Saving Money on Heating and Air Conditioning

We as a species are a fickle bunch. We are rarely content with the ambient air temperature in our homes. We'll even go so far as to say 65°F is "freezing" in Winter, when we'd love to have 65°F just a couple months prior in the Summer heat. Obviously heating and air conditioning are a necessity, and are something we must pay for, but we can pay less with a few simple and inexpensive steps.

Air infiltration, or air leaks, is air passing in and out of the living space of our homes. You may already live in a well sealed home, or you may live in a "drafty old house". Either way, you can reduce the air infiltration in and out of your home very simply, with caulk. Walk around your home on a windy or cold day and run your hand around the window & door casings of your home. You could also use an incense stick and watch the smoke, it will plainly show you the slightest draft. Be sure to get down near the floor too, you'll likely only do this job once so it pays to do it correctly. If you feel a temperature difference or feel wind (or see the smoke moving from the incense stick), you have air leaks. Fixing air leaks is fairly straightforward, simply caulk the gaps. There are a couple ways to go about this and by far the easiest way is to simply run a bead around the trim of the window or door casing. The other way involves removing the trim, which is certainly do-able, as long as you're confident you won't break anything. If the air is coming in around the door itself you'll need to improve the weatherstripping around the door itself. Don't caulk your door shut! Improving the seal around a door can be done with adhesive backed foam, or a whole new weatherstripping. Obviously the metal framed weatherstripping is going to net the best results, but it will also require the most fiddling around for proper fitting. Door weatherstripping is available in kit form to simplify the process.

Ladies should appreciate this one as well as the guys. Heavy window coverings, in the way of drapes, curtains and blinds. These items can net amazing results with the added benefit of sprucing up a room. Any type or style can be used, as long as two criteria are met. They must be heavy fabric and they must fit properly. I've had great luck with roman blinds, but your mileage may vary. Two important steps must be followed for heavy window coverings to save you money. First they must fit properly. Three inches around the outside of the window minimum. Second, they must be used properly. That means that on a hot Summer day, they must be closed to keep the sun out, and on a sunny cold Winter day they must be open to allow the sun in and warm the home. Also at night when the weather is cold they must be closed to keep the heat in the house. Heavy window coverings can be taken a step further and cut to fit polystyrene insulation (aka blueboard) could be installed in the window openings. I believe traditional coverings would be a more attractive option. Heavy window coverings also have the added benefit of reducing noise, in addition to their insulation qualities.

The Thermostat. The humble dial on the wall. This can be a big energy saver as well. You've likely seen the fancy touch screen programmable version that costs too much and eats batteries for breakfast. You can buy one for much less that will do everything you need. A seven day thermostat with four settings per day will suffice for most people. The idea behind a programmable thermostat is to lower the temperature automatically while you're away or asleep. The savings can be huge with this one, but wiring can be tricky.

This last one requires the most time and effort on the part of the homeowner, but should not be overlooked. It involves insulating the single pane glass of basement windows, and the rim joists. Rim joists are the boards that are above the concrete, and below the floor of your home. They are often exposed in some way (hopefully not directly) to the outside wall. The common method of insulating the rim joists is to spray foam insulation across the cavity, but this involves special equipment and will likely be beyond the reach of many homeowners. So, we'll tackle this a different way. First you'll need to measure the area of all the windows and exposed rim joists. You'll need to take that measurement and figure out how many sheets of polystyrene insulation you'll need. From there you simply cut to fit and install. Within the rim joists it may also be a good idea to go around the edges of the insulation with expanding foam (Great Stuff is a popular brand) to in effect seal the cavity.

Another more innovative way to add essentially free heat to your home is with your electric clothes dryer. If you have a gas dryer you'll want to skip this, and under no circumstances should it be attempted with a gas fired clothes dryer. Those folks out there that are really frugal likely hang their clothes to dry, but in the winter the electric dryer can be an asset. Instead of venting the electric dryer outside and wasting all the heat it generates, vent it into the living space (do not attempt this with a gas dryer!). Venting the electric dryer into the living space has two benefits, most obvious is the heat it generates, the other is the added humidity. In winter when all the moisture outside is frozen solid, this is a great bonus. The negative aspects of doing this would be first, the lint, it gets everywhere. We deal with the lint, and it gives us a reason to clean the laundry room more often. You can mitigate the amount of lint going into the room by using a lint trap designed for indoor venting. Thankfully, they are fairly inexpensive. You could also make one out of a bucket if you're handy. The other possible negative aspect would be too much humidity. We deal with this aspect with fans, which also helps spread the heat around.

Another idea if you have a fireplace. Use it. So many people think they are just for decoration, when they actually can cut down on your heating costs significantly. Obviously adding wood to a fire involves more work on our part, and the fire must be watched, but if you're pinching pennies, it makes sense to use the tools you have. However keep in mind some of the older fireplaces actually suck the heat out of the house through the chimney when a fire is going. There is also a slight learning curve getting the dampers set properly, but our ancestors did it, and so can we.

And there we have it. A couple weekends worth of work that could literally save you thousands on heating and cooling costs. What are you waiting for? Go save some money!