Gadgets to save energy and money!

2009-12-15T20:42:00.000-08:00

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Hello all,

Just an update follow my first post on quick tips to help you save energy. This post will pertain to a great thing to invest in that will save you a bundle of money.

First on the list is an electric heater or space heater as some may call it. If you have ever heard bad about these products you are sadly mistaken. I always used to think they would cost me a fortune to run and I would not gain anything on them, but the truth is they actually save you money. Now if you have read my guide "quick tips to saving energy" then you will know where I am going with this if not be sure to read it although i will explain the basic concepts here as well. Now a huge factor in all of this is temperature regulation (managing your thermostat better). I won't go into detail but simply put lower the temperature of your bedrooms via thermostat *Note you can only do this if your house is zoned in that manner for more information check out my blog quick tips for energy saving* if you cannot do this than no worries it is just another step. Now, when you go to purchase one of these heater you do not need a huge son of a gun heater. You can purchase one around the size of a toaster or even a stereo. Most of these are commonly rated at a maximum output of 1500W. This is standard and is the best way to go. Running one of these in a bedroom no matter the size unless it is a more than average bedroom , say 30x35 that's a little to much that's a living area., will only costs you $1 per 8 hours ran. If you are not in your bedroom all day why bother running it; simply turn it on when you come home from work or school, takes no longer than an hour to completely heat a room and then you can let it run all night. Now you can sleep comfortably and save money in the process. The last question your asking me now is well this sounds great and all but how much will one of this run me? The one I have sitting behind me I picked up at menard's for $30 and it works great. They can range from $15 to $100 . Some come with digital displays and remote controls ; some like the one I have regulates fan speed and temperature all you need. BE SURE TO GET ONE THAT REGULATES TEMPATURE AND NOW ONE ON A TIMER!!!! THE ONES ON TIMERS CAN CONSTANTLY RUN AND RUN WHICH IS NOT GOOD SAFETY WISE AND SAVING WISE. THE TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED ONES REACT TO THE TEMPATURE IN THE ROOM ADJUSTED TO SUITE YOUR NEEDS. THUS THEY DON'T CONSTANTLY RUN!!!!

There ya go another helpful tip to save you some money.

Quick Energy Saving Tips

2009-12-15T18:51:00.000-08:00

Welcome! I put up this blog in order to help you save some money. In today's economic hardship we try to do anything we can to save a dollar or two, right? Well with this information I hope to help you accomplish just that. Most ways have expensive methods for long time commitments of saving money on your energy bill. Here you will find the cheapest way to accomplish shaving off some money on the always increasing energy bill. On this site you will find many tips and tricks to help you through the season and not empty your wallet in the process. Some of these methods range from temporary to permanent so that you can benefit from them no matter the reason. In this guide I will explain to you how to do it all and what you will need. You will easily save over a $100 over the winter season on you energy bill and it will cost you around $50 to complete the whole house. I hope you enjoy and good luck!!! You can find all this information along with a forum and nice little tools to help you on my website. http://www.wowguide.net23.net

Chapter 1: Doors

Well these days the governments always babbling on about being more energy efficient. They recommend you replace those old doors and windows which can easily amount to thousands of dollars. Seems kind of silly to do all that, say you want to save money so you buy those new doors and windows. You spend all of that money and it will take you many years to pay off more than likely and the savings on your energy bills will take more time than you will probably spend in that house. Here are a few tips for you to really cut the cost and save some money.

Let us start with the doors, depending on you type of door and age of that door there are many ways to go about a solution.

