Reduce Home Heating Costs

These Heating Cost Savings Tips Offer Significant Money Savings

Top Priorities of Actions for Heat Cost Savings

Readers may also want to place this idea of tuning up their heating system to save heating cost in the larger energy savings context: overall here are the five top heat cost savings topics, in order of priority:

1. Stop drafts -
   
   Find and fix every air leak that you can, starting by simply feeling around windows and doors on a cold windy day. Leaky door or window gaskets on many buildings add up to the equivalent of leaving a window wide open in cold weather!
   
   If you don't take this first step, the cost savings gained by tuning up your heater or even adding insulation is likely to be overwhelmed by those leaky windows and doors.
   
   Put another way, it doesn't matter how much insulation you've got if a window is being left open on cold days!
   
   See AIR & HEAT LEAK FIXES - find and fix air leaks
   
   And HEAT LOSS in BUILDINGS - topic home page - how to find and fix places where a building is wasting heat or energy
   
   or if you want to get more sophisticated,
   
   See THERMAL IMAGING, THERMOGRAPHY - for more sophisticated methods for finding the leak points or poorly insulated areas of a structure
2. Insulate the attic or uppermost ceiling
   
   Once we've stopped building drafts, especially at windows and doors, check the amount and completeness and neatness of the insulation in your building attic or under the roof. How much insulation is there? Are there voids, gaps, or areas of missing insulation?
   
   Since warm air and heat tend to rise in buildings, a continuous insulating blanket at the building's uppermost ceiling, or in some buildings, right under the roof, is very important.
3. Insulate walls
   
   Insulating walls with similar care is second to insulating the attic or top ceiling in a building. After heat loss through building ceilings comes heat loss through walls.
   
   To learn about best building insulation practices start
   
   at INSULATION INSPECTION & IMPROVEMENT - where & how to improve building insulation to save on heating cost
4. Insulate the basement?
   
   Since heat and warm air tend to rise up and out, the basement is a more distant third area in priority after upper building areas.
   
   See BASEMENT HEAT LOSS - energy efficient basements: insulation, air leaks, other steps to cut heating costs
5. Then tune the heating system - probably falls in between attics and walls and for sure is before insulating a basement except for stopping rim joist drafts.

   Read more about these energy savings methods for your home at

   SET HOME ENERGY SAVING PRIORITIES

More Efficiency at the Heating System

I would prioritize these heating cost savings topics in order of probable economy and work on them in that order:

1. Clean and tune the heating system
   
   If the oil burner or gas burner is not operating properly you are wasting money every time the system runs.
2. Set back the thermostat
   
   We discuss this in more detail
   
   At SETBACK THERMOSTATS
3. Buy cheaper oil or contract for cheaper gas in summer
   
   Depending on where you live and who supplies your heating fuel, it may be possible to contract for fuel purchase during off-season at lower prices.
   
   Some owners of buildings using oil or gas fuel for h eating install additional fuel storage capacity to take advantage of summer prices. But often simply entering into a price-discounted fuel purchase contract will be sufficient.
4. Hot Air Heat (Furnaces)
   
   Change the air filters monthly when the system is in use. A blocked air filter drastically reduces air flow and significantly increases the length of time your furnace has to run to warm up the home.
   
   See AIR FILTERS for HVAC SYSTEMS - home

Heat Savings can Start at the Thermostat

Use the Thermostat Setback Feature

We cannot overemphasize the importance of this simple suggestion: setting back a thermostat is a money-saving step well within homeowner control. This is one of the most famous and most effective heating cost savings tips known. One degree of set-back saves about 1% on heating cost.

Typical sources we researched such as the US DOE tell us that you can cut your heating bills by "as much as" 10% a year simply by turning your heating thermostat back 7-10 degF overnight or for about eight hours each day.

You can improve on this idea: install and use an automatic setback thermostat that will automatically lower your heat settings when you're not at home or when you're asleep.

Details are at THERMOSTAT SETBACK ADVICE

Various companies also offer online calculators that can be used to compute how much money you're likely to save by setting back your thermostat.

For example, if your normal thermostat setting is 70 °F. and you set it back to 60 °F. and if during that time the outside temperature is hovering at 40 deg F., you will use about 33% less energy during that period.

More information is

at THERMOSTAT SETTING INSTRUCTIONS

Resource:

• U.S. Department of Energy, Programmable Thermostats [DOE web page] - Office of Energy Saver Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Forrestal Building 1000 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20585 USA, retrieved 2024/03/11, original source:
  
  Excerpt:
  You can save as much as 10% a year on heating and cooling by simply turning your thermostat back 7°-10°F for 8 hours a day from its normal setting. The percentage of savings from setback is greater for buildings in milder climates than for those in more severe climates. 
  
  The smaller the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill will be.  You can easily save energy in the winter by setting the thermostat to around 68°F to 70°F while you're awake and setting it lower while you're asleep or away from home. 
  
  In the summer, you can follow the same strategy with central air conditioning by keeping your house warmer than normal when you are away, and setting the thermostat to a setting as high as is comfortable for you when you are at home and need cooling and to ensure humidity control if needed.

