How to Improve Furnace Efficiency this Winter in the Bay Area

Even though we’ve had some record-breaking heat in the Bay Area in the past week, the heating season is far from over. And if you’re like many Bay Area homeowners, you want your furnace to run as efficiently as possible while it’s keeping you warm this winter. Today we’re going to help make that happen by talking about five of the best ways you can improve your furnace’s efficiency!

5 ways to improve furnace efficiency in your Bay Area home

• 1. Schedule annual furnace tune-ups. In order for your furnace to work as efficiently as possible every heating season, it needs to have an annual tune-up performed by a professional like Cabrillo once per year. During your tune-up, we’ll perform a number of beneficial maintenance tasks and take care of any problems that could be hindering your furnace’s performance. This will allow your heating system to run more efficiently both in the short- and long-term.
• 2. Use energy-saving thermostat settings. This one’s pretty simple to understand: the lower you set your thermostat, the less energy your furnace will consume. If you’d like to improve your furnace’s efficiency, try lowering your at-home temperature by just a degree or two and see if your home is still comfortable. In addition, set your thermostat back 5-10 degrees whenever you’re going to be away from home for eight hours or more.
• 3. Update to a programmable thermostat. Setting your thermostat back to save energy can be done seamlessly with a programmable thermostat. Simply tell the programmable thermostat what times of day that your home is unoccupied for eight hours or more (such as when your family is away at work or school) and your temperature settings will be adjusted automatically. You can even set your programmable thermostat to have your home at your desired temperature by the time you get back!
• 4. Keep your furnace filter clean. Running your furnace with a dirty filter is one of the easiest ways for your system to lose efficiency. That’s because a dirty filter will block your system’s airflow, which forces your furnace to work harder and consume much more energy than usual. To avoid this, check the condition of your air filter every month and install a new filter as soon as you notice your current filter is dirty.
• 5. Seal and insulate your home. Homes that are tightly-sealed and well-insulated are much better at containing heat than homes with air leaks or a lack of insulation. By sealing up your home’s air leaks and ensuring that every area of your home is insulated to the proper R-values, you can greatly improve your furnace’s efficiency. Contact Cabrillo if you’d like help sealing or insulating your home!

If you have any questions about how to improve your furnace’s efficiency, or if you’d like a heating system serviced or installed in your home, contact Cabrillo, your Bay Area plumbing, heating and air conditioning contractor.