Stay Warm and Save Money
So it’s that time of year again, dark nights, and darker mornings. The limited daily dosage of vitamin D inducing sunlight brings the temptation to turn up the heating. We all want to stay as ‘snug as a bug in a rug’ on those cold winter evenings.
As the boiler burns away and the heat blasts from the radiators you can almost see your bank balance plummeting as the temperature steadily increases.
So how can you keep warm and cosy and save a chunk of change in the process? Here are a few tips to maybe help you save a bit of money this winter.
Make the most of the warm sunlight
Even in the depths of winter the sun can still be very warm, keep the windows closed and open the curtains and blinds, use the ‘greenhouse’ effect to your advantage and warm those rooms during the day, when the sun goes down, close the blinds, close the curtains and retain that heat within the room, this will stop your heating system having to work so hard to keep your home up to your set temperature, thus potentially reducing cost.
Turn down the heating control (thermostat)
You were comfortable all year at your desired set temperature, so why in the winter are you turning up the thermostat? Don’t forget the thermostat is keeping your home at the set temperature you select (if you set it to 21 degrees then it maintains 21 degrees), just because it is really cold outside doesn’t mean that your home is now freezing, overcome the desire to ‘turn it up’. Every degree of increased temperature on the thermostat could be costing you in excess of £100 per year in additional energy costs. Turning it down will not only save you money but also reduce your carbon footprint. It is advised that if you are elderly or vulnerable then the temperature should not be reduced below 16 degrees.
Check your homes insulation.
Simple but effective, if you lay in bed with no duvet then you get cold, your home is no different, lack of or poor condition insulation within the loft space or cavity walls is allowing all that heat (and therefore cash) to pour out of your home and in to the outside world, this means your heating system has to work even harder to maintain your desired internal temperature and up go the bills.
Minimise heat escape in other ways
Might sound trivial, but small things can make a big difference when it comes to retaining heat, check fire-places are closed (obviously if not in use), check door and window seals, close the windows tightly and repair any loose ones, change extractor fans to ones that close when not in operation. If you have air coming through the floor boards then put down a large rug, if you have single payne windows then think about replacing them with double or even triple glazed units, minimise the amount of time your external doors are open, these are just a few suggestions.
Fit Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRVs)
TRV’s are little devices that fit on the inflow pipe of your radiators in each room, they control the temperature within that room only, the little numbers on the side (usually 1 to 5 and a little moon/off) are temperature ranges, this enables you for example to have your sitting room toasty warm and your kitchen a little cooler, you can even turn off the heating in any rooms you do not use very often, keep the doors on these rooms closed so that heat from the rest of the home isn’t used to heat them, only heating the desired areas of your home and controlling these areas thermostatically means that your boiler doesn’t have to work as hard to heat the hot water that flows through the central heating system, it has been suggested that this can save up to 40% of your overall heating bill annually. It is now possible to buy ‘smart’ TRV’s that can be controlled by your phone or through any home assistant device such as Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.
Bleed and balance your radiators
Making sure your radiators are in tip/top condition will ensure that your heating system will work more effectively, bleeding the radiators is the easy part, opening the little valve (usually located on the top of each radiator) and allowing the air to escape will mean each radiator is filled with lovely hot water and hot from the top to the bottom. Balancing the system is a bit more of a technical process, but effectively it means that all of the radiators are producing the same amount of heat on the system and the ones at the end of the system are not much colder that the ones that are first in the chain (from the boiler)
Programme your heating and hot water.
This process can vary depending on the type of heating system you have installed, but set the timers for the heating and hot water so that you only heat your water or radiators when you actually need it, no point in having the house as hot as a furnace if you are out for most of the day. Consider getting a smart/learning thermostatic control that will ‘learn’ your heating and hot water habits and adjust itself to suit, they even allow you to control your homes heating from your phone whilst away.
Don’t block the radiators with home furnishings
A radiator needs to radiate, blocking the radiator behind long curtains, sofas or cabinets etc will not allow this to happen, in the example of curtains, get shorter ones or drape them behind the radiator so that the heat can get in to the room.
Should I just leave the heating on low all day?
This is a very debated topic, you would think that maintaining a low temperature all day using the heating system is beneficial and saves money when turning it up because the system doesn’t have to work as hard to get it to the desired temperature, this is a false economy.
If you are heating your home all day then you are also loosing heat all day to the outside world (via walls, the room or any other air gaps) thus spending money that is unnecessary. If you only heat your home when required then you are also minimising the amount of time that you are losing heat to the outside world, so only heat your home when you need it, it will save you money in the long run.
Wear a few more clothes
Not a silly suggestion, but if you are used to strolling around the house in just a t-shirt during the summer then you will need more central heating heat to make you feel warm in the winter, put on a jumper or a cardigan, personal warmth is far cheaper than heating your entire house just to keep warm.
Get your stairlift or homelift serviced
We obviously had to get this one in, we are a lift company after all, but silly as it may seem a fully maintained and serviced domestic lift is vital in the winter months, who wants to spend the night downstairs (with the heating turned up full blast) because the un-maintained stairlift has decided to throw a wobbly? Surely tucked up in bed with the duvet, maybe an extra blanket, a hot water bottle and a steaming cup of hot chocolate is the preferable option, and yes, this saves money too as you won’t need to keep the house so hot!!
Check out our article on stairlift care here
So as 2021 draws to a close, and what a year it has been, Anglian Lifts would like to wish you a very enjoyable season, keep warm, keep safe and have a great time.
