallup Heating & Air Conditioning today.