According to www.energy.gov, space heating is the largest energy expense in the average home, accounting for about 45 percent of energy bills. This equates to the average household spending $700 a season if they heat their homes using natural gas and $1700 if using heating oil. With the new SEER 14 and water heater regulations, you may be thinking it's time to upgrade your heating source too. While that may be a good option for saving on your monthly bills, it can mean a large expense upfront. Also, an energy efficient unit won’t do much good if your home as a whole isn’t energy efficient. If you think your energy bills seem a little high, try these steps before running out to purchase a new unit.

Heating System Maintenance

• Install a programmable thermostat and save an estimated 10% a year on heating and cooling costs
• Open your curtains to allow natural sunlight to warm your home during the day and close them at night to keep the cold out.
• Add insulation to your walls.
• Set your ceiling fans clockwise to push warm air down.
• Clean your air filters monthly and replace them regularly.
• If you have a steam radiator, regularly allow trapped air from hot water to escape to allow the system to function properly.
• Check all air ducts, windows, and doors for proper seals. If you feel a draft, your warm air is escaping and cold air is coming in. Use a simple caulk, weatherstrip, or insulation to secure your seals.
• Ensure air vents, baseboard heaters, and radiators aren’t obstructed by furniture.
• Keep your unit clean of dust, soot and corrosion. Clean heating coils and heat exchanger regularly to maintain efficiency and prolong life.

Know the Lingo

If your bills are still high, it may be time to shop for a new unit. Before you do it's important to know the lingo... AFUE stands for “Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency” and is used to measure how energy efficient a furnace or boiler is. To find the AFUE of a system, take how efficient the appliance is at converting the energy in its fuel to heat and divide that by the annual fossil fuel energy consumed by the appliance. The higher the percent, the more energy efficient your unit is.

• 55-70% - Low efficiency
• 71-89% - Mid efficiency
• 90-100% - High efficiency

HSPF stands for “Heating Season Performance Factor” and is used to measure hour efficient a heat pump is. HSPF is measured by taking the total space heating required during the heating season and dividing it by the total electrical energy consumed.

• 3.0-6.8 – Low efficiency
• 6.8 – 7.9 – Mid efficiency
• 8.0 – 10.0 – High efficiency

COP stands for “Coefficient of Performance” and is another way to measure a heat pump’s efficiency. COP is measured by taking the amount of heat provided and dividing it by the amount of energy input.

• Rating ranges from 2-4, the higher the number the more efficient.

Types of Heating Systems

Now that you know what we're looking for, let's discuss what type of system is right for you.

Furnace

• How it works: Heats air and uses a blower motor and air ducts to distribute warm air throughout the house.
• Efficiency: 60-95% AFUE, depending on the systems age
• Life expectancy: 15-30 years
• Fuel: Natural gas, propane, heating oil, electricity
• Breakdown: Inexpensive, but can be loud

Boiler

• How it works: Heats water to make steam for heating that is then distributed through pipes.
• Efficiency: 50-90% AFUE, depending on the system’s age
• Life expectancy: 15-30 years
• Fuel: Natural gas, propane, heating oil, biodiesel blends, electricity
• Breakdown: Great for zone heating if you have unused rooms that you don’t want to heat, but it is fairly expensive to install and isn’t great in extreme cold areas where pipes are prone to freezing.

Heat Pump

• How it works: Pulls heat from the surrounding air to warm the house. Opposite is done for cooling.
• Efficiency: 6.8-10 HSPF
• Life expectancy: 15 years
• Fuel: Electricity, geothermal energy
• Breakdown: One system to take care of both your heating and cooling needs, but it isn’t great for places in extreme temperatures and can be expensive to install.

Solar

• How it works: The sun heats a liquid or air in a solar collector to produce heat.
• Efficiency: 100%, no energy needed
• Life expectancy: 20-30 years
• Fuel: Solar energy
• Breakdown: By far the most energy efficient, you will have little to no energy bill at all. Hoever, solar often requires a second form of heating source for large homes and has an expensive initial purchase for the panels and system.

Electric

• How it works: Converts electricity into heat.
• Efficiency: 95-100%
• Life expectancy: 20-30 years
• Fuel: Electricity
• Breakdown: Inexpensive equipment and high energy efficiency, but can be expensive to operate.

Source: www.energy.gov