Throughout the greater Allentown, PA area, smart homeowners who use heating oil are always on the lookout for the best money-saving strategies. Those who don’t suffer the consequences of overpaying for their energy bills.
When you make an effort to conserve heat, you can cut down your energy use and spending, while still enjoying a comfortable and pleasant home environment. Increasing your home’s energy efficiency is also a great way to limit your home heating system‘s overall workload. Best of all, you’ll need fewer refills of home heating oil.
Top Tips For Fuel Conservation
1. Bundle Up
It is apparent that wearing warm clothes is going to help you limit your energy use. Instead of piling on a bunch of thick, heavy layers, however, you should use several, thin layers. Thin layers will allow you to add or remove layers as needed quickly. Additionally, it will provide optimum insulation. It won’t be necessary to crank your thermostat up as often either.
Your feet are one of the most critical areas to consider. If your feet are warm, your body will be able to retain more heat. You will be a lot more comfortable overall. Therefore, it makes it a good idea to get a nice pair of comfortable slippers or slipper socks that you’re able to wear around the home. These are cozy, and they’ll also help you cut your home energy costs.
2. Eat Hot, Hearty Meals
Cooking during the colder months of the year is a good strategy. The heat that your stove generates will also help warm up your living space. Eating hot, hearty meals will keep you warm as well. Try to steer clear of frozen treats like ice cream until the outside temperatures start to rise and use hot cocoa to satisfy your sweet tooth instead. A warm bowl of soup is preferable to cold cuts. Eating the right seasonable foods will keep you from turning up the thermostat and from burning up home heating oil that you don’t need to use.
3. Drown The Cold Temperatures
You may have heard the old saying about drowning a cold by drinking lots of liquids. Drinking plenty of fluids does work when it comes to fighting the cold weather off. If you’re correctly hydrated, your body will be able to handle the cold weather much more efficiently. Drinking warm beverages such as hot tea and coffee is a beneficial way to increase your water intake and heat yourself up.
4. Limit Your Alcohol Intake
People often think that drinking alcohol is going to warm them up. This claim is not valid. Drinking alcohol can result in a significant decrease in your core body temperature, even as it makes you feel like you’re a lot warmer than you genuinely are. When savoring a warm beverage, you shouldn’t spike it.
5. Retain The Heat From Your Baking Projects
When preparing foods during the wintertime, remember that you can always take advantage of the residual heat that your oven produces. Once you’ve finished baking a casserole or cookies, keep the oven door cracked to allow the remaining warm air into your home. Keep safety in mind, however, mainly if your household includes small pets and children.
6. Choose The Right Winter Bedding
What type of bedding and sheets are you using throughout the winter months? If you’re climbing into a warm and toasty bed each night, you won’t have to crank the heat up so high. Cold temperatures make for comfortable sleeping, and when your bed is set up to be warm and cozy, your energy bill will invariably go down. Flannel sheets work perfectly to this end, and you can also add a few more blankets to your bed as well.
7. Warm Up Before Lying Down
You can beat back the chill on cold nights by warming your bed up before climbing in. One easy way to do this is by using a hot water bottle or warming stones. Regardless of your method, remember to warm your bed up at night before snuggling into it.
8. Cap Your Heat Loss
You can also increase your level of warmth by wearing a hat. When the days are frosty and cold, donning a close-fitting cap will limit heat loss from your whole body. Wear this cap along with layers of clothing, and you may not need to turn your thermostat up at all.
Also, if you own a few, small-sized blankets, think about placing these in convenient locations all around your house. You can pick one of these up whenever you plan on sitting down and relaxing for any significant period. You’ll stay comfy for hours when shrouded in a warm, soft blanket.
9. Humidity Is Important
Moist air is always warmer than dry air. It’s, therefore, best to have a humidifier in an area that you plan on spending a lot of time in. Set this unit to 40% humidity. A little more moisture in the air will make the surrounding area warm, without kicking out so much moisture that mold and mildew become a problem.
10. Take A Warm Shower And Heat Up Your Home
When you take a shower and immediately after you get out, you probably run your bathroom fan. In the winter, however, you should leave your fan off and leave the bathroom door wide open when you get out. The accumulated heat and humidity will gradually spread to the rest of your home. This way, you can heat up your whole house a bit. Given that you’ve already paid to heat the water, you might as well take full advantage of the residual heat.
11. Reverse Your Fans’ Air Flow
Do you rely on ceiling fans? You have to turn these to the winter setting each year. Most ceiling fans have a switch that will reverse the direction of their blades when flipped. Rather than producing a cool breeze, your fan should be pushing the warm air back down towards you. This movement will keep your rooms warmer without any need for calling your home heating oil delivery service more than you have to.
12. Cover Your Floors With Cozy Area Rugs
Carpeting is a lot warmer than both hardwood and tiled floors. To get additional warmth in the winter, put down area rugs on your hard floors. The rugs will also limit the stress on your feet, primarily if you use large area rugs throughout your living areas and small mats in kitchen work areas. You will notice a difference after having made this change.
