During winters, it is essential to heat your house to keep yourself and your family warm and cozy. Providing proper heating in the home can be really expensive and if you are negligent about the energy-efficiency of your heating system, you might end up paying an exorbitant amount in the form of energy bills.

Properly regulating your heating system during the winter months can help you lower the energy bills. As per a recent study, it stated that around 43% of the energy, people use at home during winters is only for heating purposes. But with the improved energy efficiency of the modern heating system, it becomes easy to offset the spiked energy prices. If your heater is not energy efficient, then you will burn your cash just to stay warm. In simple words, the more efficient your heater is, the less it will cost to run. But how will you decide whether or not your heating system is energy-efficient?

Why Your Heating System Should Be Energy-Efficient?

One of the simplest reasons is, the energy-efficient heating system will help you in reducing the energy bills. The heating system with lower efficiency needs to be kept running for long hours, which in turn increases the energy bills and does not even heat the home properly. Having an energy-efficient heating system will eventually add up to your major savings.

As a homeowner, you must remember that whatever is the type of heating system, it must be properly sized to produce an exact level of heating you require. The system is the deciding factor of its functional capacity to generate heat. To understand the concept, you can take guidance from the expert, trusted, and experienced HVAC contractors. They will let you know what would be the optimum amount of heat for your house.

How Will You Analyze Whether Or Not The Heating System Is Efficient?

Consider The Age of The Heating System: As per the market analysis, the average service life expectancy of a heating system is about 15 to 20 years. Even though your heating system has a great AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) rating, it will gradually decline with time. Moreover, the heating system will lose out when it is not maintained regularly.

With time and steady use, the components of the heating system wear out. There would be a constant need to upgrade your heating system or keep changing the essential components to keep the system running through the years. Although, with advances in the HVAC technology, you can upgrade even a 10-year-old heating system. But the upgrade would be really expensive. To save money on the energy bills, you must consider replacing your heater sooner and get a new one with a higher energy-efficiency

Considering And Comparing The Energy Bills: It is almost natural to see fluctuation in your energy bills from time to time. Factors that fluctuate the energy bills can be the changing season, living situations, and rise in energy costs. However, when you start comparing the energy bills of all the months, it will help you in identifying whether your heating system is losing efficiency. If you witness a spike in the energy bills, then your heater may not be running efficiently. Therefore, monitoring your energy bills will help you out. You must also be aware of the external influences that might disrupt the proper functioning of the heating system. Tracking these shifts can help you in understanding the condition of the heating system of your home.

Knowing The AFUE Rating Of The Heating System: It is considered the best way to identify whether the heater is functioning efficiently. The AFUE value is the exact percentage that measures the efficiency of the heater and converts it into fuel energy. With higher AFUE value, your heater has a high-efficiency level. For a proper functioning heater, it is essential to have an AFUE rating above 90%. A heater with an 80% rating is typically sufficient and quite common in temperate climates.

Summary:

Well, it is important to consider the proper heating of your home during winters, especially in the areas where the temperature dips below the freezing point. While considering the expense of your heating system, it would turn out that the heating system is consuming almost half of the household energy budget. For those who are looking to reduce the energy bills, must focus on the energy-efficiency of their heating system.