Pure Wooden Doors

This is with no glass just a plain wooden door. Take and shut the door and examine it in two ways. First, look around the seams of the door. Can you see light? If so, you’re letting in a good amount of cold air. Next take and run your hand around the seams to see if you can feel any cold air where light is not visible. Once you have done both these steps and confirmed you have any type of leak you need a simple item. That item is weather stripping, not those ones you mount on the door although you can get one for the top and possibly bottom of the door but it does not help on the sides. The weather stripping I am talking about is the foam kind with an adhesive backing. You can pick it up at any hardware store for about $5. Now you would think to put it on the frame of the door but actually it works better to put it on the door. How so? Putting the weather stripping on the stationary door frame allows the door to push and pull on it constantly allowing faster wear and tear and lose of the adhesive backing. If you put it on the door it moves with the door allowing it to nicely form its' own mold to the frame, thus creating better seal. You may have to take and shave down the stripping to make the door close properly. Easiest way, pick it away with your fingers and cut downward with a knife to make it even. There you go, wooden door sealing complete.

Screen Doors and Sliding Glass Doors

This is a very tricky subject to tackle. Usually these two go hand in hand with the glass door being on the inside and screen on the outside. There is not much you can do with the screen unless you seal it off by since it’s on the outside why bother? All there is to do here which is a universal solution to most glass is sealed it off. Now there are two ways of going about this. First off, if you plan to use the doors you obviously can't seal off the entire thing. Simple way of doing things is to go out to your hardware store once again (I would just read this all and make one trip). Just make your way on over there and pick up a window kit. All it is a roll of thin plastic and two-sided tape and it works wonders. It only takes a few minutes to put up, just measure your glass area size on the door both width and height and cut out a piece of that plastic. These kits come in many sizes with more than enough to do several glass surfaces such as windows and doors. Next prep surface you are going to stick the tape to with alcohol to clean it very nicely. Now take and line all of the sides around the glass with the double sided tape and make sure they connect in order to get a firm seal. Take one corner of the plastic and start at either the upper left or upper right hand corners. Once stuck make vertically down to the bottom corner making sure you keep tension on the plastic. Once that's done make your way across to the other side, this is done easier with two people. One person takes the other two corners to the other side keeping it stretched and tight while the other person uses there hand to stick the plastic to the tape; to make things easier use something such as a paint roller to make a nice smooth transition. Once you’re all done simply take a hair dryer over it all in order to shrink the plastic and make it look nice and neat. Rinse and Repeat for any other windowed doors.

Now if you are not planning on using these doors for the season here is a better way of sealing them. You can either use the window kit or if you don't mind a cruder look you can use thicker plastic. Yes, it looks worse off but it does have a better insulation factor. If you do use the thicker plastic I would recommend double strips of the two-sided tape or wider two-sided tape to hold it better; If not just use one strip. All you have to do here is use the Guidelines above to form the seal around the entire door instead of just the glass. Another easy fix done!

Garage Door

Most Garages door leak from the top, sides, and in between the individual panels. The bottom is sealed nicely do to the rubber trim. The quickest way to seal a garage door is silicone on the sides of the door. What I mean by this is on the left and right sides of the door on the outside. The front of the door on each side should be sealed with a nice line of 100% silicone. In order to do this; simply raise the door, grab a ladder, and apply it right on down each side on top. Let it cure for 2-8 hours and then put the door on down. In the mean time while the door is up you can occupy yourself by taking a piece of that foam weather stripping and putting it on the top front of the door all the way across; so when closed it seals nicely against the frame. Once that’s all done and the silicone is nicely healed you can start to raise and lower the door to wear each section that bends and opens does so. In between each section of the doors that bends to leave an opening apply silicone. Luckily you won't have to leave the door open you can close it once your door and it will dry on its own.

You can easily mix and match the above solutions to conquer any type of door.

Chapter 2: Windows

In this section I will go over some ways to help seal the biggest problem of letting cold air in... Windows. No matter the type of window these three methods will help. First, as described in the door section you can use a window kit to seal off the windows. This is by far the most efficient way to keep out nearly 80% more cold air. I have experienced this first hand and it works amazingly. I strongly recommend it, but there are two other tips to really seal those bothersome windows.

