Easy Ways to Reduce Heating Costs

Here are two easy ways to reduce your winter heating costs and make the most of comfort indoors:

Give your ceiling fan a spin. Are you using your ceiling fan in the winter months? If not, you should, because it can actually help keep you warm. During the winter, set your ceiling fan to turn clockwise to push risen warm air down into a room. When the weather heats up, set the fan to turn counter-clockwise for a cooling breeze.

Reduce Energy Costs

Stop cold air infiltration. To avoid the most common cause of high heating bills, cold air infiltration, seal up the obvious places and a few spaces you didn’t think of, like your outlets and switches. 

Wall openings around outlets and switches that are on outside walls can let a blast of cold air into your house. Sealing these can reduce heating costs.  Home centers and electrical supply houses sell special gaskets which keep drafts to a minimum. To install them, remove the outlet or light switch covers. The gaskets, which have openings to fit over the outlet or switches, are then placed between the device and the metal cover plate. Be sure you turn the electricity off before installing gaskets to avoid electric shocks.