Oct 6, 2008 7:42 am US/Eastern
3 On Your Side: Winter Preps
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
Is your home ready for the cooler weather? Once you turn on the heat you want to be sure it stays inside.
3 On Your Side's Jim Donovan has what you should know to keep your money from slipping through the cracks.
Getting drafts out of your home will save you a bundle this winter.
"Areas around your doors and windows can let a lot of cold air in, and you should check for drafts. One easy way is to do that is to light a stick of incense, slowly move the stick of incense around the window. If the plume stays vertical, the window's fine, but if it starts to move horizontally, you have a draft. Check all your doors and windows to make sure they have a good seal. Each one should have some weather stripping that goes along the edge. It will help save on your energy bills," said Todd Kent with Good Housekeeping.
"Another place where cold air can come in is from your outlets. Turn off your circuit breakers and take off each cover. Once you have the cover off, you can see that there's just a lot of open space around this outlet. You can purchase these foam inserts at the hardware store and they fit around the outlet to give you a nice seal. So now you're not going to get any of that cold air coming in the house," said Kent.
Good Housekeeping experts said if your air conditioning ducts are not used by your heating system, buy magnetic register covers as they will keep drafts away from the ducts.
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