Home / About / Blog / Heating Contractor Guide: Which Fuel is Right for Your Home?
Heating Contractor Guide: Which Fuel is Right for Your Home?
Homeowners in Linwood all want to save money on household expenses and utility bills. We turn off lights when we leave the room, take shorter showers and make sure the kids don’t keep the refrigerator door open. These small habits help, but still we all want to save a little wherever we can, right? One area where people are constantly looking for ways to save money is home heating. Everyone wants to be comfortable and warm in their homes, but that costs money, so homeowners are always on the lookout for the most effective and cost efficient way to keep the house warm. What is the most cost effective fuel for home heating? Is it gas furnaces, electric, fuel oil or propane? How about less conventional heat sources like wood or geothermal pumps? We all wish there was one easy, all-encompassing answer to this question, like a heating magic bullet that would keep every family warm and happy for pennies on the dollar. Unfortunately, there isn’t. It depends on too many factors for any one solution to work for everyone. Probably the biggest factor that plays a role in the cost of a particular fuel is its local availability. Resources are available differentially, so that while one option might be cheapest for a family of five in Andover, Massachusetts, the analysis is entirely different for a single person in Kearney, Nebraska. What is the most cost effective option for you? That is a better question, but still not one that is necessarily easy to answer. To figure it out, you need to carefully analyze several factors:
Local availability (see above)
Local climate
Size of your home
Your family’s needs
Existing heating equipment
Your budget
Armed with this information, you can do a careful comparison of the options available to you. For assistance you can use an online calculator to compare fuel costs, such as this one from the Energy Information Administration or this one from Hearth.com. Or, if all else fails, call a contractor for a professional assessment. Comparing fuel costs and choosing the right solution for you may take some time, but the savings can be well worth it, so call Air Mechanical with any questions.
Air Mechanical is committed to compliance with its obligations under all applicable state and federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, marital status, familial status, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information, public assistance, local human rights commission activity or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.
