Busting Myths about Heating Your Home
Can you tell the difference between myths and truths about heating your Midwestern home? Keep reading to find out more from Cincinnati HVAC pros.
Myth: Turning up the heat to a higher degree will heat up your home faster. This is a complete myth that will cost you. The same amount of air is being processed and heated and no matter how high you crank the heat up your home will still warm up at the same speed it normally does. This causes your system to work overtime and suck up more energy to reach that high degree if you don’t turn the thermostat back down to where you actually want it to be.
Truth: Programming your thermostat to different temperatures during the day will save you energy and money on your utility bills. By setting lower temperatures when no one’s home or at night when you’re sleeping, you give your HVAC unit time to rest and use less energy without causing your family any discomfort when the home is occupied and bustling.
Myth: Duct tape effectively seals ducts to save energy. Completely false! By closing off vents you are forcing air to go out of other vents causing an influx of heat to one room over the other and depending on the location of your thermostat, this can cause the system to continue running longer. Duct tape also loses its stickiness when it collects dirt and dust. Ask yourself, what place in your home has more dirt and dust than the ducts, which is pushing it toward the vents you are trying to seal off?
Truth: Where you place your furniture matters. If your sofa is blocking a vent, all this is doing is heating the back of your sofa and preventing the air from flowing freely to the rest of the room. Placing beds on top of floor vents? Same deal. Your box spring may have a cozy “my blankets just came out of the dryer feel” but the rest of the room will be cold and you’ll be rushing to get changed and out of the room to stay warm.
Myth: Having a wood burning fireplace will help save money and take the burden off of your furnace. To keep the smoke from coming back into the home you have to have the flue in the chimney open which is literally sucking all of that “paid for” heated air up and out of your home. Fireplaces used to be essential for heating the home but as technology has progressed fireplaces were kept for ambiance or as entertainment-oriented areas of the house.
For more on how your HVAC system works to keep your home warm, reach out the experts at Apollo Home Heating, Cooling & Plumbing. We’ve been keeping Greater Cincinnati homes warm in winters since 1910.