Energy Saving Tips for Winter

[RPM]

I'm interested to hear what energy saving tips you all have come up with over the years. Had a couple of shocking heat bills last winter and am trying to avoid this year!

My home is 'new construction' and I didn't have the chance to fully winterize last year. I'm therefore currently planning on going back around the house to do the following:

1.) Add another layer of insulation in the attic (not happy with current amount of blown-in insulation)

2.) Seal up air leaks around pipes, cables etc. in the basement and crawl-space that were missed

3.) ... that's about it

Any other suggestions that folks from frosty states have?

Patrick

 

[RJohnson]

One of the things I did was to get the little foam sheets that go behind the switch plates and outlet plates in the wall. This keeps the cold air from inflitrating into the house. Even though I live in Texas and don't know what real cold weather is all about/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif, it has helped with my bills.

Randy

 

[dummy]

Try calling your electric company. For $55.00 our elec.coop came out pressurized the house to find air leaks, caulked and sealed where reasonable, measured attic and floor insulation, wrapped hot water heater and installed timer ( lowering temp. can be a plus also, 120 vs. 140+). Also did an energy audit on appliances. Then they gave us a handful of coupons to buy flourescent bulbs and other energy savers. Waiting on cold weather, but summer cooling dropped off by almost $30/mo.

 

[heehaw]

wow, nice electric company; no indication of where you live in your profile, must be OZ???????? your really lucky to have an electric company that does stuff like that..the only recommendation i would make is to use cellulose insulation instead of fiberglass, it stops the airflow better..
our water heater, cloths dryer and cook stove are all on natural gas, plus our furnace; our summer gas bills are $15 a month, don't let folks tell you electricity is cheaper..i don't think you could heat your water for $15 a month, much less dry cloths and cook.
heehaw

 

[RichNJ]

We have a solar heated house so insulation and air leaks were a priority during construction. Some tips:

1. Used a caulk that is indestructable and very flexible called "Sikaflex". We used cases of the stuff. http://www.sikaflex.com/
2. Used spray polyurethane foam around all windows doors or other holes in the insulation. Be very carefull!
3. Used a great inexpensive clothes dryer vent that really works. Check out: http://www.northerntool.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=18121&prmenbr=6970
We used it for the Kitchen vent also.

As part of our utilities "Good Sense Program" they came out and did a blower door test to check for air leaks. They take a door off and put a "blower door" on in it's place. They have pressure gauges that will tell you how much air is leaving the house.
After living here now for several years we noticed one bedromm was up to .8 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. That may not seem like much variation but even the basement stays within .1 degrees of the rest of the house. So I wanted to find out if there were any insulation problems in the walls. Thought of those "This Old House" shows where they used an infra-red thermal camera to detect cold spots in the walls. Called the utility again and talked to them about this. They said they would come out with the thermal camera and check it out for free - but they siad they usually don't offer this service to residential customers. It turned out there were no insulation problems. The camera does not lie.
The solution was to adjust the air flow into the room.

 

[RPM]

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions - I hope they keep on coming!

RichNJ - with regard to the call to the utility - was there any particular group you asked for? I am used to just dealing with the usual grumpy customer service reps for billing questions.

I am pretty sure that some insulation was missed out on one part of our house and I'd like to do one of those thermal camera pictures. With these modern house and all the changes in roofline you can't always get to these spots easily from the inside though. I would like to confirm my suspicions before I start cutting into anything!

Thanks,

Patrick

 

[TerryinMD]

Another thing that can help is to use programmable thermostats to control your heating/airconditioning systems. We have them on both of our heat pumps.

We also put a timer on our electric hot water heater.

We turn the heat down at night while were sleeping (65 degrees). Turn the heat up at 4:30 to warm things up before hopping in the shower (toilet seats also /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif).

The hot water heater is turned off during low usage periods with the timer.

Every little bit helps. Another thing to look for is older applicances. You would be surprised at how much juice those puppies can use. Case in point - my brother had a 1/2 keg beer tap in his house. When they turned it off, believe it or not, their electric bill dropped more than 30%. They were floored. So spend some time and look for obscure appliances (like your PC).

Terry

 

[MikePA]

Our electric coop gave us a discount on our rates if we'd permit them to shut off our hot water heater during peak usage times. Before that, like TerryinMD, I had a timer on it.

 

[RichNJ]

Ask for their Energy Efficiency Programs. My utility company emphasised that the thermal camera was not usually offered as a service (free or not) to it's customers. I even offered to pay them but thay said they wouldn't know what to charge. They said that since we were really trying to be energy efficient thay would give us a hand. They mentioned that since we were using solar heat and was in their "Good Cents Program" when we built that they would help us out. If your utility company does not offer this service or does not have a thermal camera then you could try finding a company that specializes in energy efficiency. Before I contacted the utility company I made calls and searched the web but found no-one in my area. There were many companies around the country - just no-one nearby.
If you get nowhere with these ideas you could buy a laser thermometer to spot check your exterior walls.
Try:
http://www.fluke.com/products/home.asp?SID=15&AGID=5&PID=17320
http://www.mcmelectronics.com
http://www.tenma.com/
http://www.jameco.com/
http://www.radioshack.com/category.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&category_name=CTLG_008_007_000_000&Page=1

 

[RPM]

I'm already resigned to having small gains in efficiency from different areas ...

The timer on the water heater makes sense. Mine is propane powered - but the thermostat is on an electric circuit that I could put on a timer. Saving on propane or electricity doesn't make any difference - it's all $$$!

We also just have one of the basic Honeywell circular thermostats for the main furnace / AC. Looks like I'll be putting in a programmable one.

These (along with the foam inserts behind the wall-plates for outlets) all seem like they'll have a good return on the cost ...

Patrick