When the winter months come rolling in, you’re going to rely more on your heating system to stay nice and toasty indoors. But the more you use your HVAC system, the more you could end up paying in utility costs. The trick is to keep your system from running as little as possible while still providing you with the most effective levels of heat in your home.
Efficiency is key and that means ensuring that the windows aren’t allowing your costly climate-controlled air to seep out. The windows are some of the worst culprits when you are trying to keep your warm air inside. Glass is a terrible form of insulation and the frames around the windows can have all kinds of cracks and gaps that may not look like they’re leaking heat, but they are.
When the heat is escaping from your home, that forces your HVAC to run longer than necessary. That’s costing you more money and it’s putting unnecessary wear and tear on the system and all of the essential components. That’s why it’s so important to prevent window leaks, so you spend less and protect your home heating apparatus.
Here are some things you can do to make sure your home heating is working with the utmost efficiency:
New Weather-Stripping
This expendable component of your window or sliding glass doors can break down over time. It might be broken or falling off and will need to be replaced with some new stuff. Weather-stripping is ideal for cutting down on those gaps in between windows and doors and their accompanying jambs.
Glazing Your Windows
Your glass is held in place with caulk. But that caulk can also break down, leaving a gap through which air can slip out. But if you pull off the old caulk and add new caulk to the glass you can close the gap.
Put Up Thermal Drapes
Hanging thermal drapes over your windows can stop heat loss from getting through your glass. That’s because, while glass can be a lousy insulator, the drapes do the work of insulating them a whole lot better. The material is thick so the heat has much tougher time getting through.
Replacement Window Installation
Perhaps one of the best ways to ensure that all the heat remains in your home is by turning to a long-term solution in the form of energy efficient replacement windows. There are a whole range of benefits that come with putting in new replacement windows as they come equipped with features and accessories designed for improving your home’s heating and cooling efficiency throughout the whole year.
The following are some of the reasons why you might want to consider installing replacement windows in the home:
Double and Triple Panes
Back in the day, homes were typically equipped with single pane windows. But as window technology became more advanced and it grew apparent that a single sheet of glass was causing heat to escape through to the outside, double and triple pane combinations were developed to make it tougher for the heat to get out.
That’s why you’ll mostly find double and triple pane glass windows in most homes these days. These windows are not only manufactured with multiple panes of glass but additional layers of insulation placed in between those panes for even greater energy saving capabilities.
Inert Gases
That added layer of insulation comes in the form of inert gases that are injected into the window to keep the heat inside and prevent it from escaping through the glass. These are non-toxic gases that are safe for you and your family, but you’ll never come into contact with them unless the window is broken. The usual gases used in double and triple pane windows are Argon or Krypton gas. Both have terrific insulating abilities.
Foam Injection
The use of foam injection can increase the insulating properties of your window frames and sashes and reduce the thermal conduction that can take place. This foam acts a barrier that keeps the air from escaping during this normal process. The foam remains inside the structure of the frame, you will never see it for yourself, but you can trust that it’s there working to save you money on your utility costs.
Energy Star Certified Windows
All of these features come standard in today’s Energy Star certified replacement windows. Putting these windows in your home is cost effective over the long-term. Just be sure you look for the Energy Star Certification to be sure that your window is rated for insulation and heat transfer.