Trying to keep your home’s heating bills down can seem like you’re fighting a losing battle at times as the bills seem to either be going up and up or you haven’t seen any reduction in your heating bills for what feels like years. However, by following this guide you’ll get ten tips that can help you finally see those heating bills become cheaper.
Turn your thermostat down
Turning your thermostat down is a great way to begin reducing your heating bills and chances are that you won’t even notice the change in temperature around your home. Each degree you turn down your thermostat by is 1% that you can change on your heating bill, so by turning your thermostat down by 5 degrees you’ll be saving 5% a year on your heating bills. If you turn down your thermostat while you’re out of the house as well this can save a huge amount on your final heating bill.
Call for a boiler check-up
You should be getting boiler check-ups every year to make sure that your boiler is running as efficiently as it should be. Often your boiler will have an annual service already arranged for it from when you have bought your boiler. If this is not the case however you can usually find a local engineer that can do a boiler check-up for you. When you are looking for a local engineer always look around to find an engineer that is on the gas safe register.
Replace your old boiler
If you are living in a home with a boiler that is older than 10 years old, then replacing your boiler is going to be your best bet if you’re wanting to save money on your heating bills. Older boilers usually lose 30% of the energy that they make compared to newer boilers which only lose 11% of the energy that they make, which is a huge difference in wasted energy. There is a good chance that you could be saving up to £250 extra a year on your heating bills by upgrading your old boiler. Doing your own research is always important when changing your boiler however some brands to look out for when buying your new boiler are Ideal Boilers, Worcester Bosch, Heatline Boilers, and Vaillant Boilers.
Use draught excluders in rooms
Using draft excluders is a great way and inexpensive way to save a bit of money on your heating bills. Draughts are easily dealt with around the doors of your home by buying a draft excluder for as little as £2 from a place such as Amazon or you could even roll up an old towel and stick this under your door. This will stop your boiler from working to heat rooms that are already losing the heat that has been generated.
Block draughts from outside
Once you have blocked the draughts underneath doors around your home, now start with the outside of your home. You can draught-proof your windows and front door for around £70. To begin with, you’ll want to buy some self-adhesive strips from your local DIY shop and begin by placing the strips all around the space between your windows and their frames and the sides and top of your door. You will then want to close your front door and measure the bottom of your door so you can attach a brush strip to the bottom of your door. This will exclude the heat that is escaping from the bottom of your front door.
Close your curtains
This might seem like a basic thing to do but it can help heat to not escape the rooms that you are wanting to heat up. To start with making sure that your curtains are closed the night before you go to bed can help keep cold air draughts from the night coming into your home. Making sure you then open these curtains in the morning means that sunlight can get into your home and begin to organically heat your home. There are also curtains available that are woven materials to specifically keep heat in the room where the curtains are closed, you can pick up some of these thermal curtains for around £25.
Put devices on standby
Standby devices can be a major cause of energy consumption that you could quite easily save money on. Turning off standby devices has been shown to save up to 16% at most a year, which is a great saving that you can take away from your yearly bill.
Switch energy providers
Switching your energy tariff is now often quick and hassle-free thanks to the numerous comparison sites that are now available to browse. The only information you need to change providers in most cases is a recent bill from your current provider and your postcode. Switching providers can take around 21 days to fully complete but is way worth looking into to see how much money you could really save.
Put an extra layer on
It might seem so simple but putting on an extra layer really can make a real difference when trying to feel warm in your home. While you may have already turned down your thermostat as we said earlier by putting on that extra layer or two you could turn it down even more or even turn off your heating altogether. There is not a set amount of energy you could save with this method rather it’s down to what temperature you feel comfortable at.
Change your showerheads
Finally, number ten, changing your showerheads. While changing your showerheads might not seem like something that you had associated with keeping your heating bills down it’s something that can really help. Some showerheads can use as much water as running a bath in up to five minutes, which will really drive your heating bill up as you are warming a large amount of water up to come out of your shower. Changing your shower head to a water-saving showerhead could save you as much as 50% on the water each time you use your shower, which can really add up in the long term.
Following these ten tips is a great way to start reducing your heating bills and begin saving that little bit extra each year!
