With colder weather on the way, many of us may be thinking about turning the heating on soon. Here are some home heating tips for saving energy while still staying warm.  

Make sure your boiler is working properly

Having your boiler serviced once a year is essential to keep it working safely and efficiently. This will reduce the chance of it breaking and leaving you without hot water, or having to use more energy than necessary to provide your heating.  

If you are looking to upgrade your heating system, have you thought about installing an air source heat pump? We are a 5 star rated registered installer – you can get a quote in less than two minutes.

Radiator in a hallway.
Can you reduce your boiler flow temperature?

If you have a modern combi boiler, you may be able to set it to a lower flow temperature. This means that, rather than heating water to 70-80oC, you could heat it to 55-60oC and use less gas.  

This is a change you can make yourself – check out the guides on the Heating Hub. However, it’s worth first checking with a boiler technician whether your radiators are big enough to heat the room properly using water at a lower temperature. 

Don’t drop your water temperature below 60oC if your system uses a hot water tank. This is because the stored water must be regularly heated above this level to kill microbes. Ensure you always mix your hot water with cold water to avoid scalds.

Find out how your heating controls work
Smart meter thermostat

Gas and oil central heating: Smart thermostats can help you to set a weekly schedule for your heating and hot water, that can be different every day of the week. If you know you work from home on a Friday – you could set your heating to be on more of the day. If you’re out all day on a Monday, a short blast morning and night would be plenty.

You could also install thermostatic radiator valves to enable you to vary temperatures between rooms in your home.

Electric storage heaters. Storage heaters use electricity at cheaper overnight rates to generate heat that is released the following day. Many types of storage heater are controlled using an ‘input’ and ‘output’ dial on top. The higher you turn the input dial, the more it will heat up, and the more electricity you’ll use. The higher you turn the output dial, the quicker the heat will be released. So, if you want your heat to last until the following evening, keep the output dial lower.

Find out more about how to use electric storage heaters

Learn how to use your heat pump efficiently

Heat pumps work best if they are left on at a constant level – 19 degrees in the day and 17 degrees overnight for example.

You also need to limit any draughts in your home, by keeping doors and windows shut. This prevents your heat pump going into setback mode – a mode that saves energy by maintaining a much lower temperature.

If you have a Good Energy heat pump, our team can remotely monitor its efficiency and make suggestions about how you can save money on your energy bills.

Keep the heat in

Make sure your heat energy doesn’t go to waste, by keeping as much heat in as possible. Here are some ideas:

  • Coat single-pane windows in secondary glazing film to reduce how much heat is transferred outside.
  • Get thermal curtains, and close them as soon as the sun goes down.
  • Use draught excluders under doors. 
  • Hang a thermal curtain around the inside of your front door, if possible. This will help stop heat escaping each time you open it. 
  • Ensure your home is well insulated.
Use less hot water

As well as cutting your water bills, reducing how much hot water you are using will also help you to save energy. You could do this by:

  • Reducing the time you spend in the shower by a couple of minutes.
  • Bathing children every other night rather than every night.
  • Filling up your dishwasher instead of washing up.
  • If you are washing up, filling the bowl rather than leaving the water running.

How can you make your home more energy efficient long term?

If you have the flexibility to make bigger improvements, a good place to start could be a heat survey. This uses thermal imaging cameras to analyse where heat is escaping from your home.  

If heat is escaping through the roof, you may need to install (or update) loft insulation. For windows, it could be most effective to replace single pane windows or older double glazing. And if most heat is escaping through walls, you could explore cavity wall or external wall insulation. Proper insulation won’t just keep heat in during winter – it will help keep it out in hot summer weather too.

Here are some cost and saving estimates for different types of insulation, based on a typical three-bedroom semidetached house:

Helping people who are struggling with the cost of living

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