We’ve all experienced some serious winter blues and the last thing we need is to throw a cold home into the mix. Making our homes warmer doesn’t need to cost the earth, and often we already have the means available to us to carry out some simple changes to not only keep the heat in but also our costs down.
1. Stop Draughts
Draughts can come from a whole host of different places, such as letter boxes, doors, windows, chimneys and around pipework entering your home.
- Draught excluders are a cheap and efficient way of cutting out as many draughts as possible from underneath doors and sometimes windows. Door brush strips are perfect for a more permanent solution and are effective when you’re out.
- Sealing letter boxes with a letter box plate.
- Windows – especially single glazing can often be old and noticeable draughts can be felt around them. Window foam seal tape, spray foam seal or metallic or plastic brush strips can make a huge difference to any draughts entering the home around the windows.
- Use thick lined curtains to keep the heat within your home on an evening.
- Make sure your windows are closed!
2. Insulate your home
Up to 25% of your heat can be lost through an uninsulated roof and up to 35% of heat through an uninsulated cavity wall. Grants are available to people on qualifying benefits to have insulation placed within their home as part of the ECO scheme, therefore it really is worthwhile seeing if you could get assistance with a grant to cover the cost of the insulation installation.
3. Effective heating controls
Having a programmable room thermostat and thermostatic radiator valves (TRV’s) in your home can make a huge difference to the way in which your home is heated and the overall costs of running your heating system.
- Smart heating controls allow you to control your heating from a phone or tablet, with many having the ability to learn your heating habits and automatically programme any learnt settings that you have made. By maximising the remote operation of the thermostat, users can ensure that their heating system isn’t in use when they aren’t at home, meaning that not only do they reduce unnecessary emissions but they also save money.
- Heating controls can come with many different functions, therefore if you are looking to upgrade your existing heating controls, make sure you check out what all of your available options are.
- Make sure you place your heating controls in a ‘neutral’ room i.e. that isn’t too hot but isn’t too cold. Usually a hallway is the preferred location and a place where the heating from a fire, or a cold utility room won’t adversely affect the operation of the controls by impacting upon the temperature that you wish to heat your home to.
- Take the time to understand your heating controls. Many people think that their heating controls are broken or don’t work properly, however the majority of times it is simply due to customers not getting to grips with how their heating controls work.
- Consider the impact that turning down the temperature on your thermostat could have upon the overall cost of heating your home.
4. Look after your heating system
Regular maintenance is essential if you want your boiler & central heating system to run like a well-oiled machine all year round. Just like a car, boilers need a good service to keep them in tip top condition. How can you keep your heating system in good working order?
- Service the boiler annually.
- Have a magnetic filter fitted to your system which aids in the reduction in the build-up of sludge which can damage your boiler.
- Do you have really old radiators and pipework? By having new modern equivalents, you could notice a huge difference in the heat within your home along with the lower running costs as your boiler doesn’t need to work overtime to provide heating.
- Is it time for a power flush? If you have radiators which are likely to be sludged, then it is definitely worthwhile considering if a power flush is an affordable way of cleaning your system and making your radiators feel just like new.
5. Your energy bills
Are you really on the best energy tariff to meet your requirements? Many of us see changing energy suppliers as being a rigmarole that we could do without, which is why so many of us are overpaying and more than likely on the incorrect tariff.
Take the time to see if you could be on a better deal, which will automatically reduce the amount that you are paying for your gas and electricity.
Related Articles
- Preparing Your Home for Winter
- Tips to reduce your heating bill this winter
- Tips to help make your home feel warmer this winter
- Give your radiators a little TLC over the winter period
- What Does Gas Boiler Service Involve?
