Be quiet during Pittsburgh Steelers games.
Turn out the lights when you leave a room.
Don’t touch the thermostat; put on a sweater.
Those are a few maxims hammered into Western Pennsylvania psyches over the course of generations.
Early in the fall season, Elaine Lee has no intention of kicking the heat on, although a chill expected to keep high temperatures in the low 50s early this week may challenge her resolve.
“This house is the best- suited we’ve ever lived in for not needing heat or air conditioning early,” Lee said of her home, built 24 years ago in Penn Township. “We have a fireplace we use in the family room if we get chilly, and the heat rises to the upstairs, although we like to sleep cooler.”
Amy Jo Wiester of Bell Township probably will flip the switch this week.
“I’ll set it to 66 degrees,” she said. “And we sleep with it cold in the house regularly.”
It is OK to touch the thermostat in October.
Furnace experts like Chad Warhold recommend turning on the heat to make sure everything is working properly before snow and ice line streets and homes.
“We recommend you turn it on as soon as possible to test it,” said Warhold, owner of Warhold Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning in North Huntingdon.
Warhold’s technicians may address 50 calls for service in a day in early fall, fixing issues that arise with client’s HVAC systems at the start of the season. That number only rises as temperatures decrease, leaving some customers waiting for appointment openings in the cold months.
“There’s times that we get booked out at the start of the season a week to two weeks,” he said.
Most years, Robin Seidling would not have turned her heat on yet.
“We used to keep it at 68 when times were tougher, before this raise my husband got,” said Seidling, whose husband served in the Air Force for 21 years. “It’s uncomfortable, but you can always put coats on, warm socks, blankets. That’s what we would do often, just to save a penny here and there.”
Seidling, 63, of Monroeville had the windows in her home replaced this year. But in previous winters, she would cover them with plastic to keep the heat in and avoid cranking the thermostat.
She has kept the temperature set around 70 degrees, she said.
But Seidling also has her dachshund puppy to consider when setting the temperature this fall.
“I have a little dachshund, too, that thinks it’s the frozen tundra right now, because he’s just seven months and tiny — 10 pounds,” she said. “He’s shaking, so I’ll be keeping my house toasty just for my dog.”
Jim Swiger found himself in a similar situation Tuesday, when temperatures dropped into the mid-40s.
“My wife and I probably wouldn’t have (turned the heat on) originally, but it’s a little colder for an 18-month-old,” said Swiger, 40, of Monroeville.
How to save money
As temperatures begin to drop into the 40s and 50s, the steps residents take to increase energy efficiency in their homes now could pay dividends by the time snow comes around.
Changing air filters and scheduling a professional HVAC inspection are a good place to start, Warhold said.
Warhold recommends changing an air filter once a month if it is one-inch thick or once every three months to a year if it is four to eight inches thick. HVAC systems should be checked annually, he said.
Investing in programmable thermostats and humidifiers can also lead to energy cost savings, Warhold said.
Smart thermostats, which can be controlled by a smartphone, lower the temperature while residents are asleep or out of the house, only providing heat when it is most needed. Humidifiers help keep residents comfortable with a lower heat setting.
Frank Schiefer of Greensburg started kicking the heat on last week, but said it usually gets turned on sometime around late September.
“My wife gets cold pretty easily,” he said. “If the house gets to the mid-60s overnight, I will probably cave and turn it on.”
Schiefer said his ideal temperature is about 72 degrees, but admitted that between him and his wife, it could be up for debate.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, homeowners can save up to 10% on energy costs by keeping the thermostat at 68 to 70 degrees and lowering it by 7 to 10 degrees for eight hours each day, either while residents are asleep or away from the home.
For Warhold’s customers, this is often unrealistic. He typically sees homes set between 70 and 75 degrees.
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“For most people, that’s pretty cold,” Warhold said of the Department of Energy’s recommendation. “You get the older people who are going to be setting it significantly higher. I’ve even seen it up to 78.”
Beyond adjusting the thermostat, Western Pennsylvanians can save money on energy costs by moving furniture away from vents, closing drapes at night, opening them during the day to let sunlight in and closing any fireplace dampers when not in use.
Sealing leaks around windows and door frames with caulk or weather stripping can have a major impact, said Todd Meyers, West Penn Power spokesperson.
“I’ve heard it said if you would take all those small openings that are out there where warm air can leak out and cold air can sneak in, you’d be looking at something like a small window being opened at all times,” he said.
Running a ceiling fan clockwise in the winter months will create an updraft that circulates warm air around the room, making more efficient use of home heating, Meyers said.
Setting water heater temperatures to no higher than 120 degrees and insulating water pipes also helps save energy, said Lee Gierczynski, spokesperson for Columbia Gas.
As homeowners start relying more heavily on their furnaces, investing in annual HVAC maintenance and carbon monoxide detectors becomes even more important, Gierczynski said.
“In the wintertime, when you’re using your furnace more often,” he said, “you want to make sure the exhaust and the vent are in good repair and aren’t clogged or blocked.”