No-cost and low-cost ways to cut your heating bill
Twelve things you can do this weekend, three that need a crew, and how to tell which ones your house needs.
Things you can do yourself
- Set the thermostat back at night. 62 at night, 68 by day, for about 8% off the heating bill. A programmable or smart thermostat does it for you.
- Weather-strip the attic hatch and insulate the back of it. The hatch is usually a bare piece of plywood over the warmest spot in the house.
- Seal the obvious gaps. Foam the holes where pipes and wires enter the basement, caulk around window trim, add door sweeps.
- Close the fireplace damper when the fire is out, or fit a chimney balloon. An open flue is a 24-hour hole in the roof.
- Run bath fans for 20 minutes after a shower and make sure they vent outdoors, not into the attic.
- Turn the water heater down to 120 F and wrap the first six feet of hot pipe.
- Replace the furnace filter every one to three months in heating season.
- Bleed hot-water baseboard radiators in the fall and keep the fins clear of furniture and curtains.
- Use the sun. Open south-facing blinds by day, close all of them at dusk.
- Swap the last incandescent bulbs for LEDs; the savings are small but permanent.
- Keep the dryer vent clean and the damper closing.
- Read your bills. Twelve months of oil, propane or gas is the number that tells you whether your home qualifies for the NHSaves program. Check it in a minute with the calculator on our NHSaves page.
A home energy assessment answers it with numbers: a blower-door test, an infrared scan and a written plan with the NHSaves rebate worked out. No pressure, no sales visit.
Things that need a crew
- Air sealing with a blower door. The fan tells us exactly how leaky the house is and the infrared camera shows where. Covered 100% by NHSaves on qualifying homes.
- Attic and wall insulation. Blown cellulose to R-49 and up in the attic, dense-pack in empty walls. Covered 75%.
- Rim joist and basement. Closed-cell foam at the sill, where cold air pours in all winter.
Most New Hampshire homes built before 1980 get all three for a few thousand dollars of homeowner share after the program pays its part, and the fuel savings are usually 20% or more. See what a project costs.
Questions
Which single change saves the most?
Air sealing, every time. In an older New Hampshire house a third of the heat leaves through gaps you cannot see from inside: the attic hatch, top plates, the chimney chase, recessed lights. The program pays 100% of it for a reason.
Does turning the thermostat down at night really help?
Yes. Each degree of setback over an eight-hour night saves roughly 1% of heating fuel. A simple programmable thermostat set to 62 at night and 68 by day pays for itself in a season.
Should I close vents in rooms I do not use?
Not with a forced-air furnace: it raises duct pressure and leaks more air into the basement or attic. With baseboard hot water you can turn down a zone, and with a mini-split you can leave an unused room cool.
Related
Let's take a look at your house.
It starts with a phone call at no cost. We tell you plainly what the house needs, what NHSaves will cover and what the rest will cost, in writing, before anything is scheduled.