Your home's heating costs can be one of the larges costs you have to budget into your home's expenses each month. And when winter comes around, providing heat in your home keeps your family safe, especially when you live in a northern climate that has freezing temperatures. Here are some tips to help you heat your home efficiently with oil and keep the heat within your home.
Maintain Your Oil Tank
When your home is heated with oil, it is important to keep the system maintained so it works as well as possible. This includes having your furnace inspected and tuned-up each year or your heating oil boiler checked and serviced. You can call a heating professional to check and tune up the heating system you have installed in your home. Although a home heated with oil is one of the safest heating methods, you still want to make sure it is running efficiently and safely.
It is also a good idea to check your oil tank to periodically to see how much oil it contains. Become familiar with the gauge or dip stick on your heating oil tank so you can determine when the tank is getting low in oil. It is a good rule of thumb to refill your tank whenever it falls below a 25 percent fuel level. You don't want to ever run out of heating oil, especially during winter when you and your family need oil to heat your home.
Talk to your local oil delivery company about regular delivery to keep your tank as full as possible. Most oil companies can provide automatic and regular filling services, or you can call and order a refill whenever you may need it.
Stop Drafts and Escaping Heat
Once you have your home's oil heating working well, you want to keep it inside your home, and one of the largest areas your home can lose heat is through its windows and doors. Check the weatherstripping around your doors and replace it if it is not adequate. If you can see sunlight shining around your closed door on a sunny day, the weather stripping is letting heat escape your home as well.
Check your home's windows for any drafts by lighting an incense stick and moving it around your closed windows. If you see the incense smoke move as if in a breeze, your windows are letting your home's heat escape through a crack. Use caulk to seal up any holes around your windows to stop the heat loss.
You can also install plastic sheeting to the interior of your windows during winter to keep drafts from leaking your home's heat. Install the sheeting by attaching it with tape on the interior of your window frames. Keep in mind you won't be able to open your window while the sheeting is installed, but it can help keep your home warmer.
Install curtains onto your windows to help insulate them. Hanging curtains that reach to the floor can help stop cold drafts at night. Be sure to open the curtains when the sun shines in the window to help heat your home with solar heat gain. For more information, visit a website such as BUCKSFUEL.COM.
