Winter HVAC Savings Tips

Winter brings about a lot of good things to be happy about here in Northern Virginia. We get some gorgeous snowfalls. We get away from that abysmal summer humidity. And of course there’s the holidays bringing great food and good company, too! But many of the things we love about winter are a bit double-edged, as any homeowner in our area can attest. Those winter energy and heating costs can be crushing. But before you break your wallet, the experts at HVAC & Plumbing Unlimited might be able to give you a hand!

Looking for top-class HVAC service in Fairfax to keep you cozy and cost-efficient this winter season? Contact HVAC & Plumbing Unlimited to find out how!

Cost-Minded HVAC Tips for the Winter Season

Heating your home is easily one of the biggest winter expenditures. It gets frigid out there (it already has, in fact!), and to fight off the chill you rely on some good quality heating. But who says comfort has to bust your budget? Use these tips to keep the costs low and the temperature high in your home this year:

• Schedule professional maintenance. We’ll start here since it’s sort of our specialty. It also happens to be the biggest difference maker on this list. A professional maintenance and tune-up visit means a lot of very important things for your HVAC system. It means better energy-efficiency, means lower operation costs. It means fewer breakdowns, which means dodging high heating repair costs, and it means better home comfort. It’s the biggest win-win we can think of, and our experts recommend you do it yearly!
• Keep your furnace or heat pump dust-free. Change your air filter every three months at least. Do so more often if you live in a dusty area or your furnace is working overtime. While you’re at it, keep the vents in your home well cleaned and dust weekly. We guarantee your HVAC system will thank you by providing higher quality heating, at a lower cost.
• Keep your vents open. It can be tempting to close off the vents in, say, an unused office or your utility room. But while it seems to make sense on the surface, it’s actually a really, really bad idea. Your furnace or heat pump was installed not only according to the size of your home, but according to specific air pressure and air flow amounts in the home. When this gets interrupted (by something like closing a vent) it can actually severely limit your heating system’s effectiveness and can even result in a breakdown. Don’t do it!
• Drop the temp by a degree and turn your fans on. Not like box fans. That’d be silly. We’re talking about ceiling fans! Did you know that you can reverse the direction a ceiling fan rotates, and thus can change how it interacts with the air in your home. In the winter, you can set your fans to rotate clockwise and they’ll actually push air back down from the ceiling, which is where all of your warm air likes to hide. By doing this, you can comfortably drop the temperature of your thermostat by a degree or even two, which can cut your HVAC energy costs by as much as twenty percent!

Superior HVAC Services & Heating Maintenance with HVAC & Plumbing Unlimited

If you’re ready to get started saving money and enjoy higher quality heat, trust the professionals at HVAC & Plumbing Unlimited to provide with our top-class heating maintenance services. Contact us online today or give us a call to set your appointment!