How to cut heating bills this winter with easy home tips
The start of the heating season makes many people fear high bills. Fortunately, there are simple and effective methods to improve the efficiency of heating our apartments without incurring large costs.
7:54 AM EDT, October 1, 2024
The first cold mornings are behind us. Apartment residents have just awaited the heating's turn-on. The decision to turn it on is based on the rule that if the air temperature drops below 50°F for three consecutive days, the building manager must turn on the radiators.
And while it's nice to sit in a warm apartment, many people lose sleep over the issue of bills. How can you effectively heat your apartment without spending a fortune?
Use this trick in the fall
Even before the heating season starts, it's worth changing the window mode from summer to winter. To do it, open the window wide, find a small tab on the frame, and turn it 90 degrees with pliers or a screwdriver.
Then, it's worth checking the effectiveness of the trick. If you place your hand against the closed window and don't feel any airflow, it has been set to winter mode. This way, the heat will not escape from the apartment.
How to set a radiator with a thermostat to pay lower bills
Although we can elaborate on fancy home tricks, the absolute basic is the proper operation of radiators with a thermostat. The device essentially reacts immediately to temperature changes. Therefore, if you don't want your bills to skyrocket, always turn off the radiator in the room you air out. Otherwise, the cold air will cause the radiator to try to equalize the temperature and begin to use much more energy, and the bills will automatically shoot up.
Moreover, it's worth avoiding setting the radiators to the highest level. Setting the highest value won't significantly speed up the heating process; it will dry the air. It's best to set the thermostat to the middle setting so the radiator maintains a constant temperature of 64-68°F, which is optimal for human health and the wallet.
