The temperatures are dropping as we enter winter and with snow on the forecast, it's important you heat your home effectively to keep you warm and your bills down.
Here are our top tips for winter:
- Turn down radiators and storage heaters in rooms you don’t need to keep warm. Even turning your thermostat down by one degree. This can save a typical household £100 a year.
- In rooms you don’t use as often, you may want to set the radiator thermostat or storage heater input to the minimum level. This can save energy and help to reduce your bills.
- Keep the doors to rooms that you don’t use often closed. This can keep other rooms warmer for longer and reduce wasted energy.
- Moving any furniture which is right in front of radiators or storage heaters can help increase the flow of warm air and help rooms and your home heat up more quickly.
- Turn your heating off 30-45 minutes before you leave your home. The radiators will stay warm until you leave.
- Install radiator panels to reflect heat usually lost into the wall back into the room. Radiator panels could save you £20 a year.
- Keep your curtains open during the day to let sunlight heat your home. Remember to close your curtains at dusk to help keep the heat in.
- Avoid using plugin heaters to keep your home warm. They're very expensive to run and don't heat your home efficiently, even though you may feel the immediate benefit while sat in front of it.
Get to know your heating system
Each heating system is different, and will have different ways of making sure you get the most out of it. It's important you know what type of heating you have and how to use it.
Gas central heating
You only need to have your boiler on its highest setting in the depths of winter. Otherwise, it is needlessly heating water to a very high temperature and wasting energy.
Your boiler is usually fitted with two thermostats - one for heating and the other for hot water. The heating thermostat is usually identified with a radiator symbol and has numbers marked or an increasing scale from minimum to maximum. This sets the temperature of the water supplied from the combi boiler and pumped through the radiators. Adjusting the thermostat to reduce the flow temperature through your radiators can save energy.
Your boiler will work safely when a lower temperature is set but you may find that your house is too cold if the temperature is set too low, especially if the external temperature is also low. You may find you need to adjust the flow temperature up on the combi boiler when the temperature outside is low then back down again when it is warmer.
Using your heating timer will make sure you are only heating your home when you need to. Leaving your heating on through the night or when you are not home will waste energy and increase your bills.
Electric storage heater with a digital display (Quantum)
With these storage heaters, you need to make sure both isolator switches are always turned on.
It has two setting. Home All Day will allow the heater fans to run during your pre-set period throughout the day. Out All Day will run the heater fans first thing in the morning, late afternoon and again through the evening, this is the best option if you not going to be at home.
Make sure your heater is set to the correct temperature for your requirements, just press the dial and the temperature the heater is set to will be displayed on the screen. The temperature control must be set to your required heat in the evenings, if the setting is turned down too low, and the room temperature is above what your heater has been set to, the heater may not charge up at night.
Experiment with these settings to find a balance between comfort and affordability.
Electric storage heater with no digital display (Dimplex)
These storage heaters are controlled by two dials labelled input and output.
The input dial controls the amount of heat you generate and store during off-peak hours. The higher you set it, the more you'll spend on electricity. In mild weather, you can keep your input setting low. When the weather turns cold, you'll need to set it higher to generate enough heat to keep your home warm the next day.
The output dial controls how quickly the heat is released into the room. Adjust this dial throughout the day to suit your routine. If you set the output too high, you might run out of heat before the end of the day. Turn this dial down at night or when you leave your home to reduce unnecessary heat loss.
Experiment with these settings to find a balance between comfort and affordability.
Air source heat pumps
Air source heat pumps work at lower temperatures compared to traditional boilers. This means they take longer to warm up and heat your home.
They are designed to deliver gentle, consistent heating over longer periods, so it usually works out cheaper to keep them on all day. Try setting your thermostat to a constant temperature between 18-21°C during the cold season. This can reduce the amount of electricity needed to keep your home at a comfortable temperature and save you money.
Your external unit needs good airflow to work efficiently. Keep the vents clear of leaves, snow and ice, and avoid blocking the fan with bins and other large items.
Is your heating working?
If you're experiencing any problems with your heating, please contact us immediately so we can try and fix it as soon as we can. Call us on 0300 123 2221
