Ways to Save on Heating Bills

Adam's Apple

Senior Member
Apr 25, 2004
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Beating the Record High Cost of Winter
By Mary Hunt, Everyday Cheapskate
November 21, 2005

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, stopping air leaks in a house can save as much as 40 percent on the home's heating and cooling costs.
The basic tools needed to tighten up a home are a good all-purpose caulk, a caulking gun, filler caulk for larger holes, weather stripping for doors and windows and insulating gaskets for electrical outlets. You may also need expanding foam to fill larger holes.

LIGHT SWITCHES AND ELECTRICAL OUTLETS: Install foam gaskets behind all light switches and electrical outlet covers, even those in interior walls. These simple foam gaskets help seal the holes created when the outlets and light switches are built into homes. After installing the gaskets, use child safety plugs to keep the cold air from coming in through the sockets. Find foam gasket kits at home-improvement stores, or cut your own from the foam trays that come with packaged meat.

AIR CONDITIONERS: Remove window air conditioners. If they can't be removed, seal up the area around the unit with removable rope caulk and add an air conditioner window insulation blanket.

WINDOWS AND DOORS: Weather-strip and caulk all cracks between walls and window trim, especially under windowsills. Replace broken glass, and putty any loose windowpanes. Caulk around the moving parts of windows with a non-permanent caulk during the winter. This type of caulk can be easily removed in the spring.

RECESSED LIGHTS AND BATHROOM FANS: Caulk around these from below with high-temperature, flexible caulk.

OTHER EXTERIOR WALL HOLES: Seal around all ceiling fixtures, heat registers, medicine cabinets, bathtubs, kitchen cabinets, drains and water pipes where they enter the walls, and any other holes in exterior walls.

FIREPLACE: When the fireplace is not in use, keep the flue damper tightly closed. A chimney is designed specifically for smoke to escape, so until you close it, warm air escapes — 24 hours a day!

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/cheapskate.asp
 
roomy said:
You could also turn the heating off and wear extra clothes.

Have you ever shut off the heat in your area in the winter, Roomy, to conserve on heating bills? We couldn't do that here. It gets down in the teens and sometimes in the single digits in the winter months. We try to keep our thermostat set at 68 degrees and wear sweat outfits or sweaters with t-shirts and jeans during the day. Our house is well insulated, so that has worked for us.

Back in the times when my grandparents lived, they actually did shut off rooms in their houses that weren't used during the winter months to conserve on their heating bills. It would get mighty cold in those rooms that didn't have any heat. Almost like being outdoors.
 
GotZoom said:
You read my mind.

Something like....wearing a snowsuit to bed every night?

Ski cap, too.. Gotta keep the nose and ears warm...Mittens help as well (not gloves - you want to keep the fingers together)...
 
Shattered said:
Ski cap, too.. Gotta keep the nose and ears warm...Mittens help as well (not gloves - you want to keep the fingers together)...

Excellent point. They do say it is very important to the extrimities covered.

Ski cap; check. Snow suit; check. Mittens to keep fingers together; check.
 
GotZoom said:
Excellent point. They do say it is very important to the extrimities covered.

Ski cap; check. Snow suit; check. Mittens to keep fingers together; check.

Boots and multiple layers of socks will probably help...
 
Shattered said:
Boots and multiple layers of socks will probably help...

Ski cap; check. Snow suit; check. Mittens to keep fingers together; check. Multiple layers of socks; check. Boots; check.

Trying to climb under layers and layers of blankets wearing all this could be difficult.

Probably just better to sleep on the couch or the chair.
 
When I was young I got my power turned off for non payment.......Unfortunately I was unable to get it turned back on for three weeks. My heating bill for that month was CHEAAAP!! So, one could assume that a most effective method for reducing heating bills would be to shut off your power for three weeks..

Just trying to help..............:teeth:
 

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