Quick fixes to lower home heating costs
Your home may be your castle, but you don’t have to pay a king’s ransom to keep it warm. Here are some solutions to common problems.
1. It’s cold inside
If you haven’t already sealed out wintry drafts, apply weather-stripping and clear plastic film over windows, and add door sweeps.
To find out where else your home is losing energy, hire an energy auditor ($250 to $600) who is certified by Home Performance With Energy Star (www.energystar.gov) or the Building Performance Institute (www.bpi.org).
Pepco offers an energy audit called the Quick Home Energy Check-up Program. For more information, see https://homeenergysavings.pepco.com/quick-home-energy-check-up-program or call 1-866-353-5798.
Dominion Power offers energy audits through contractors. For more information, see https://www.dom.com/dominion-virginia-power/customer-service/energy-conservation/residential-energy-check-up.jsp or call 1-888-366-8280.
2. Your furnace could be kaput
If your furnace is more than 15 years old, you could be sending one-third to half of the fuel it uses up the flue. Replace it with a new, Energy Star-qualified gas- or oil-burning furnace that runs with at least 90 to 95 percent efficiency.
The cost of swapping an older gas furnace for a high-efficiency one starts in the range of $2,000 to $6,000, but it can cost from $7,000 to $12,000 or more, depending on model and capacity, according to CostHelper.com.
If your old furnace was originally rated for 78 percent efficiency and the new unit is 90 percent efficient, you’ll save about $14 for every $100 you currently spend on fuel, according to the Department of Energy.
3. Take a holistic approach
If your air conditioning is more than 10 years old and uses the furnace’s blower to move cooled air through your home, replace both your AC and furnace simultaneously. That will decrease your total cost by about one-third compared with staggered installation.
For even greater savings, you could install a “dual fuel” system, with a heat pump and gas furnace. The heat pump will heat and cool your home, say, from spring through fall. In the winter, a “smart thermostat” will fire up the furnace when outdoor temperatures drop below 40 degrees.
4. Who you gonna call?
For installation, maintenance or repair, look for a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) contractor who is a member of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (www.acca.org) and employs technicians certified by North American Technician Excellence. The best contractors subscribe to ACCA’s “Quality Installation Checklist,” posted on its website.
5. Roll in R2D2
For those rooms where you still need to wear furry slippers and a Snuggie, consider either a convection or radiant portable space heater (about $30 to $150). For greatest efficiency, match the heater’s size to the rooms where you’ll use it, and get one with thermostatic control.
For safety, choose an electric model with the Underwriter’s Laboratory label and a tip-over safety switch that will shut off the unit if it falls over.
Patricia Mertz Esswein is an associate editor at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.
©2014 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.