Keeping the temperature in your home comfortable can be more complicated than it seems. If you live in a cold or hot climate, your bills can skyrocket especially during summer or winter. Keep reading to learn about common mistakes that could be costing you more than you think.
Turning Off the Heat When You Leave Home
Even though turning your thermostat off when you are not home may seem like a simple way to save money, it is wasteful. It forces your thermostat to worker harder than normal to heat or cool. If you wish to save money, your goal should be to maintain an even temperature all the time.
Setting the Wrong Temperature
Setting the wrong temperature on your thermostat could make your home uncomfortable. If the temperature is too high, it leads to stuffiness and wastage of energy. Even though different people may have different opinions of what is comfortable, the living room temperature should be an average of 70°F. In the United States, the temperature should not exceed 75°F. Shut the doors in unused rooms.
Turning Your Thermostat All the Way Up
Do not turn your thermostat all the way up in the hope of cooling or heating your space faster. Your thermostat temperature setting only sets the intended temperature for your home. It will cool or heat at the same speed regardless of how high you set your temperature. Avoid setting your temperature too high or too low. It is an expensive mistake that only sets you up for overheating or overcooling.
Using programmable thermostats makes it possible to conserve energy without having to come home to cold rooms.
Poor Maintenance
Failure to get routine service checks may promote inefficiency. If your heating and cooling systems are not maintained regularly, they are likely to underperform. You may have to put up with high costs of regular repairs. During a maintenance check, your HVAC technician will identify possible problems and take care of them before they get out of hand.
Everyone dreads the idea of having to spend more money on their heating and cooling bills than they need to. However, that does not have to be the case. With some minor changes, you can enjoy comfortable temperatures without having to pay too much.