Kansas City, Missouri-Food and natural gas prices are getting more expensive, and winter utility bills may follow.

Depending on how cold the weather is, the price of natural gas may be 30-50% higher.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, propane may rise by about 50% and electricity may rise by 6-15%

You can't control the weather, but with the help of heating and cooling expert Dan Heydon, you can make your home more efficient and save some money.

First, let us see how the air flows in the house.

"Cooling always wants to stay low," Hayden explained. "Heating wants [rising and circulating], but heating also wants to return to cold air faster than cooling."

You can use some tips to prevent your furnace from running continuously and prevent heat from escaping.

First, remove the air conditioning window unit.

"Each window air conditioner has a grill on the front, and a small plastic damper to protect us from the freezing weather," Heydon said. "This needs to be taken out of the window and stored for the winter."

Ensure that the outer door is sealed.

"The double seal, it slides here, pulls it all the way to the edge of the door," Hayden said. "When you do this, your lips will tighten."

Close the fireplace flue, that is, allow the smoke to flow through the gap of the chimney when not in use.

"This is the exhaust vacuum of the entire house. Everything that is heated in the house wants to go directly from this flue. So, in terms of comfort and utility costs, these are huge losses. Two things are true. For this, obviously there is a very good sealed flue, you can seal it and still use it. Even the glass door in front of it is very different,” Heydon explained.

Here are some common heating problems you may encounter:

Should I keep the door between the rooms open or closed? 

"In terms of closing the door, this is a myth," Heydon said. "It doesn't help you, and it does hurt you in terms of comfort. But the only thing you want to do is if you have a place you don't know about on the second floor, you might want to turn it off."

Should I wrap the water heater with an insulation blanket?

"Most of them are sitting next to the stove, like this one, so they are always honed. If this is in an unconditional space, yes. But not in this app, actually in the big In most applications, you don't need to insulate the water heater," Heydon suggests.

Should I set the thermostat to a lower temperature when I am not at home?

Heydon says this will save you money, especially in winter.

Cold winter air contains less moisture than warm summer air; therefore, less energy is required to heat cold air, and the heating rate is faster. Just like compared to air, swimming pools take a long time to heat up in summer.

This is called the specific heat capacity, and the specific heat capacity of water is about four times that of air-twice that of water vapor.

So, seal these cracks, keep the interior doors open and prepare for the cold temperatures!