Effective HVAC Winter Tips That’ll Keep You Warm and Cozy

Everyone likes the option to stay warm in the winter. Consistently poor heating performance can make that rather difficult, but what’s the best approach? Can you enjoy a cozier indoor environment without overworking your heating equipment or running up the heating bill?

Here, A1 Mechanical Heating & Cooling shares a few insider HVAC tips for winter weather based on many, many years of reliable HVAC repair in Louisville, KY. Home and business owners trust us to help them stay comfortable while saving money. Go ahead and use this guide to maximize your indoor heat – without compromising your furnace or heat pump.

Always Start With a Seasonal Tune-Up

A well-rounded HVAC winter maintenance routine begins with a professional tune-up. Schedule a session in early to mid-autumn before you have to rely fully on your heating equipment. Your preferred technician will gear up the system for cold weather, ensuring all its components function safely and optimally.

Expect your unit’s average tune-up to include:

• Lubricating moving parts
• Tightening or loosening things
• Checking and topping off refrigerant
• Making small repairs
• Calibrating the thermostat for heat settings
• Cleaning coils, belts, fan blades, and other potentially dusty surfaces inside the unit

Your technician suggests other maintenance tasks to perform between sessions, too.

HVAC Tips for Winter That You Might Handle Alone

What can you do to stay warm when the snow starts falling? The following HVAC tips for winter may help to heat your home without you having to dig deeper in your pockets at the end of each month. These tasks may also prevent unexpected repairs and prolong your heating system’s service life – a bonus on top of energy savings.

Update Your Thermostat

Your thermostat controls your indoor environment from the source, tracking temperature and letting the system know when to start running again or take a break. Rudimentary functions are okay, but if you’d like absolute efficiency, why not replace the unit with a smart or programmable thermostat instead?

• Smart thermostats connect to the internet. You control them from any location via an app and a WiFi connection, adjusting your space’s temperature to suit weather changes or your comings and goings.
• A programmable thermostat works similarly to a smart one but without a WiFi connection. You can still plan up to a week in advance with some devices, saving you money without sacrificing comfort. 

Switch Out Your Air Filters

Air filter replacement facilitates balanced heating distribution and a healthier home or business environment when you have climate control. These filters capture airborne particles that might clog up your HVAC system or respiratory system. Ideally, you should switch them out every three months. 

If you purchase a media filter, you will have even better indoor air quality and a longer filter life. They do more heavy lifting than the average one-inch product and last up to six months. 

Insulate Drafty Places

Do you ever feel a chilly breeze coming through your living room? Maybe it’s your bedroom that feels cooler than the other areas. Drafty windows and doors enable outdoor air to infiltrate your home, compromising your indoor comfort and running up your bills.

One of the most overlooked HVAC tips for winter involves caulking cracks and improving the drafty areas’ insulation. Try these low-cost recommendations:

• Install weather stripping on doors.
• Press old towels or blankets against the bottoms of doors.
• Hang curtains in windows.
• Measure and cut cardboard (or another material) to shield window panes at night.
• Refresh the attic insulation.

Some of these efforts can dramatically change how you perceive your indoor temperature and how frequently your heating system cycles. 

Prepare Ducts and Vents

Duct cleaning and vent clearance are two all-important methods for maintaining a warmer, cozier home. If you can’t remember when you last scheduled a duct cleaning service, you should probably plan one now, as every three to five years is the standard recommendation. Duct cleanings eliminate excess debris and filth that could affect air quality and ensure no obstacles thwart your climate control system’s airflow.

While you’re at it, remove and rinse those vent grates and move furniture or large belongings far away from the openings. Blocking the vents prevents heated air from filling the room.

Set Your Ceiling Fans to Turn Clockwise

Some of our favorite HVAC tips for winter involve small things you can complete within minutes. For example, resetting your ceiling fans to turn clockwise during winter can keep those respective rooms warmer. Warm air is lighter than cool air and rises, so the clockwise rotation is helpful in pushing this warmer air back down to warm up the spaces below. 

Tidy Up the Areas Surrounding Each Unit

Your HVAC equipment needs to breathe. Indoor and outdoor units intake and output air and generate heat during operation. Unfortunately, these components can quickly overheat if a bunch of storage or debris insulates them.

It’s also important to periodically inspect your heating and cooling equipment. Remove leaves, grass clippings, and other organic detritus from around the outdoor equipment. Give your indoor unit at least two feet of space on all sides for proper air circulation and heat expression. 

Set Carbon Monoxide Alarms

Some heating systems use fuel – natural gas, propane, and oil – to power their cycles, all of which come with unique dangers, like carbon monoxide leaks. This toxic gas silently makes you sick and can cause fatalities.

Carbon monoxide alarms detect high CO levels and warn building occupants of this danger so that everyone can evacuate and get medical help. Purchase and place alarms near your kitchen, water heater, furnace unit, and other appliances that use gas. Test alarms before winter begins to be safe.

Roll Out the Space Heaters

Do you spend most of your time in a single room? Maybe you work from home or have housemates. If so, consider supplementing your heating with space heaters to take the edge off your main systems.

Contact A1 Mechanical Heating & Cooling About Maintenance and Indoor Air Quality Solutions

Looking for more HVAC tips for winter? Schedule your annual HVAC maintenance service with A1 Mechanical Heating & Cooling.