The rising cost of energy means many people have seen an increase in household bills, which is particularly worrying during the winter when temperatures drop and the house gets colder. Although it’s impossible to make big savings on your bills in the current climate, there are a few ways to save money on heating your home that could ease the burden on your budget a little.
Does Turning Radiators Off Save Money?
In areas that are used less frequently, like guest bedrooms or hallways, turning the radiator off could help you save money. Turning a radiator off will prevent water from running through the radiator, which will allow the boiler to work more efficiently, heat the house faster, and switch off sooner – using less gas.
Make sure to keep the door to the room closed to prevent cold air from spreading throughout your home. If the radiator has a frost setting – usually a snowflake symbol on the valve – this will heat the radiator just enough to prevent the pipes from freezing in the event of an overnight frost.
Placing Tin Foil Behind Your Radiators
To get the most from the radiators that are in use, try placing tin foil behind the radiator to prevent heat loss. This is particularly handy if the radiator is located beneath a window. The foil works to bounce more heat back into the room which would otherwise escape through the wall. Cut a piece of cardboard to size, cover it with tin foil, shiny side facing out, and place it behind the radiator.
This hack works best in homes without cavity wall insulation and if you don’t want to DIY, specialist radiator foil is available from hardware stores.
Do Thermostatic Radiator Valves Save Money?
Thermostatic radiator valves can help save you money by turning the radiator off once your desired temperature has been reached. They work by controlling the flow of water into your radiators, but unlike manual valves, thermostatic valves sense the temperature in the room and will adjust the flow of water to maintain your chosen temperature.
When used correctly, thermostatic radiator valves can help to create heating zones throughout your home and prevent radiators from being used when not needed. For example, you can set the radiator temperature to a more cosy level in the living room, and keep the kitchen cooler. This is a more efficient way of heating your home that could help prevent you from spending too much on energy.
Smart thermostatic radiator valves are also available which can be controlled using an app on your smartphone or tablet, allowing you to manage your heating remotely. Both standard and smart thermostatic radiator valves can be retrofitted to existing radiators to make them work more efficiently.
Draught Excluder Tape To Reduce Cold Spots
Replacing draughty windows and doors is expensive, but draught excluder tape is a DIY solution that can help prevent chilly draughts and keep heat inside your home. These self-adhesive strips are designed to be fitted in the frame rebate to block any gaps and will allow you to stay warmer during the winter without splashing out on new windows or doors.
Invest in Lined Curtains
Heat naturally travels from warm areas to cold, so the heat inside your home will always find a way to escape. However, upgrading to thicker curtains can help prevent some of this heat loss and maintain a cosy temperature inside. Thick, heavy, lined curtains are best at trapping heat inside a room. Specialist thermal curtains are also available, which feature a layer of foam between multiple layers of fabric to provide added insulation.
Curtains will also block the natural heat from the sun, so keep curtains open during the daytime to maximise this warming effect.
Lower the Temperature on Your Thermostat
To avoid overheating your home and wasting money, set the thermostat to the recommended winter temperature of 18°C. For most people, this is a comfortable temperature, and any higher will result in rooms becoming stuffy.
If your thermostat is portable, rather than fixed to the wall, make sure it isn’t kept in a very cold or very warm area of the house, as this will cause your heating to come on or go off based on an inaccurate temperature that doesn’t reflect the true temperature inside your home.
Do Heat Pumps Save Money?
Heat pumps work by capturing heat from outside to heat your home, meaning that no fuel is burned and no carbon dioxide is produced. The pump is powered by electricity, however, the amount of heat captured is much greater than the amount of electricity needed to run the heat pump system, making a heat pump more efficient than other heating systems.
If replacing a gas boiler, a heat pump may be slightly more expensive to run, but designing the system to be as efficient as possible and using radiators and underfloor heating smartly can help reduce running costs. However, as energy prices change over time, heat pumps are predicted to become the cheapest form of heating, so if you have the budget to invest in a heat pump system, it could save you money in the long run.
Book a Boiler Service
A boiler that isn’t working efficiently will take longer to heat your home and cost more to run. Annual boiler servicing doesn’t just ensure that your boiler is working safely, it also checks that it is running as efficiently as possible, and allows a heating engineer to fix any minor faults that could be costing you extra money.
A Surab boiler service starts from just £100 and we have a Gas Safe and OFTEC-accredited team of engineers you can trust. To book a boiler service and make sure your heating system is working cost-effectively, call 01844 274 604 or complete our contact form.