Should You Reduce Boiler Operating Temperature?

Reducing boiler temperature is more of a a mixed bag: setting boiler temperature down is not unequivocally going to save you money.

Suppose you have modern baseboard hot water heat. The thermal conductivity of finned copper baseboard is exponentially greater as the temperature increases - so you get much better heat transfer out of a baseboard heater as the boiler temp is set up higher.

So if you set the system specs too low you may get shorter boiler on-cycles which is like running a car on choke - wasting fuel by not letting the unit have as big a percent of its operating cycle run when it is fully warmed-up.

Details are at

AQUASTAT HI LO DIFF SETTINGS

What about Other Heating Boiler or Furnace Control Settings?

It's tempting to fool with the settings on your heating system's controls, changing temperature limits for example. But we don't recommend fooling with anything other than your thermostat. On programmable models, you'll usually find that you can set up an automatic night-time set-back temperature.

Using that feature is perhaps the single most significant way you can cut your home heating costs. Details begin on this page

at SETBACK THERMOSTATS

A nightmare feared by many heating service technicians is an untrained homeowner fooling around with their heating system.

Otherwise,

Watch out: if you are not properly trained, you may injure yourself or cause the heating system to operate unsafely.

On the other hand, if you are familiar with these suggestions, you will be in a better position to discuss them with your heating service technician at your next heating service call.

Watch out: it is not possible to properly tune an oil burner and probably impossible to properly adjust and tune a gas burner on a home heating boiler or furnace without both the proper tools and some actual training on how to use them.

Service the Heater Properly

It's important for home owners to look at the money savings aspect of heating service and tuning.

It's the homeowner who pays the oil bill, not the service technician who tunes your boiler. Even though most service techs take pride in their work and work to do a good job of cleaning and tuning the system, service techs, at times, can rush through the process and leave unsafe or unsatisfactory conditions.

There are several reasons for this, one of which is that the techs are usually over scheduled and overworked during the heating season. A heating service technician during the winter months may be expected to make 8 or 12 service calls in a day. It's impossible to perform a thorough, detailed cleanout and tune-up in just a few minutes.

So sometimes the technician will see a system that seems to be pretty clean and running pretty well, and s/he will just do the basics of filter and nozzle change.

Rushed Heating Service & Home Heating Cost

In our photo above, the heating service tech was in our home for about eight minutes, and then I spotted him rushing to leave the job, spinning his tires on the pavement and smoking up the driveway. Fortunately the heating company is a good one and their service manager sent a better man to finish the job right.

We want to listen to and watch the heating service tech. For an oil fired heating system, if you don't hear a vacuum cleaner running, if there is no disassembly of any heating system parts for inspection and cleaning, if no one even changes the oil filter, then the service call is not going to reduce your heating costs. In this case, speak respectfully and calmly with your service technician.

I've even offered (DF) to pay the technician extra if she or he will actually clean the the system thoroughly and review its control settings and performance measurements. So far, with that conversation, it has not been necessary.

Watch out: if your oil fired heater is sooty, you may be paying much more than necessary for heat. In tuning an oil burner system, I (DF) have seen as much as a 50% improvement in the system's energy efficiency.

SOOT on OIL FIRED HEATING EQUIPMENT - discusses soot on or inside oil fired heating equipment and its effect on heating costs and heater operating problems.

Watch out: if your gas-fired heating equipment is producing visible soot, it is unsafe and should be shut down and you should call for emergency repair. Sooting gas fired equipment is likely to be producing dangerous, even potentially fatal carbon monoxide gas.

Details are

at GAS BURNER SOOT CAUSE & CURE 

Oil Tank, Filter & Fuel Lines (supplies fuel to burner)

• Oil Filter Maintenance:
  
  should be part of regular annual maintenance on oil fired heating equipment - boilers or furnaces. Else you risk loss of heat during the heating season.
  
  Details are
  
  at FILTERS, OIL on HEATING EQUIPMENT
• Outdoor aboveground oil tanks:
  
  Indoor type oil tanks (almost any 250 or 275 gallon oil tank) used outdoors are not, or at least historically were not UL listed for that location.
  
  Worse, in cold areas you risk heating oil gelling or water accumulation in the outdoor tank exposed to changing and cold temperatures. Water in an oil tank or gelled heating oil means loss of heat in cold weather.
• Heat tapes which some folks install on oil tank lines
  
  on outdoor tanks can be a fire hazard if not properly installed or if the wrong type.
  
  You can avoid fuel jelling by using a kerosene mix (just ask your oil delivery company, but it costs more), or use "4-in-1 Hot" (or an equivalent product), an oil additive that protects against jelling and also reduces water. Still better, enclose the outdoor oil tank and give it enough heat to avoid gelling.
  
  See HEAT TAPES on OIL TANK PIPING

  For more information about oil tanks, oil tank leaks, and underground oil storage tanks
  
  see OIL TANKS - Heating Oil Underground & Above ground Oil Storage Tank Leaks, Testing, Problems & Solutions, Home Buyer's / Home Owner's Guide.

