Written by Krist Matthew, Energy Auditor II

As auditors, we are trained to identify areas of inefficiency in our clients’ homes and recommend solutions that can improve their comfort levels while reducing the home’s utility strain on their finances. Sometimes those solutions can mean the maintenance or replacement of inefficient systems. Other times, in addition to recommended solutions, some energy education may be needed.

In this case, we can focus on two hot tips for heating systems. Often there are times where I’ve walked into a house in the winter and observed clutter that can hamper the performance of a heating system. In cases like these, we should strongly recommend keeping the areas around radiators, baseboards and registers unobstructed to maximize the heating of the home and help keep the system from overworking. Also, for health and safety, we should stress to homeowners to never store anything flammable near heating systems.

Heating systems that use radiators can be made a bit more efficient by placing heat-reflecting materials like reflector boards behind them. This will direct some of the heat back into the home.