Does Your Greater Cincinnati Home's Heating Load Get An A+ Mark?

by Greg Leisgang on December 8, 2011

Posted in: Heating

reducing home's heating load Cincinnati, OH areaReducing your home's heating load helps to get your home ready for the cold Cincinnati winter weather. Heating load is the amount of heated air your home requires to maintain comfort, so if it's high, your heating system has to compensate; if it's low, you keep your energy budget under control, while ensuring maximum comfort.

Projects to tackle on your own include:

  • Weather stripping exterior doors. Drafts coming from the outdoors or heat leaving your home increase your heating bills. Look closely around your doors for any gaps or leaks between the door and the frame. You can find self-adhesive weatherstripping at home improvement or hardware stores.
  • Caulking air leaks between the window frames and your home's exterior. Like exterior doors, leaks can let in plenty of cold air.
  • Replacing windows. Windows can transfer interior heat to the outdoors. Thermal or Energy Star qualified windows retain heat much better than single-pane windows. If new windows are out of the question, consider storm windows, which can reduce heat transfer by 25 to 50 percent.
  • Checking attic insulation. Heat travels up and out of your attic. If you have insufficient insulation, adding more keeps heat inside the home – where it belongs.
  • Inspecting furnace filters. Forced-air heating systems use filters to keep dust out of the equipment. When the filters accumulate too much dust, the air handler, for instance, works harder and uses more electricity. Replacing dirty filters goes a long way toward reducing your home's heating load.
  • Checking your attic or basement for leaks in heating and cooling ducts. Leaks add significantly to your heating load.

Although it's not a do-it-yourself project, replacing your heating system produces optimal energy savings. If your system is more than 10 years old, you could benefit by replacing it with equipment that is more energy efficient. If that's not in your budget this year, having your heating system regularly serviced by a professional will increase its efficiency.

JonLe Heating & Cooling has been serving the Greater Cincinnati area since 1959. Contact us to learn more about earning high scores on energy efficiency before winter is here for the long haul. 

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