13. Get Rid Of Cold Drafts
Do you have cold drafts in your home? Weather stripping strategies, including DIY weatherstripping strategies, are perfect for keeping cold drafts of air out. You can put down rolled towels at your window frames or make draft stoppers with socks and an insulator such as rice or upholstery filling to use on your doors. You can even give these additions a stylish, custom look.
14. Put Your Fire Out
A fireplace is sometimes an excellent source of heat in the winter. It can also, however, lead to significant heat loss. Thus, you have to use this building feature wisely. Always close the flue when you aren’t using your fireplace because an open chimney will let cold air in and lead to heat loss. When the outside temperatures are freezing, you could be losing more heat from your home than your fire is producing. Rather than using your fireplace when temperatures are downright frigid, use it when the outdoor temps are merely cool instead.
15. Clear A Path
Make an in-depth review of your decorating plan and the overall placement of your furniture. You don’t want to have anything blocking your heat vents. Even though this might not seem like it can make a huge difference in the flow of heat, having your couch positioned right in front of a vent can limit how much heat you get. You can make more efficient use of your home heating oil by rearranging your decor.
16. Warmers Can Be A Big Help
Use warmers to keep your hands and feet warm. Warmers make you more comfortable, and it can also help lower your energy bill. Fill a square of fabric with dried rice or beans and the place it in your microwave for approximately 30 seconds. For even more warmth, create a comforting lap pad.
17. Get Maximum Warmth By Arranging
Where have you put your bed and sofa? If either of these things is near an exterior window or wall, you might want to move things around a bit. Placing your bed several inches away from the wall will make a big difference.
18. Program Your Thermostat For Savings
Does your home have a programmable thermostat? This type of thermostat will make it infinitely easier to regulate the temperature of your home. It can be set to automatically reduce the indoor temperatures when you’re away or sleeping. Then, you can set the perfect temperature to maintain while you are present. Having a programmable thermostat will allow you to lower your daily energy use by quite a bit.
19. Put Plastic Up
One effortless and effective way to insulate your windows is by putting up plastic. If you place a transparent film of plastic over your window frames, you can shield your home from the cold while trapping more heat inside. Heat the plastic film with a blow dryer to ensure a snug, secure fit.
20. Head To The Second Floor
A lot of people spend the majority of their day on the first floors of their homes. In the winter, try spending more time upstairs. Given that heat rises, this elevated area will naturally be much warmer. By spending more time on the second floor, you’ll be able to keep your thermostat at a lower setting.
21. Keep Moving
If you want to stay warm, you have to move around. Being active during the winter will definitely affect both your heat use and your comfort levels. You might want to huddle beneath a warm blanket, but moving around will make you feel a lot better overall. Do some exercise, clean up, or start working on a project. Find a useful and enjoyable activity to increase your blood flow and limit your energy spending.
22. Snack More
After the holiday season, you may want to lose some weight by limiting your snacking. When you eat more, however, your body tends to stay a lot warmer. If it’s freezing cold outdoors, your body is going to require more fuel to maintain an acceptable temperature. Thus, you should eat a lot of high-fat foods. Lots of options include healthy fats that act as slow-burning fuel.
23. Take Advantage Of The Sun
If you plan on spending the majority of your day indoors, find a nice, sunlit spot to relax in. Take advantage of the warmth that comes from natural light by staying in a brightly lit room. To get the most significant amount of sunlight in any space, think about rearranging your furniture as necessary.
Do the majority of your rooms get a lot of sunlight? If they do, then take advantage of curtains to help your home capture and retain heat. You can let the sun’s warmth and rays pour into your home during the daylight hours by keeping your curtains open. The sun is an incredible and entirely free source of energy. Once the sun has set, shut your curtains so that the warm air remains trapped inside, and the colder, outdoor air cannot get in. The best window treatments to use for this purpose are light-blocking drapes that have an insulated backing.
Allentown Heating Oil Delivery
Even though all of these tips can be used to limit your energy use and reduce your home heating costs, you can save even more money and effort by connecting with the Better Home Heat Council for all your home heating oil needs. Our suppliers provide reasonable home heating oil prices today and the best heating oil delivery near me. When working with one of our heating oil companies near me, you can expect excellent customer service.
Ordering home heating oil delivery near me from one of the dealers at the Better Home Heat Council makes it infinitely easier to get this essential resource. When you use one of our home heating oil companies near me, paying more than necessary on local fuel oil prices is next to impossible. Many offer fast service along with emergency heating oil delivery. Contact us today to learn more about our current heating oil prices and how to get fast and efficient, heating oil delivery online.
Some of the areas we service include Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Whitehall and these zip codes: 18101, 18015, 18042, 18052 as well as all surrounding areas in the Lehigh Valley.