With winter’s icy winds and freezing lows, it’s more important than ever to make our homes a cozy haven. There are many benefits to achieving the appropriate home temperature, including better comfort, greater health, improved energy efficiency and financial savings. Let’s explore the importance of a comfortable interior temperature in the winter, what that temperature should be and how to improve your home’s indoor temperature control.
Why Your Home’s Indoor Temperature Matters?
One of the most important factors affecting your health throughout the winter is the temperature inside your house. Several health complications, such as difficulty breathing, aching joints and lowered immune function, may result from prolonged exposure to dangerously low temperatures. Indoor temperature regulation also aids in saving money on utility bills. This is because keeping a pleasant temperature in a well-insulated and heated house means your home uses less energy.
The Best Winter Temperature
The United States Department of Energy suggests keeping your house around 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) when you’re awake and at home and turning it down while you’re sleeping or not there. Automating these temperature changes with a programmable thermostat can help you achieve maximum comfort while reducing energy waste. Finding a happy medium between comfort and energy efficiency is key. When you turn up the thermostat too high, you end up using more energy and paying more for your utilities. The other side is that you risk harm to yourself and your comfort if you let your house become too chilly. You can discover the optimal temperature that satisfies your demands while reducing energy use by experimenting with various settings.
How to Improve Your Home’s Temperature Control During the Winter
Setting the thermostat is just part of the equation when it comes to keeping the house at a comfortable temperature. If you want to keep your house warmer in the winter, try the simple tips discussed below.
Seal Air Leaks
A home with air leaks will struggle to retain heat. Use weatherstripping or caulk to seal any cracks you find around doors, windows and other openings. Sealing all drafts and air leaks will keep the cold air out and the heat inside, making it easier and cheaper for the furnace to heat your home.
Upgrade Insulation
A well-insulated house is essential for maintaining a comfortable interior temperature. This is why it’s important to take special care to insulate the basement, walls and attic of your house. Investing in better insulation has several benefits, including improved heat retention, increased energy efficiency and lower heating bills.
Use Draft Stoppers
One easy way to keep cold air from seeping under doors and windows is to use draft stoppers, often called draft snakes. These simple and inexpensive devices prevent chilly air from entering your home and warm air from escaping, which greatly improves interior temperature control.
Use a Programmable Thermostat
To make your life easier and more convenient, a programmable thermostat lets you assign certain temperatures to specific times of day. Turning the thermostat up while you’re home and down when you’re gone or sleeping helps save money on energy bills without sacrificing comfort. Smart capabilities, which enable remote control via smartphones, are available on certain programmable thermostats, adding even more ease and convenience to your life.
Use Ceiling Fans
During the colder parts of the year, ceiling fans are a multipurpose friend in the fight for a cozy house. To get the most out of them, turn the fan on low speed and configure it to spin clockwise. A soft updraft like this will redirect the warm air that rises to the ceiling and recirculate it into your home’s livable zones. This temperature control technique means you’ll use the heating system less, which translates into less money spent on heating bills. To further battle drafts, you can position ceiling fans strategically near windows to create a barrier that stops cold air from coming in and warm air from going out.
Schedule HVAC Maintenance
If you want your HVAC system to work at peak efficiency, you must maintain it regularly. Get your system checked out by a professional before winter to make sure it’s clean and running efficiently. In addition to improving temperature management, a well-maintained HVAC system will increase the equipment’s lifetime.
Are you ready to improve your home’s indoor comfort this winter with better temperature control? Northwest HVAC Heating & Cooling helps Vancouver homeowners with all of their heating and cooling needs. We provide a variety of AC and furnace repair and installation services, as well as maintenance agreements. Give us a call today to learn more about improving comfort and saving money with optimal interior temperature control.
