Make Sure Your Home Heating Does Not Go to Waste

As the leaves go red and gold, the days grow longer and the weather starts to chill, Canadian homeowners will start turning up the heat.

In the process, some of us end up paying far too much for gas and electricity because furnaces are old and inefficient or their homes are leaking heat like a sieve.

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To save homeowners from a season of skyhigh fuel bills and other headaches, the Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI) offers these three tips:

  • Schedule your annual HVAC maintenance. Just like a car, your home’s heating system is a major investment and a complicated, highly specialized machine. And just like a car, you need to tune it up annually to keep it running efficiently. At www.hrai.ca, you can find a list of properly qualified HRAI contractor members to take a look at your home heating system and make sure that it’s working as well as it should and that it lasts as long as possible.
  • Conduct a home energy audit. In the summer, you might leak cold air. In the winter, you might leak hot air. But if you’ve got a leaky home, the thing that will be drained the most is your bank account. An audit can seem like an intimidating concept, but when it comes to a home energy evaluation or “audit”, the results can be very beneficial. By engaging a certified professional, homeowners will learn where energy is being lost and can realize significant cost savings on home energy bills, often up to 30 per cent, while improving the resale value of the home. In many provinces, government rebates are offered for this important service.
  • Check up on your furnace and, if necessary, upgrade it. Older furnaces can be wasteful. New furnaces must live up to exacting standards, and can be up to 60% more efficient than existing systems. A qualified HVAC contractor can help you find out what kind of heating solution is right for your home.

After a long day in the cold, there’s nothing like a warm, welcoming home. But as valuable as your comfort is, be sure you’re not paying any more for it than you should. To find a pre-screened HRAI contractor member near you, go to our Contractor Locator page.

For more consumer tips and information, visit HRAI's Consumer Facebook Page.

 

 

 


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