Hampton Roads winters are mild, which makes the heating bill easy to ignore right up until the January statement arrives after a cold snap. This post is about that statement and what shapes it. It explains where the money goes in a coastal heating season, which fall maintenance items lower it, and how to tell in February whether the tune-up paid for itself. If you are looking for the safety and readiness side of fall, our post on getting your furnace ready for fall covers it, while this one follows the money.
Where a coastal heating bill goes
Most homes here heat with a heat pump, and a heat pump’s bill has two very different parts. On the mild days that make up most of a Hampton Roads winter, it moves heat from the outdoor air at a modest cost. On the handful of nights that drop into the 20s, it switches on electric auxiliary heat strips that draw several times the power of the heat pump itself, and those few nights can account for a large part of the season’s cost. A gas furnace’s bill is simpler but rises with every hour the burner runs. In both cases, the bill grows with run time, and everything on the list below works by reducing the hours the system needs to reach the same temperature.
The fall items that lower it
- A clean filter. A filter loaded with a summer’s pollen and dust restricts airflow, so the system runs longer to move the same heat, and on a heat pump restricted airflow can trigger the auxiliary strips early. This is the least expensive item on the list and the one with the fastest return.
- A clean outdoor coil, because a heat pump pulls heat from the outdoor air across the same coil that shed heat all summer, and a coil hazed with salt and pollen does both jobs poorly. Rinsing it in fall raises the heat pump’s efficiency for the whole season.
- A correct refrigerant charge, since a heat pump low on refrigerant heats poorly and leans on the strips to make up the difference, which is the most expensive way to heat a house. The charge is checked with gauges during the tune-up.
- Tested heat strips and a correct defrost cycle, because strips that are stuck on run when they should not, and a defrost control that runs too often wastes heat outdoors. Both show up on a technician’s meter and nowhere else.
- Sealed duct joints in the attic and crawl space. Heated air leaking into a 40-degree crawl space is heat you paid for and never felt, and a static pressure reading during the tune-up shows how much is escaping.
- A thermostat that is calibrated and scheduled, since a thermostat reading two degrees off runs the system two degrees longer, and a programmable or smart thermostat that sets back overnight and while the house is empty is the least expensive efficiency upgrade available.
- On a gas furnace, clean burners and a correct gas pressure, which burn the fuel you are buying completely.
The habits that add to it
A tune-up does its part in an hour, and a few habits do theirs all winter. Set the thermostat and leave it, because a heat pump asked to raise the temperature several degrees at once will call the auxiliary strips to do it quickly, and a steady setting avoids that. Keep the setting modest at night and when the house is empty rather than turning the system off, since reheating a cold house costs more than holding it. Keep supply vents open and unblocked, and keep the outdoor unit clear of leaves and pine straw through the winter. Close the fireplace damper when the fireplace is not in use, since an open flue pulls heated air out of the house around the clock.
Telling whether it worked
The test is the January or February statement compared with the same month last year, adjusted for any rate change and for how cold the month was. A maintained system should show fewer kilowatt-hours or therms for similar weather, and homeowners who have a neglected system tuned for the first time often see the difference on the first full month. A system that costs the same or more after a tune-up is telling you something else is going on, such as a duct leak, a failing heat strip control, or insulation that has settled, and that is worth a call. Our insulation team looks at the attic when the bill points there rather than at the equipment.
Scheduling it before the first cold night
Russell’s American Mechanical has served Hampton Roads since 1977. A fall maintenance visit in October means a convenient appointment on a mild day and a system running at its best when the strips finally come on in January. You can book it online or through the website chat, or call, with same-day appointments available by phone when the day allows. Members of the Premium Home Care Agreement receive the fall visit as part of the plan, along with reduced rates on any repair the readings turn up.