In Minnesota, winter heat savings is important as the winter can be very long and very cold. Without some form of a winter heat savings plan, your heating bills will be large and create a drain on your bottom line. Our natural gas bill in January of 2011 was around $300 to heat our home at 65 degrees Fahrenheit. This large bill, created a real drain on our lives and our way of living. With the economic downturn, it is impossible for us to continue to pay these kinds of bills. Our income, like many people throughout the world, has dropped substantially. We are living on more than a 75% decrease of income since 2005. Each year, the utility bills get larger and our income gets smaller. For this reason, we knew we needed to insulate our home and do it against the cold winds of winter, but also, to create a winter heat savings plan.
Our Winter Heat Savings Plan Detail
Winter Heat Savings Starts with a Plan
Finding our winter heat savings started with reviewing our homes costs. We had a large natural gas bill, and that was chiefly to heat our home. When the temperature outside is temperate, we only use around $20-$30 per month to heat water, and dry some clothes. We could further remove our gas dryer, and the hot water heater to a on-demand unit, but the $240-$360 we needed to heat water and dry clothes is a very minimal expense. It is the more than $3000 amount we spend per year to heat our home, with not great success, I might add, that we really needed to see this amount removed from our bottom line.
Furnaces and Winter Heat Savings
A furnace installation was not a part of our winter savings plan. All the home renovation companies expect and push this kind of renovation and investment. Most new furnace installs in Minnesota should cost the homeowner no more than $3000. The fact is, however, they sell the 92% or more efficient furnaces, that actually require a heat exchanger to push new air into the home on a regular basis. This system is unreliable for energy efficiency in general. Here’s the story why!
New Furnaces will not be apart of our Winter Heat Savings Plan
Most homes that have utility issues and reasons for energy conservation changes are older than 1980. During the period of 1980 or newer built homes, the energy efficiency of homes increased dramatically with political changes on oil prices forces the issue of energy conservation. Suddenly with the advent of the gas crisis in 1977, the housing that every American was striving for was energy efficient. Everyone wanted a winter plan, and way to save money on the new emerging costs that were beginning to flower in utilities through home ownership. Not only were home owners searching for savings, so were business owners. New forms of energy conservancy were beginning to take shape. The new energy efficient furnace does burn less fuel to heat your home or business, but he fact remains that the heat it creates escapes from low insulated areas. When a heat exchange unit is installed, the fresh air supply comes through this unit to keep the proper levels of air in the home. This method of safety is counter productive to the efficiency of the furnace. Studies show, the 95% heat exchange units actually only save 80% of the actual energy costs. This is due to the heat exchange process, which is often very inefficient. Removing the heat exchanger, can create a deadly situation in your home with lack of oxygen and increase carbon monoxide. The exchanger is in fact the solution by more of a problem.
The most compelling argument for a winter energy plan that does not upgrade to a high efficiency furnace is the fact if your home is not sealed with appropriate insulation, you will not have the desired effect of adding savings to your utility bills. With added insulation, you can cut your bills by 60%. This is quite a large savings, and will always work to save you money, no matter what kind of furnace you have in your home.
