For most, if not, all households, energy is a vital aspect of day to day life. However, energy doesn’t always need to be expensive and there are always ways to decrease your energy consumption without giving up a portion of your life. Here are the top 5 tips to save money on your central heating and other energy bills for when you need to max out in the winter.
Understand the Controls of Your Heating System
Learning how to control your central heating system is a paramount element in controlling your heating bills during the summer months. You don’t necessarily need to know the entire ins and outs of your heating system control panel. However, it’s a good idea to take time to learn how your heating system works – and how to use the controls properly – so that you can use it in the best and most cost-effective way for you. For example, your home will take about 30 minutes to cool down (longer in a well-insulated property) so consider turning the heating off half an hour before you go to bed.
During the Summer, Use the Sun
Try to avoid using your radiators to dry clothes as the extra used fuel to regulate temperature from the boiler may cause significant charges. Drying clothes on the radiator lowers the quantity of heat released by the radiators, so the boiler has to run for longer to achieve the same room temperature, thereby using more fuel overall.
Pay Your Central Heating Bill Online
Paying for your central heating using cash or a cheque can grossly increase the amount that you pay bill. The way you pay your heating bill could be costing you money if you’re paying by cash or cheque. Most heating companies offer big discounts (this varies from company to company but expect a 5%-20% discount) to customers who pay online, and even larger discounts to customers that pay monthly by direct debit.
Reduce Your Heat Loss
Reducing your heat loss can greatly benefit the reduction to your central heating bills, here are few methods we’ve found to be the most effective (note that most of these solutions may seem like quite the expense initially, however, this will greatly help in the future with energy bills):
Lay floor insulation
Heat can be lost through concrete floors, stone floors or gaps between standard floorboards. Any part of a home that is not insulated will be exposed the more the rest of the property is properly insulated. For example, if you have bare floorboards, these are not insulated. Heat travels directly from your home into whatever type of floor you have and then from the floor into the ground. You can insulate you floor no matter that type of flooring you have.
Install double glazing throughout your home
Fitting double glazing or even better still, triple glazing will significantly reduce heat loss through windows and doors. After all, double glazed windows are just a layer of gas trapped between two sheets of glass. Typically, the gas used in double glazing is one like low E Argon which conducts heat much slower than glass, which when combined with a warm edge spacer and special soft coat glass helps keep your home warm and reduces noise pollution.
Fit cavity wall insulation
UK properties with solid walls with no cavity can still insulate their home by either fitting insulation internally to the inside walls of their home (thereby slightly reducing the floor area) or externally to outside brickwork, render or cladding (which will affect the aesthetics of the property). This type of insulation for solid walls is a bit like a bobble hat, it may not look great, but it keeps you warm!
Use a Programmable Thermostat
As previously mentioned, it is quite an important element, to be able to properly control your central heating system will help regulate temperatures in the property in terms of a reduction to the amount you use. Programmable thermostats are great for keeping your home at a near-average temperature. You’ll program in two temperatures, one that will trigger the thermostat to turn on (usually between 16 C-18 C) and one that will trigger the thermostat to turn off (usually 21 C – 23 C). These save money on heating by making sure your home never gets too cold, and the heater won’t have to work so hard to heat your home. Because it’s programmable, you don’t need to be in to make sure that the temperature stays constant.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we have established some of the most important elements in saving money on your central heating bill. However, there are definitely other measures you could take to prevent extra charges during the winter months. One of the extra measures you’re able to take is the servicing of your boiler.
A boiler service can help you identify any fault with your boiler that wouldn’t be visible until further inspection. This also allows you to catch major faults before they become a risk to your health or your pocket. Here at 247 Home Rescue, we offer a boiler plan that is inclusive of an annual boiler service which means every year, we will make sure your boiler is serviced. Click here to get a boiler plan or here to book a one-off boiler service.
