Yep, you know. You should have been thinking about this in August. Who wants to think about winter when you could be basking in the August sun on some nice back country trail, or well placed street furniture? Even in the coldest parts of the nation, it won’t get below zero for another thirty days. You still have plenty of time to winterize your house or business. However, for those of you freaking out about the cool October evenings, you’ll find the following check lists an easy way to button-up the cabin before winter gets serious.
Four Things to Remember Winter
1. Heating degree days per year make a difference in the actions you need to take to prepare for winter. A heating degree is any day that the average daily temperature is below 65 degrees. Anchorage, Alaska has an average of 10,130 heating degree days. Boston, Massachusetts has 5,630 heating degree days. The same house, with the same appliances and equipment, the same number of people and pets – doing the same activities, will have an Anchorage heating bill almost twice as high as a Boston family with the same utility rates. Find your heating degree days here.
2. Moisture Problems occur in dry as well as moist climates if you don’t pay attention to gaps in insulation. When warm moist house air meets cold surfaces, the moisture drops out of the air and condenses on that cold surface. This can cause mold and mildew to form. It reduces the insulation ability of many insulation materials. It can also rot wood.
3. Winter energy bills are higher in the winter even if you’re not there. Studies show more winter energy use in vacant homes because no one is cooking, living, caring for pets, turning on lights or doing things that provide “free” secondary heat.
4. Even in winter, sunshine is your friend. Use it wisely, and get free heat. Many people cancel out the benefits of free sunshine by leaving window coverings closed on sunny days.
The Big Four Energy Bill Sources
Target these four areas to save money off your utility bill. Sure turning off the lights is a good idea, because it’s easy, but even if you grope around in the dark all winter long, you won’t save as much on lighting fixes as you will by insulating heating ducts and sealing cold air cracks.
1) Space Heating Systems (60 to 75 percent of the average home energy load);
2) Domestic water heating (25 to 30 percent of the average home energy load);
3) Kitchen and home Appliances (10 to 15 percent of the average home energy load);
4) Lighting (5 to 7 percent of the average home energy load);
Space Heating Check List- Nine steps to lower energy bills
1) Inspect insulation. Repair crawl space insulation that may have fallen down. Replace attic insulation that may have been moved for summer construction projects. Compare your insulation levels to recommended standards for your climate and consider adding insulation if your home doesn’t meet those standards. Insulate heating ducts or hydronic fluid pipes.
2) Plug the crawl space vents that you opened last spring. Fiberglass batt insulation, lightly stuffed in a small trash bag makes a good vent plug that will fit between the floor joists of your crawl space.
3) Check heat tape and replace if there is any sign of damage. UL listed heat tape should be used and installed strictly according to the manufacturer’s directions. Non- UL listed heat tape should not be used at all. Heat tape is much less expensive to use for freeze protection than a space heater. Each foot of heat tape is usually rated at 3 watts per foot. So, for the operating costs of a 1,000 watt space heater you can run 333 feet of heat tape.
4) Clean dust and dirt from all types of heaters, supply vents and air registers. Also be sure to clean return air vents and baseboard heater fins for both gas and electric baseboard heaters. Replace or clean furnace air filters before starting your furnace for the season and do it again every two months during the heating season.
5) Clear the area around heaters and all forced air duct vents. Combustible material within four inches of electric baseboard heaters is a fire hazard. The more clearance you give your heaters and vents the better the air will circulate and the quicker your rooms will warm up, lowering your heating costs.
6) Close and latch windows. Unlatched windows allow windy days to pull heat from your house. Infiltration from building envelope openings can account for as much as 40% of your heating expense.
7) Clean south facing windows and remove screens. This step improves solar gain by as much as 10%. Why pay for heat when you can get it from the sun for free?
8) Install storm windows and repair any broken glass. Add plastic or glass storm windows to any single pane glass. Doing this cuts your heat loss from windows in half.
9) Check the weather-stripping around exterior doors and windows. Repair damage and fill gaps with additional material.
Domestic Water Heating Check List - Six Steps to longer water heater life and lower energy bills
1) Flush sediments from your water heater at least once a year.
2) Check both thermostat settings if you have an electric water heater. I recommend settings of 120 degrees for both thermostats. Always set both thermostats at the same setting.
3) Add an insulating blanket to your water heater unless your water heater has foam insulation or has factory warnings against adding insulation. Shoot for a total R-Value of R-16 or better. Electric water heaters can be insulated on top for additional heat retention. If your water heater lives in the garage, keep that big garage door closed as much as possible.
4) Check hot water pipes in the crawl space or other un-heated areas. Insulate the first three feet of both the cold and hot water pipes that connect to the tank itself. I’ve insulated all of my hot water pipes. Doing that gets hot water to my shower faster, saving water and water heating expense.
5) Adding a timer to your electric water heater can cut unwanted stand by loses when you are away at work or sleeping. This can cut your water heating costs by one third. You’ll probably have to hire an electrician to do this.
6) Check to see that your shower heads and sink fixtures are low flow fixtures rated at 2-3 gallons per minute (gpm).
Appliance Check List - Four Steps to Controlling Unruly Appliances and saving dollars
1) Specialty Appliances like water bed heaters, electric blankets, Jacuzzi’s, steam showers, and engine block heaters can often use more energy than typical home appliances like refrigerators and washing machines. Make a mental note of the wattage of all of your appliances and get a feel for how long they are on. Watts divided by 1000 equals kilowatts (KW); KW times the “time on” equals kilo-Watt hours which are the units you get billed for. Kilo-Watt Hours times your current electric rate equals the amount that you will pay on your bill for that appliance.
2) Keep all appliances clean. Clean around refrigerator and freezer compressors and backs. Clean appliances use less energy.
3) Appliance timers are especially good for reducing energy use on engine block heaters, stock tank heaters, hot tubs and other specialty appliances that don’t really need to be on 24 hours a day.
4) Food freezes at refrigerator temperatures below 30 degrees. There is no need to keep your freezer colder than that unless you are doing cryogenic experiments. Refrigerator compartments only need to be in the 40 degree range to keep most foods fresh. The setting knobs on all refrigerators and freezers are worthless. Use a thermometer to check out your temperature settings.
Lighting Check List- Five Steps to a Brighter and less expensive winter
1. Cleaning lighting fixtures, reflectors and bulbs gets more light output per unit of energy used.
2. Consider replacing incandescent light bulbs that are on for more than four hours per day with compact fluorescent bulbs.
3. Consider replacing exterior incandescent bulbs with halogen bulbs. They work well at cold temperatures and cut energy use.
4. Replace incandescent holiday lights with LED holiday lights.
5. Remember to turn lights off when you leave the room or get timers and motion detectors to do it for you.
Do you have other ideas that have saved you money on your utility bill? If you have and you can prove it, I’d like to hear about your experience.
© Mark Richard Daily, 2008
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