My, how the time flies! We are already into November and just weeks from the beginning of the Holiday season. We have been enjoying warmer than normal temperatures as we move into the middle of fall, but we certainly shouldn’t bet on this trend continuing much longer.
With the onset of the heating season, world oil prices are continuing at historically high levels due to many factors that are defying attempts to reach global stabilization. Since individually, we have no control over this but still need to heat our homes, we have put together a list of suggestions that can make our heating oil last longer.
1. Turning Down the Heat
One of the easiest ways to save on oil is to turn down the heat. If you are used to your ideal home temperature being 21⁰C, you may want to turn it down one or two degrees in your main living areas and even put on a sweater to compensate. For rooms that are seldom used, you may think about reducing heat in those areas by three or four degrees. Care should be taken not to completely shut off or turn down heat too much in areas of your home to prevent pipes from freezing with sub-zero outside temperatures.
2. Installing a Programmable Thermostat
If you are out of your home during the day at work or school, programmable thermostats provide an excellent way to reduce oil consumption by automatically adjusting the heat at different times of the day. These reasonably priced and readily available devices are fairly easy to install and simple to set so heat can come on when people wake up or arrive home and be adjusted downward when the house is empty, or families are asleep.
3. Preventing Drafts or Losing Heat
Installing plastic film kits around windows, sealing the perimeter of doors and adding a door skirt can help keep cold air out and warm air in. Turning off bathroom fans when not needed can also limit heat loss, as can closing a fireplace damper.
4. Adding Insulation
Inadequate insulation in attics, basements and crawl spaces can be a source of significant heat loss and chilly air coming into your home. Installing additional insulation should prevent much of this and make your house more comfortable.
5. Getting Your Furnace and Heating Equipment Serviced Annually
A poor working furnace and related equipment can cause inefficient fuel burning that will use more oil and produce less heat. Make sure you have everything working optimally by getting a certified technician to inspect, clean and tune up your furnace so you can enjoy a safe, comfortable and cost-effective heating season.
At Scotia Fuels, we’ll do anything we can to help our customers have peace of mind at the time they need it the most. We are always ready to help by providing fast 24-hour, 7-days-a-week emergency service, even on holidays. So, if you run out of oil and your furnace won’t turn on, or you smell a strange odour or hear worrisome sounds, you can call us and hear back from one of our technicians very quickly. And speaking of cost-effectiveness, the labour for our annual servicing and emergency service is included when you purchase your oil from Scotia Fuels – you pay only for the parts.
Not yet a Scotia Fuels customer? Please visit our website at https://scotiafuels.com/contact-us/, or better still, call us at 902-453-2121. One of our local staff members will answer the phone, almost always within two rings. We’d love to talk with you.