Labor Day weekend is fast approaching. With it, as always, means closing the door on summer and looking ahead to the cooler temperatures and falling leaves of Autumn. Like any other season, Fall brings with it a unique set of challenges and reminders for home performance and home energy.
As the Labor Day weekend approaches, we thought we’d develop a blog series with ways that you can ensure you’re saving the most energy possible as we move into cooler temperatures this fall.
Here are some tips that you can follow on your own to help:
- Change your furnace filters. Something that is easy to forget yet can have a major impact on your heating system’s performance—switching out furnace filters. This 10 second project, though sometimes hard to remember, is a necessity. Switch out these filters once per month during the months in which you use your furnace the most. Your furnace will thank you for it.
- Use the heat from the sun. If you have curtains on your windows, open them on the south-facing windows of your home during the day in colder months. This will allow warm sunlight to naturally add heat to your home, reducing the need to switch on (or turn up) your heating source on nicer days. Close these curtains during the nights to reduce drafts or chills you may feel from the cold windows.
- Insulate your pipes. We regularly talk about the importance of lowering your water heater thermostat settings, but often ignore the source of getting that hot water to where you want it used. Insulating hot water pipes will ensure you’re not wasting the energy it took to heat up the water in the first place. Pipe insulation is cheap and can do wonders for your water heating costs and energy requirements.
We’ll be following up with more tips for the fall to increase your home’s efficiency shortly. Stay tuned for our final blog post in this Labor Day weekend home performance tips series!
