A fireplace brings much needed warmth on cold winter nights. Just the sight of a real fire flame could warm up any cold living room. But during the long winter months when heat is very much needed, you tend to worry about escalating electricity bills. Well there are actually several things you can do to improve your comfort during these winter months while at the same time saving on your energy bills.

First make sure the damper in your fireplace is closed when not in use. Check your furnace filter always because you need to change it often during the winter months.

Plan your furniture arrangements accordingly. Heating systems that are send hot air around the room thru vents in the floor and draw back air thru returns. Make sure all these are unobstructed by furnitures to let the air flow properly. Common items that block vents and returns are sofas, beds, bookcases and other furnitures in the room. Rearrange them properly to allow the hot air to flow naturally around the room.

Keep the humidity in your homes consistent to improve efficiency of the furnace. Since the human skin is 74 degrees, set your thermostats below 74 degrees in the winter to economize. If you raise the humidity in your home, your skin won’t evaporate much moisture and you will feel warmer without changing the thermostats. A humidification system attachment to the furnace is a good investment also. With it, you don’t have to worry about keeping water in a humidifier in each level of the house and you will actually feel warmer in the winter. This means further savings on your energy bill.

As a rule cool air sinks and warm air rises. This means in the winter, your attic is probably warmer than the lower part of the house. These leaves the homeowners relatively colder because they stay at the lower part of the house. You probably would have to crank up your furnace in order to feel warmer. In order to save, put a stop to this unequal distribution of heat in your house. Limit the flow of hot air upstairs to allow it to move downstairs. To do this, close some vents upstairs and make sure all vents downstairs are open. This will help you further to save on your energy bill.

Having your furnace checked every year could actually save you a lot of money in the long run. Minor repairs could be done which if left unchecked will cost you a lot later on. To improve also the efficiency of your fireplace, adding fireplace glass doors is also a good idea. Choose Heatilator fireplace doors they have great designs to enhance any fireplace. They have a wide variety of designs surely to fit any fireplace area of any home.

A fireplace log also adds nice touch to any home. Superior fireplace logs are great designs for any home. They bring a nice warm touch especially on those cold winter nights.

Author Bio: James Terrell enjoys writing for Brick-anew.com which sells fireplace doors for brick fireplace and fireplace shelves as well as a host of additional products.

Category: Home Management
Keywords: winter months,energy bill,fireplace,fireplace designs,save energy