Your home heating situation has the potential to impact your long-term financial situation, the value of your home, and your health and well-being. Choosing the best possible option — or a combination of options — is essential.
Many modern homeowners are evaluating the benefits of supplemental home heating to determine whether it’s worth the return on investment. Here are some key benefits of supplemental home heating to help you decide.
What is Supplemental Home Heating?
As the name implies, supplemental home heating is a secondary system that operates separately from your primary heat source. Homeowners can use them to warm specific parts of your home more effectively or as an emergency heat source if something goes wrong (for example, if you unexpectedly run out of oil).
In addition to offering a backup plan to keep your family safe and warm throughout the winter, there are several benefits to implementing supplemental home heat.
Benefit One: Lower Heating Costs
It seems contradictory that having more heating options would result in lower heating costs, but it’s true. Most furnaces work to distribute heat evenly throughout the home.
That means if you’re feeling chilly in the living room and turn up the heat, your furnace will attempt to heat the entire home to a consistent temperature. In many cases, this means you’re heating several unused rooms.
With a supplementary but localized heat source, you can heat the room you’re in without relying on the furnace to kick in. In essence, you’re heating one room rather than all of them, saving you money over the winter months.
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Benefit Two: Better Furnace Lifespan
According to TSS Home Comfort’s furnace services in Meridian, ID, the average home furnace has an expected lifespan of 20 years. However, this timeline is impacted by the frequency of use, care, and maintenance.
While your furnace may last 20 years, it likely won’t be nearly as efficient in the last few years of its life. Additionally, the cutting-edge technology of 20 years ago is practically primitive compared to today.
Using supplemental heat will help mitigate the wear and tear on your furnace over the years, which could help extend its lifespan and get you a better return on your investment.
Benefit Three: Comfort
As mentioned previously, turning up the heat on your thermostat means turning up the heat in your entire home. If you’re someone who feels cold all the time, your furnace may never reach the toasty, tropical temperatures you desire to warm your chilled bones.
Using a supplemental heat system gives you better control over the temperature, so you’ll be comfortable all winter long.
Benefit Four: Eco-Friendly
Less draw on a large home-heating system means less fuel consumption, energy consumption, and waste. While you may have oil or natural gas to power your furnace, the fans and ventilation in your home use electricity.
Furthermore, heating the space you’re in rather than the empty rooms in your house minimizes your carbon footprint and consumption — which ultimately cuts back on your fuel costs as well.
Benefit Five: Energy-Efficiency
Many modern localized heating options are significantly more energy-efficient than they were in the past. You can get an energy-efficient space heater that effectively warms the space you’re in without driving up your power bill each winter. For example, using a 1500 watt space heater every day, for five hours a day costs approximately $23 per month.
Benefit Six: Lower Maintenance Costs
Finally, less stress on your furnace means lower maintenance costs over time, thanks to the reduced wear and tear over your furnace’s lifespan.
However, it’s still important to schedule an annual maintenance check-up for your furnace. During these visits, a home heating repair expert will inspect your furnace and perform some routine maintenance. The maintenance could include cleaning out dust and grime, tightening loose connections, and replacing filters as needed.
Annual checkups are a must for ensuring your primary heat source is running efficiently, so you won’t have to rely on your secondary heat source. These visits also prevent more costly maintenance and repair visits over time.
Which Supplemental Heat Source is Right for You?
If you’ve decided that you need supplemental heat, it’s time to determine which type is right for you. There are many options, from getting a heat pump to using an eco-friendly space heater. When in doubt, talk to your local furnace specialist for guidance.
