Stay Warm WITHOUT your Heater this Winter

We’ve been talking about prepping your home with plumbing appliances for the upcoming winter season lately, but today I wanted to take a break and talk about how to STAY WARM IN A COLD HOUSE. You may be cold due to the fact that your new heating system hasn’t yet been installed, or perhaps you can’t afford a high heating bill. Whatever the reason, I’ve compiled a list of some ways to stay warm this season WITHOUT the high heating costs.

·         The best and easiest way to stay warm is to dress warm. For times like this, a hat, particularly one that covers your ears, is going to be useful. The reason for this is that a large amount of your body heat escapes through your head, so keeping your head covered is crucial to staying warm. Also consider dressing in layers with wool or cotton clothing and carry a blanket around with you if it’s still not enough.

·         Another great way to keep warm is to drink hot drinks or soups. Things like hot chocolate, tea, or coffee will raise your core temperature so you may find yourself feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside. As an additional bonus, drinking hot beverages when you’re anxious or stressed can be a very relaxing thing.

·         Use hair dryers. After a nice, hot shower or bath, using a hair dryer over your body, clothes, and shoes will make you feel toasty warm. Drying your hair will also keep the water in your hair from frosting (and as we mentioned, this is important as heat escapes mainly from your head).

There are a couple of quick tips on keeping warm this winter. If you’d like more guidelines, make sure you check out http://www.wikihow.com/Stay-Warm-at-Home-Without-a-Heater for more easy ways to say warm!

What's that? A New Thermostat you say?

            Hey there folks!

            If you read my last post, you’ll be familiar with the topic of heating systems. Last week, I mentioned that if you were looking to upgrade your forced air heating system for a hot water boiler heating system, you could save costs in energy as well as time on maintenance while receiving a better distributed heat with no drafts or cold spots. As with any heating (or cooling) system, you’ll need a thermostat to regulate and control the temperature in your house. Today, I’ll talk about the top 2 thermostats available on the market if you’re looking to upgrade your old rinky-dink thermostat. If you’re sincerely interested in upgrading, definitely make sure you check out www.plumberstock.com for some fantastic deals on thermostats.

            Number One: The Nest

            This jewel of a thermostat places first in almost every top 10 thermostat list, and this list is no different.

            The Nest is a learning thermostat, meaning it learns what temperatures you like when by paying attention to the adjustments you make. After roughly a week of use, this thermostat will create a program for your home based on your personal heating and cooling habits but do so in a way that saves you the most energy possible.

            Wrapped in a sleek package, this thermostat packs a huge punch when it comes to beauty and innovation. The Nest begins to learn as soon as it’s connected to the heating and cooling system and you make that first adjustment to the temperature. Once done, it will take note of how many times you adjust the temperature and when you adjust the temperature, faithfully keeping track of your habits during the first week. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, the Nest doesn’t stop there. It takes it a step further by reading the light sources around it, the humidity of the home, and any motion that is taking place. In this way, the Nest can “sense” if you’re not home and adjust to “Auto Away” mode, turning itself (and thus stopping the AC or heater) off and therefore saving you on your energy costs.

            Want more? The Nest can be programmed from anywhere as long as you have some sort of wireless connection. This means that you can be on your way home from work and turn the thermostat on from your smartphone, tablet, or laptop so you come home to a warm (or cool) house.

            Have multiple Nests? If your home offers a wi-fi connection, the Nests can communicate with one another and coordinate a temperature schedule for the individual rooms they occupy, thus creating an ideal temperature schedule for your whole house.

            Priced at an average $260, you’ll get all the best technology and heating advancements with the Nest.

Number Two: Honeywell’s Prestige 2.0 Comfort System

Looking for a nice thermostat without paying extreme out of pocket costs? The Honeywell system is for you! Similar to the Nest but without the ultra-extravagant price, this thermostat learns your personal heating and cooling habits. However, unlike the Nest, this system doesn’t learn them intuitively—instead, the Prestige asks you a series of questions about your usage habits and then programs itself according to your answers to provide you ultimate comfort and convenience in temperature while saving you the most energy possible.

Like the Nest, this system also allows wireless control from any smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Also, depending on your current heating and cooling system, the Prestige has the ability to control indoor humidity as well as view outdoor humidity and temperature.

If you’re looking for a smart thermostat but don’t want to spend $260, this system retails at an average of $220 and offers just about the same things as the Nest.  

The Tale of the Knight (and the boiler)

            I don’t know about you folks out there, but it’s certainly getting colder by the day! If you live in Utah (where I’m originally from and currently visiting), you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say Utah only has 2 seasons: winter and construction. While this is especially true for Northern Utah, I suppose it can apply to other states.

            But, especially because it’s a weekend, who doesn’t want to come home to a nice, heated home and relax after a long and tedious week of work? If you have a good heating system, you can do just that. If not, you may need a couple of extra blankets to wrap yourself up in. If your position is the latter, maybe because your furnace burned out or your boiler just doesn’t heat up the way it used to, it sounds like it’s time for a new heating system.

            You always have the choice between a forced air heating system and a boiler heating system, and while these two types of heating systems have their own individual pros and cons, today we’ll only be discussing the boiler heating system.

            If you’re familiar with how a boiler works, this will be a quick recap. Boilers work to heat your home by heating water and then transporting it through the home in a series of tubes. Between this and a forced air system, boilers are unique as they can heat up single rooms at a time instead of the whole house, which is especially convenient if you’re going to spend most of your time in the one room.

            If it’s time to get your heating system replaced, now’s the best time to do it before the cold really kicks in. Consider a Lochinvar Knight heating boiler for your home if you haven’t already.

            Lochinvar is a world leader in the boiler industry and offers plenty of different kinds of boilers for your home and budget. Being a leader in the industry for over 3 generations, Lochinvar has continually shown their commitment to innovation and energy efficient machinery by applying the most advanced technologies to each new Knight boiler in the lineup.

            The Knight offers up to 98% thermal efficiency, meaning you can have peace of mind that heating your home won’t cost you an arm and a leg this Christmas season. The Knight also offers a smart system operating panel which tells you all the different heating zone temperatures and information you need to know, right on the screen. This family of boilers comes equipped with combustion air, specific venting technologies, and a precise heating control which is meant to keep your home green and eco-friendly without sacrificing the warmth.

            When we look under the hood, the Knight becomes more than just pretty piece of machinery. The Knight is a fully condensing modulating boiler, meaning it uses a state-of-the-art electronic control to optimize the energy efficiency for your home while smoothly regulating the temperature of your home through the seasons.

            The truth is, winter is approaching fast and either your home will be aglow in warmth, or it won’t. If you’re looking to replace your heating system and think that a boiler would be a great match for your home’s lifestyle, make sure you check out www.plumbersstock.com for some great deals this Christmas season.

            Until we meet again!