{"id":1062,"date":"2021-11-08T11:00:38","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/?p=1062"},"modified":"2021-11-05T13:52:05","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T17:52:05","slug":"if-heating-bills-seemed-too-high-last-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/heating-service\/if-heating-bills-seemed-too-high-last-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"If Your Heating Bills Seemed Too High Last Winter\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Frustrated-man-looking-at-laptop\"If you looked at your heating bills during the previous winter and wondered why they seemed higher than normal, this post can help. We know you probably spent more time in your home last winter than usual (pretty much everyone did), so that will account for some of the increase in how much you paid for heat. But if you factor out that, as well as any rise in energy costs, and the price still seems too steep, then there are several steps you can take.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Schedule maintenance if you didn\u2019t last year<\/b><\/h3>\n

Did you arrange for professional maintenance for your heater last fall? If you didn\u2019t, that\u2019s probably the main reason you saw your bills rise. Missing maintenance for even a single year allows stress and dirt to accumulate on the heating system\u2019s components and force it to work harder. While it\u2019s still fall, call our team to schedule <\/span>heating maintenance in Brighton, MI<\/span><\/a>. If you sign up for our maintenance plan, you\u2019ll receive reminders each year so you won\u2019t miss out on maintenance appointments in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep the thermostat steady and at lower settings<\/b><\/h3>\n

You may have gotten into bad habits with your thermostat last winter when you were stuck in your house for long stretches. If you don\u2019t have steady settings on the thermostat, instead of raising it and lowering it at your comfort whims, you\u2019ll force the heater to drain more power. We also encourage you to lower the thermostat to as cool as you find comfortable: we recommend 68\u00b0F during the day when people are home. Put on an extra layer of clothes and you should find this comfortable\u2014and not only will the heater need to run less, but the house will lose heat slower to the outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

Change the air filter regularly<\/b><\/h3>\n

This is an easy mistake to make\u2014leaving the HVAC system\u2019s air filter in place for many months without routine changes. Your heater should have its filter swapped out every 1 to 3 months, depending on the strength of the filter. If you left the same filter in place all last winter, we\u2019re not surprised you saw a rise in heating costs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Give the sun a chance to help out<\/b><\/h3>\n

The sun is one of your best friends during winter. When the sun shines directly onto the windows of your home, it lets radiant heat in, which can make a big difference. Keep shades and shutters open on any windows facing the sun to help give your heater a break.<\/span><\/p>\n

Have technician see if the ductwork needs repairs<\/b><\/h3>\n

Leaky air ducts are a major source of energy loss from a heating system, and it\u2019s a problem that often goes unnoticed. Our team can see if your ductwork needs air sealing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Replace an older heater<\/b><\/h3>\n

Finally, the increase in your bills may be a sign your current heating system is too old to work efficiently. Gas furnaces can usually operate for 15 years, and boilers and electric furnaces for 20. If your heater is over its estimated service life, we recommend calling us to see if it\u2019s time for a replacement.<\/span><\/p>\n

First Choice Heating & Cooling serves Fenton, Linden, Holly, and the surrounding areas. <\/b>If your home had a voice, it would call \u2026 First Choice!<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you looked at your heating bills during the previous winter and wondered why they seemed higher than normal, this post can help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[101,49,15],"class_list":["post-1062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heating-service","tag-brighton","tag-heating-system-maintenance","tag-heating-system-replacement"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1062"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1066,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions\/1066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstchoiceheat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}