How to reduce winter heating costs

As we go deeper into October, naturally, the British weather will take a turn for the worse. In response to the drop in temperature, homeowners all over the country will be turning their thermostats up and putting their boilers back to work. 

As this will likely result in expensive energy bills, it can be tempting to turn the thermostat down and put on additional layers of clothing instead. While this would be beneficial to the environment, having a cold home doesn’t make for a comfortable standard of living.  

Therefore, a happy medium, is to still use your central heating,while taking the necessary steps to save money on your bills.     

It might be tempting to avoid having regular maintenance checks for your boiler, especially if it doesn’t have any obvious faults. However, in the long run, it’s far safer and even cheaper to service your boiler once a year. Not only will this eliminate the risk of minor issues becoming more serious, your boiler’s lifespan will likely increase.   

Like with a boiler, when the weather starts to get colder, it’s wise to test your central heating system. This is because potential faults could have developed when the system was left unused during the summer months. You might find a problem with your heating system, like radiators that aren’t heating up properly. In this instance, you can fix the problem yourself, by bleeding the radiators. However, this isn’t always practical, so you might need the help of a plumber or a heating engineer.  

Although, everyone has different heating preferences, the general advice is to set the temperature of your home, anywhere from 18 to 21 degrees Celsius. With a well-insulated property, you shouldn’t feel the need to set the thermostat too high and overheat your home. This will cause a detrimental impact on the environment and lead to an increase in your energy bills.   

Something that is often taken for granted, is checking that your thermostat is working properly. This can be done by using a cheap, household thermometer to check the temperature of each room, to ensure it matches the thermostat. If it doesn’t, then you might be experiencing a problem with your heating system or thermostat.  

After ensuring that your heating system is working correctly, the next step is to figure out how it can run more efficiently. For a start, it’s important to target areas where heat can be lost. If you live in old housing, then your walls might not have the adequate insulation to stop heat escaping. If this is the case, then there’s a chance you could be eligible to have this work done through a government grant.  

Additionally, windows are another culprit of heat loss. Upgrading to double or even triple-glazed windows, is an obvious solution to this. However, this isn’t necessarily an affordable option to everyone. Fortunately, there are several cheaper alternatives to this. This includes putting plastic sheeting across windows, to act as a secondary layer. Also, windows and blinds can be drawn in the evenings, to keep the heat trapped.     

Another way to save money on your energy bills, is to use the timer on your heating system. If you have a regular schedule, then you can save energy by setting the timer to switch off your heating system when you’re not at home.