Winter Tips for your Vancouver Home.

Winter is upon us and Vancouver is quickly getting colder. Here are some quick tips on getting your Vancouver home ready for the season that will save you a bit of money and won't cost you an arm and a leg to implement.

• Probably the simplest thing you can do is bundle up and dress warmly. This is some old school advice you were probably told as a kid but it makes a lot of sense! You can save 2 percent on your heating bill for every 1°C you lower your thermostat. 
•  Make sure your Vancouver furnace filter is clean and replace it if necessary. Having a clean filter will help your furnace to heat your home more efficiently. 
• Plastic up windows and the entrance to your attic. It might look a little funny but its cheap and will help. Window kits are available at local retailers. 
• Turn your heat down at night while in bed. Lowering the thermostat setting before bedtime reduces your energy bills without affecting your comfort.
• Close heating vents going to rooms not often used. Have a guest bedroom no one ever uses, why heat the room if your not going to be spending time in it? 
• Put weather stripping around drafty doors and use silicone to seal up cracks around windows. The cost of improving the air-tightness of your Vancouver home with silicone is small compared with possible fuel savings and increased comfort.

Vancouver furnace service

The Importance of Air Circulation in your Vancouver Home

Cold air return grill

When it comes to a comfortable heating system good air circulation is essential. 

  

Unfortunately most Vancouver homes have been designed with inadequate cold air returns incorporated into their forced air heating systems. 

The cold air return is the plenum that carries air from large return grills in your home back to the furnace for reheating. If a home lacks sufficient cold air returns, air circulation will be decreased while comfort and air quality will be lessened.

A sure sign of poor air circulation is cold air pockets in the winter and hotter areas of the house in summer. As well as being important to your heating, good air circulation can help keep your home cool and comfortable in the summer when you have the furnace blower running.

The difficulty of adding more return air to your Vancouver house greatly depends on the structure of your home. That being said, if there is a will, there is a way and ducting can be added if it is truly needed.