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Simple Ways to Keep The Heat In Your Home

By: Stuart Fendor

Amongst the most uncomfortable and awful things to face in a freezing winter is a cold house. Spiraling energy bills deter us from turning up the heat, and the alternative appears to be to suffer in silence - the chattering teeth does not allow silence. A quick analysis will tell you if the system is producing heat efficiently or not, if efficiency is not an issue then probably you are allowing the heat to escape.

If your heat is turned up high, but you always feel chilled anyway, you may have a problem with air leaks that are letting the heat out and the cold in. Check each room of your house; are some rooms colder than others? If you notice that they are, try checking to see if any doors that lead to the outside (as well as the windows in the room) seem to have a draft.

If there are drafts, you can do several things to fix it. Luckily, none of these quick fixes cost very much money. One options is rope caulk. It can be an easy and great way to seal up windows. It's very inexpensive and easy to apply it. If the draft seems to be coming from underneath a door try getting door sweeps or blockers, which are also very inexpensive.

If you haven't noticed any drafts around doors and windows then check out your chimney. If you have a chimney that's open all winter long you may be letting heat escape and cold air in. When your fireplace isn't in use be sure to close up the chimney and you may notice a huge difference almost immediately.

The sun is a free source of heat energy. With cooking and heating implements in the market that are run on solar power - why should we not use this great source to heat the home. Therefore, if the sun is shining open up curtains to let it in and see the amount of heat that is generated by such a simple thing.

If rising energy costs are a concern but you still want a toasty warm house, consider purchasing a programmable thermostat. These inventions are brilliant. With a simple setting you can automatically program the thermostat to lower the temperature at night when you're in bed with blankets. Then, program it to rise right before you wake up. This way your house is nice and cozy, but you save a lot on your heating bill. The cost of the new thermostat will pay for itself in heat savings.

An unfinished basement also creates a potential heat loss. Perhaps you think that as long as it's closed off from the rest of the house, there's no problem. But if your water heater is located in the basement, it may be losing heat before the water even gets into the rest of your house. You can buy inexpensive outer casings to provide a protective layer around the heater and prevent heat loss.

If you have tried all these tricks and your house still feels as cold as a museum, you may need to have your insulation checked. While no one wants to hear this, get a few people in to check out if it's doing its job. If you need to replace it, shop around for different contractors, it may cost less than you think. And in the long run it may save you a good deal of money in reduced heating costs.

No one likes to be cold in the winter, but keeping your home nice and heated doesn't have to cost you enormous amounts of money. Try these tips and you might be surprised at the difference it makes.

Article Source: http://www.simplepetcare.com/pet-articles

About the author: Stuart Fendor is the your host at FL Heat, the #1 source on the internet when you're looking for fresh up to date advice and reviews to do with Heat. For more articles on Heat visit: www.flheat.com/articles Why not sign up for our free Heat newsletter at: www.flheat.com/newsletters
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