Cleveland Winters are Rough — Lowering Your Heating Load Helps

In order to save energy and reduce your heating bills, you need to understand how your heating equipment works – and that process is directly related to your home’s heating load. Decrease the load, and you instantly decrease energy consumption.

Heating load is a term used to describe how much energy your heating system must consume to generate heat and make your home comfortable. If you can affect change in how much energy your furnace consumes, there will be an immediate effect on your heating bills.

Areas that contribute to your home’s heating load include:

• Your home’s envelope: The exterior of your home is the envelope, because, like an envelope, it seals your home and keeps heated air in. If you have leaks in the envelope, you’re losing valuable energy. Common problem locations include window and door frames, and locations where electrical or plumbing components protrude through walls and floors. With inexpensive caulk, you can seal up most air leaks throughout your home.
• Insulation efficiency: Your home should have the appropriate insulation efficiency installed to create an effective barrier against heat loss. Assess the amount and efficiency (rated through R-value) of insulation in your attic, walls, and basement. The type of insulation and its efficiency will depend on the location. The Energy Savers website offers homeowners an easy guide to follow, or you can consult with a local HVAC contractor.
• Your heating system’s ductwork: If your ductwork leaks, you’re likely losing heated air to wasted spaces, and that’s heated air that you could be enjoying throughout your home’s living areas. To correct leaks, you can use a special mastic material, designed for sealing ducts.
• The size of your heating system: If your furnace is undersized or oversized, it’s most likely wasting energy as well. The size of your heating system should be directly related to your home’s unique heating load, so have a professional conduct a Manual J sizing calculation, the industry standard method for sizing, the next time you upgrade systems.

If you’d like help reducing your home’s heating load, contact Stack Heating & Cooling today.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about heating loads and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Stack Heating services Cleveland, Ohio and the surrounding areas. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!     

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