brrrrrrr, it's cold outside!
winter tips
We are striving to help our tenants to become better educated about their home, whether it is rent or owning a home.
For this educational home tip, we will discuss how to keep water pipes from freezing and how to save money by adjusting the thermostat to be more efficient. This and other home tips can be found on our website.
Frozen Pipes
Research conducted by the Building Research Council at the University of Illinois shows that the “temperature alert threshold” is 20° If outside temperature is below 20 degrees, leave faucets & shower on a slow drip to keep pipes from freezing.
Going away for the holidays or for a trip in the winter? Pipes can freeze in the winter. To remedy this, keep the heat set at 60 degrees during the wintertime when no one is home or if on vacation/holiday, etc. Pipes will freeze if the thermostat is turned off. As temperature starts dropping outside you should take measures to keep the pipes warm and water running.
Pipes that freeze and bust can cause thousands of dollars in damage. Never turn off the heat/thermostat in the winter. Damage from neglect will be charged to tenant(s).
Going away for the holidays or for a trip in the winter?
How to Save Energy in Winter
What Temperature Should I Set My Thermostat in Winter for Energy Savings? - It's a common debate in most homes: What temperature is too cold for a house? While everyone's threshold for too cold or too warm is different, according to Energy.gov, in the morning and evening when people are at home, the recommended thermostat setting in winter is 68 degrees. If you're cold natured, wear warm clothing to stay comfortable. If you still feel chilly, turn up the temperature one degree at a time. Cranking the temperature up too high at once only wastes money.
What that means is if you run your heater one degree warmer over the course of a month, it will raise your heating bill by 3% for that month. So, if your average bill is $50 per month, if you raise it by two degrees, your bill will be about $53. Now, it's worth mentioning that there are many variables to this.
During the day when everyone’s at work or school, set the thermostat to 10 to 15 degrees cooler. You’ll save energy by reducing how much you heat the vacant house.
Don’t turn off the thermostat completely or you risk frozen plumbing pipes.
Program a recovery temperature of 68 degrees to resume before the first person is due home each day. At night when everyone’s asleep, set the thermostat to 65 degrees or lower. The greater the temperature setback, the more you save.
Please contact us with any questions.
These tips can help save energy costs,
protect the pipes, the building and personal belongings.
Thank you for your time
and
enjoy your day!
