Keep Your Bills Low and the Warm Air in with These Five Tips

We’re past the halfway point of winter 2019, and your heating system is no doubt hard at work keeping your family warm and comfortable in your Massachusetts home.

Want to give it a helping hand? Try these five tips to keep your home cozy – and your bills as low as possible – in the cold weeks to come.

1. Don’t drop the heat too low – While dropping temperatures when your family is out of the house or sleeping is a great way to improve efficiency under normal conditions, it’s not the best strategy to employ during a prolonged period of extreme cold; your heating equipment may not be able to restore your home to comfortable temperatures once it turns back on.
2. Keep baseboards and vents clear – Be sure not to block your vents or baseboards with heavy curtains or furniture; keep them clear to keep that warm air circulating.
3. Weatherize – Did you know that the average American home leaks the equivalent of a four square foot window’s worth of air from leaks around windows and doors? Keep the cold air out and the warm air in with inexpensive measures like door sweeps, plastic window covers, caulk and weatherstripping – they can really make a difference in your comfort and monthly energy bills.
4. Add insulation – Most homes – especially older ones – aren’t insulated to the R-Value recommended by the U.S. Department of Energy. Insulation also deteriorates over the years, so you may have even less protection from the cold than you think. Adding more or better insulation – especially in your attic and crawl spaces – is one of the most cost-effective ways to keep the warm air in.
5. Maintain your heating equipment – As heating equipment ages, it loses efficiency – about five percent a year, on average. You can slow or even stop that efficiency loss by getting routine maintenance on your heating equipment every year. Preventive care also pays for itself by catching small problems early, which can reduce heating system repairs and add years to the life of your heating equipment.

Think it’s too late for heating system maintenance? Think again! With temperatures in our service area dipping into the mid-40s well into May, you will be relying on your furnace or boiler for a while longer. Why not prevent late-heating season problems with a service call from the pros at Pioneer Oil & Propane? Contact us today to sign up for a Pioneer service plan, or to schedule maintenance for your heating equipment.