Sketch above provided courtesy of Carson Dunlop Associates, a Toronto home inspection, education & report writing tool company [ carsondunlop.com ].

Gristick included a great tip on cleaning the oil tank fill vent screen. I've rarely seen this point mentioned. But when your oil company is filling the tank it's done under pressure.

A clogged tank vent can lead to over pressurizing the oil tank, leading to a costly oil leak. Undersized oil tank vent lines can also lead to this problem and to a blown oil tank. It happens for real.

Use of Various Fans can Cut or Increase Heating Bills

Gristick recommended minimizing the usage of kitchen and bath exhaust fans. That sounds right for exhaust fans or for supply air fans that don't include a heat exchanger.

But that advice was over-simplified and can also cause trouble: In some buildings, if you abandon the use of vent fans, you will generate a very expensive mold problem.

Let's distinguish among

• Exhaust fans
  
  (blow indoor air to the outside) (increasing heating cost when makeup outdoor air is actually drawn into the building from air leaks in the building envelope)
• Supply air ventilation fans
  
  (blow outside air indoors to improve indoor air quality) (increasing heating cost)
• Balanced ventilation fans
  
  that use a heat exchanger to warm outdoor air coming in so as to not blow heat outdoors in the heating season (so won't hurt home heating cost)
  
  See VENTILATION, BALANCED HEAT COST SAVINGS 
• Ceiling fans
  
  that circulate indoor air, moving it upwards or downwards in rooms depending on the fan blade rotating direction.
  
  

  Ceiling fans save energy but increase the airborne particle level perhaps 100 times - a problem for IAQ if the building is not clean and/or if there are IAQ-sensitive occupants.

  A ceiling fan, especially in a room with tall ceilings, can push warm air down to the level of building occupants during the heating season, increasing their comfort and cutting the heating bill.

  But if your building is dusty you may need to do some additional cleaning, and if you are using forced air heat, you may need to clean, change, or improve your air filter system to reduce indoor dust levels.

• Furnace air handler fan
  
  while not a building fan that you normally see, if your heat is by forced warm air furnace, inside the air handler is a squirrel cage blower fan that moves building air through ductwork and across the furnace heat exchanger.
  
  If this blower fan is even a little bit dirty it will move much less air and your furnace will have to run longer to heat your building. Ask your heating service tech to inspect and if appropriate, clean this fan every few years.
  
  See BLOWER FAN ASSEMBLY CLEANING
  

Bottom line: if your building uses a fresh air ventilation system, a balanced ventilation system is best for cutting heating cost. If your building has ceiling fans, using them to push warm air back down to occupants can also cut heating cost.

More Technical Heater Tune-Up Details

In addition to Mike's tips, we suggest you discuss the following items with your heating service rep:

• Oil burner nozzle size & fuel unit pressure setting:
  
  On old 100-psi low-speed (1725 rpm) units, I used to drop the nozzle one size and set up the fuel unit pressure to 120 psi - which gave better atomization and the equivalent BTUH at a lower flow rate.
  
  This should be tried only by a trained tech. Most new oil burners run at higher speed (3450 rpm) and many are running at higher nozzle pressures for better atomization and thus better fuel combustion.
  
  See OIL BURNER FUEL UNIT
  
  See OIL BURNER NOZZLE GUIDE
  
• When to measure oil burner efficiency:
  
  If you are measuring efficiency of your current unit in deciding about buying a new one, it is absolutely essential that you first get the existing unit cleaned and properly tuned and set up. It is inaccurate and terribly misleading to compare an old cast iron boiler that is dirty and maladjusted and stumbling along at 60% with a new higher efficiency unit that promises 80% (which would be a 1/3 improvement).
  
  First we clean and perfect the older unit. If the old unit can be tuned up to 75% or better, the value of that additional 5% of a new unit is a 12% improvement not a 33% improvement, and the payback in years is accordingly 3 times longer.
• Older style cast iron radiators:
  
  Give an added chance to save on heating cost since each radiator is in effect its own little heating zone. You can shut down or off in unused areas or install thermostatic valves (long payback).
  
  Just be careful not to turn off so much heat that you freeze a pipe.
• Fireplaces and heating cost:
  
  Fireplaces when in use, or even if not in use if the damper is left open, are a HUGE net heat loss to the home unless they are running an airtight system and using an outside combustion air source.
  
  For an older, conventional fireplace, you can reduce the fireplace heat loss by installing a glass door (kept closed) and by giving the fireplace outside combustion air (required by code in new homes).
• Safety: Chimneys and flues
  
  Can be killers if they are not kept clean, unblocked, and safe. On chimney cleaning, if your heating boiler vents through a "dead-end flue" which lacks any opening or chamber below the point at which the boiler vent connector passes into the chimney, any trash that falls down the flue blocks it and risks improper or unsafe heating system operation.
  
  Ask your heating service technician or a chimney sweep to check your chimney for safety and cleanliness.