How to Heat Your Home More Economically

 

With energy prices high, many households are looking for ways to reduce their heating bills. Heating your home efficiently not only saves you money, but also reduces your carbon footprint. Here are some tips on heating your home in a more economical way.

Insulate Your Home

Poor insulation is one of the main reasons why heat is lost from homes. Ensure your loft has at least 270mm of insulation. Fill any cavities in walls with insulation foam. Consider double glazing if you don’t already have it. Insulation will pay for itself within a few years through lower bills.

Control Your Heating

Use a programmable thermostat to turn the heating on only when required. Set it to come on 30 minutes before you wake up and switch off 30 minutes before you leave and go to bed. Keep temperatures moderate - around 18°C is comfortable for most. Use thermostatic radiator valves to fine-tune individual rooms. Turn off radiators in unused rooms. Only heat the rooms you are using regularly.

Take Advantage of the Sun

Open curtains and blinds during daylight hours to let sunlight in to naturally warm your home. Close them in the evening to reduce heat loss. Consider installing solar panels to generate your own electricity. Even on cloudy winter days, they can provide some free power. Solar thermal panels can provide hot water as well.

Draught-Proof Your Home

Block any gaps where cold air can come in, especially around windows, doors, loft hatches, pipes and wiring. Fit draught excluders along the bottom of doors. Close internal doors to non-heated rooms. Avoid opening windows or external doors for long periods in cold weather.

Service Your Boiler Regularly 

A serviced, modern boiler uses less energy. New condensing combi boilers are the most efficient for heating water directly. Upgrade if yours is over 15 years old. Bleed radiators to remove trapped air. Set your boiler flow temperature to 60°C or lower to save energy. Turn it off over summer if it is not needed for hot water.

Consider Alternative Heating Sources

Wood Pellet Stoves

Wood pellet stoves burn compressed wood pellets to provide heating and hot water. The pellets are made of recycled sawdust and wood shavings. Wood pellet stoves release less smoke and pollutants than normal wood-burning stoves. They are fed pellets automatically from a storage hopper so they require little maintenance apart from removing ash occasionally. The pellets are compressed so take up less storage space than logs. Operating costs can be around a third less than heating oil or natural gas. 

Heat Pumps

Heat pumps extract warmth from the air or ground and concentrate it to provide heating. Air source heat pumps are cheaper to install but ground source pumps are more efficient. Although the installation cost is high, heat pumps can reduce your heating bills by half compared to gas or oil heating. They work best with underfloor heating systems.

By taking some of these steps, you can maintain a warm home while reducing your heating costs. A few upgrades like insulation and installing thermostats can make a big difference. Simple habits like turning off radiators in unused rooms also help cut your bills over time.