Always maintain a minimum temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit temperature in your house or apartment. Never turn your heat off – especially if you are not going to be home for an extended period of time.
Open doors under kitchen & bathroom sinks & run a small stream of cold water where plumbing may be exposed to exterior walls.
Leave bedroom & other interior doors open to allow warm air to circulate through-out.
Lock windows & exterior doors so they are fully sealed.
Open window blinds during the day when there is sunshine & close blinds at night to keep warm air inside.
Partially close vents in upper levels so that more heat is allocated to the main and/or lower levels of multi-level apartments & houses.
Info on your furnace:
Once the exterior temperature falls below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, a heat pump will automatically convert to (or should be manually set to) “emergency heat” or “auxiliary” mode as the heat exchanger will no longer work efficiently.
Note, the air coming from your vents may feel cool, but it is still warming your home.
Pick a temperature for your thermostat and leave it there until the sub-zero weather subsides. In sub-zero temperatures, a furnace may struggle to keep the temperature consistent AND it will definitely struggle to increase ambient air temperature!
Your winter electric bills will be higher. It takes more energy to run a furnace and to heat your home.
Example – an air conditioner will only have to cool your home 20 degrees to go from 90 to 70. However, your furnace will have to heat your home 70 degrees to go from 0 to 70!
