While you should have done your home energy-saving repairs and maintenance back in the fall, we all know how that goes. You have great intentions, and then suddenly, it’s winter. Too late.
Or not. Now that we’re in the midst of it, it’s a great time to identify the areas that need attention, so that you can definitely take care of them next fall — or before.
1. Actually, you can take care of at least one comfort adjustment right now. If you find that there are areas of your house that are always too hot or always too cold, the fix may be simple. Even if you’ve already tried adjusting the louvers on your heating registers, there’s something you may have missed. Your ductwork should have dampers you can adjust at a variety of branches in the system. You can usually identify them by the lever used to open and close them. Try adjusting these to allow more or less flow to various areas and you might just cure the problem.
Note that if you have central air conditioning, you’ll want to adjust these spring and fall — closing dampers to the upper levels more for the winter and opening them for the summer.
2. While you’re down checking out the ductwork, put your hand above all the seams while the fan is blowing. If you can feel heat blowing out, here’s a chance to use duct tape for what it was originally intended!
More ideas next time.