Note that these two go hand in hand and work together to make a potent combo but they can be use individually. The first tool of the trade is none other than our friend the foam weather stripping. You simply place this at the top and bottom of the windows so when you shut them they form a seal. This however, does not help with the sides of the windows. Now you can use the weather stripping and the next item caulk/silicone or just the caulk/silicone it solves the problem all on its own. Personally i prefer silicon because it also keeps out moisture and bonds better. Pick up a tube of 100% silicone and apply it along the bottom and top of the window. Now take and open the windows one side at a time and fill in the track where the window slides with the silicone. I know what you’re thinking and as bad as it sounds it can easily removed come spring time to open those windows and let the fresh air in. Make sure to get a good amount all around the window and close them and let it sit and cure. That's all there is to it using silicone, weather stripping, and the plastic window kit I can guarantee about 87% or better cold air reduction. This as you can figure will drastically help in keeping the heat in. That equals a money saver and a half. With that extra money someone can spend more at Christmas; so everyone is happy. Happy Holidays!

Chapter 3: Insulation

Now this is the one section exempt from my $50 rule. The insulation in your walls is nothing to worry about it will hold up for 20-30 years. This section applies to your attic. Check the insulation in your attic every 8-10 years. Why? Simply put; rodents, they will eat away at that insulation. This is a short section so I will get right to it. Instead of getting insulation in rolls and stripping out the current insulation in there I have an easier way. Leave it why tear it if it still has some value of insulation. I went to Menards' for this solution. Get the individual sections of insulation, I got the 2x4 sections. I took about 20 of these and scattered them all around the attic. This way it will last a long time against those pesty rodents and provide almost another layer in your attic. It will act as a shield to help that cold air stay up in the attic.

Chapter 4: Temperature Regulation

Good regulation of your thermostat can make a huge difference. It all depends on your home's setup and zoning. To best explain this I will explain our house's setup. We have three thermostats one that controls the bedrooms, one the controls the downstairs, and one that controls the upstairs living area. Since we spend most the time upstairs we set the living area thermostat which I’ll refer to as "zone 1" to 68 degrees at all times. Next the downstairs "zone 2" since it is rarely used we keep it off, if we plan on spending the day down there we will turn it on to 68. It takes about an hour to warm it up from 60 or less which is what it is usually when it's off. The downstairs is a finished basement that is mostly underground so it can get cold easily. Now also we have a fireplace down there and if we plan on spending the night down there we will use that instead. Using the fireplace not only heats the downstairs but also the upstairs through floor vents which saves a lot of money. Simply by doing these three things we save an average of $75 each bill. Now the bedrooms, since like most people you aren't in them or home for that matter during the day, we shut "zone 3" (the bed rooms) off and turn it on around 3pm or later. When we all start getting home or if it is a late night we will wait to about 6 or 7 pm. By doing this we cut off another $25 off the bill. It does not take long to heat the 3 bedrooms and when we turn it on depending on how cold it is we range it from 65-70 degrees. Simply put blankets do wonders and to go the extra step you can use electric blankets to keep the temperature down to 64 or 65 all the time. As you can see we can save an easy $100+ on each bill.

***NOTE*** I STRONGLY RECOMMEND INVESTING IN SOLAR PANELS!!!!

It is somewhat costly to have them installed, but the money saved pays for it in 2 years. When the sun is out we can blast the heat up to 80 and it is free!!!! It is such a great investment!

Chapter 5: Attic Sealing

This is the easiest and probably most important one of them all. Your attic one of the biggest sources of cold air believe it or not. Most attics are ventilated and during the winter when the cold air gets through those vents where does it go? The answer is right down on top of you. Cold air is denser; it is heavier, so it naturally falls downward. Even with you insulation up there it doesn't do much if your attic access points and vents are still open to let it through. The simple solution is as always plastic. Just like you would do with your windows take some plastic and cover up all your air conditioning vents and places where you would use to get into your attic. Once you have done that you can easily see the cold air is forcing down on the plastic.

If you really want to go the extra mile take and loosen you ceiling fans and light fixtures and silicone around them. Don't use plastic it is a fire hazard!!!! Silicone has the properties to block electric currents thus it make the perfect choice.

Now you should feel great because you just took a huge step in the right direction to save some money!