Heating Advice For Holiday Parties

The holiday season is underway now as many homeowners across Ohio prepare themselves and their dwellings for festive, fun holiday parties, gatherings and get-togethers. 

If you’ve ever hosted a holiday party or gathering before, you probably grasp the challenges involved. Among those challenges, a lot of hosts find it difficult to maintain the perfect temperature that keeps a home full of guests happy and comfortable. With so many different people in one house and so many different comfort preferences, temperatures can easily become too hot or too cold for at least one visitor at any one time.

Because finding that middle ground that’s just right for all can be so challenging, we at Westerville Air Conditioning & Heating, put together the following list of our Top 12 Holiday Party Heating Tips:

Top 12 Holiday Party Heating Tips

1. Set your ceiling fans on their “reverse” setting. Reversing the rotation of your ceiling fans pushes your warm, rising air back downward, which maximizes heat in the home and circulates. The result is a more even temperature throughout your home and during your gathering.
2. Communication is indispensable. If you want to keep your guests comfortable during your gathering and prevent visitors from messing with your thermostat’s setting, ask them to tell you if they’re uncomfortable. Because you have a group under the same roof, you should emphasize to everyone that compromise and communication is essential to everyone’s comfort.
3. Maintenance is a must. If you have not serviced your furnace yet, it’d be wise to make sure you do so before your party. Maintenance ensures your system will run at its best all winter long, including during your gathering and after. There is no substitute for the benefits of this service.
4. Check, replace air filters. Make sure your HVAC system’s air filters are clean, fresh and in good shape before your party. Doing so ensures proper airflow, which is essential all winter long. If your air filter needs to be replaced, replace it immediately.
5. Give heating sources plenty of space. It’s important to guarantee the area surrounding all your sources of heat are free and open with plenty of space for ample airflow. When it comes to these areas being free of storage, clutter or messes — it is particularly important to keep anything flammable away. Because heating sources and air vents can get cluttered when our homes are full of guests, we recommend taking the necessary steps to make sure they don’t. Make sure heating devices have space and proper airflow.
6. Keep an eye on your home’s temperature levels. If you are cooking while guests start to arrive, things can get very hot in your home in no time. As such, it’s important to keep this in mind and keep an eye on how warm the actual temperature is. Having a smart thermostat will make all this much easier because you can look at your temperature with your smartphone and adjust your thermostat remotely from any room and while cooking. If your home isn’t equipped yet with a smart thermostat, we strongly advise having one installed. Smart thermostats and Wi-Fi Thermostats are very reasonably priced, easy to install and they pay for themselves in no time.
7. Set out blankets for those who are cold. As previously mentioned, we all know someone who gets cold no matter how much you turn up the heat. For these guests, we suggest setting out blankets. Encourage them to use them if or when they get cold. 
8. Cook before the gathering as much as possible. As previously mentioned, during holiday parties where a group of people are gathered inside a single residence, cooking can make things hot quickly. If you want to prevent this from happening during your gathering, it is a good idea to try to cook as much of your holiday food beforehand as possible. 
9. Using your fireplace. For a more holiday ambiance and atmosphere that will keep heating costs low during your party, we suggest making a fire safely in your fireplace. Just guarantee the fireplace is 100 percent safe and operational, with your chimney or flue open as necessary. Having a fire crackling in the background of your gathering enables you to reduce your thermostat’s setting. No one will know the difference, or lack comfort.
10. Keep windows locked or latched. Keeping your windows locked or latched will form a tighter seal around them, which should prevent drafts that allow cold air to come in and warm air to escape. Moreover, locking them should remind your guests that you don’t want them opened.
11. Whole-home humidifiers. Using a whole-home humidifier will make your entire home feel far more comfortable throughout the winter months, which is especially good when it’s time for your holiday party. During winter’s coldest months, the air dries out dramatically so humidifiers help the air hold heat. This makes heating a lot easier for your furnace, allowing you to lower your thermostat’s setting without sacrificing anyone’s comfort. Humidifiers also reduce or eliminate static electricity in the air, which will keep your guests more comfortable.
12. Utilizing space heaters. If your home has specific rooms or areas that are typically colder than the rest of the place, space heaters are a good way to boost comfort in those areas during your gathering or party. However, we should warn you that this is only a temporary solution. When there are uneven temperatures in a dwelling, it is almost a sure sign of an HVAC problem that could be expensive if not looked at. As such, if this is happening, you should give us a call to discuss it.

Don’t Wait to Call!

If you are having problems with your furnace, or if you are interested in discussing any of the services we mentioned above, like humidifiers, smart thermostats or maintenance, please call Westerville Air Conditioning & Heating today at 614-810-0075, or schedule an appointment now by clicking here! We’d love hearing from you.

Until then, Happy Holidays!