As we get further into Winter, it can be tempting to stay inside, turn the heating all the way up, put on the fire and watch films all day, but that won’t do your energy bills any favours! So here are our top tips for saving energy at home this winter.
You can save up to 10% on your heating bills by wearing a jumper, a pair of cosy slippers and turning down your thermostat by even just one degree.
You can make further savings by turning your heating down lower (or even off depending on just how cold it’s going to be outside) overnight and while you’re out at work.
Turning down the radiators in rooms you don’t use as often is another way to prevent using energy where you’re not particularly benefitting from it.
Keeping the doors shut in rooms you want to keep warmer will also help keep the heat in enough for you not to feel too much of a difference.
If you’re planning to go on holiday over Christmas, set your thermostat to turn on when temperatures drop below 5 degrees, to prevent any pipes from freezing while you’re away.
If your thermostat doesn’t allow for this, setting your heating to turn on for a couple of hours each night at around 15 degrees is the next best thing.
For rooms you really want to keep warm, replacing your usual curtains with a thermal set (or adding a thermal lining) will help to keep the heat in. If your home doesn’t have well-insulated walls, then thermal curtains can be great for preventing heat loss through windowed areas of the room - ultimately helping you save energy.
If you notice that more birds tend to sit on your roof than your neighbours’, your roof probably isn’t fully insulated - meaning you could be losing heat as it rises.
Without proper insulation, you could be losing up to 50% of your home’s heat through the roof, resulting in a lot of wasted energy. Your roof should have at least 270mm of insulation - if you have less than this, you can easily top it up by using blanket insulation.
If you want to save energy, then sealing up any gaps around windows and doors, or where pipes and vents go through external walls, is a great place to start.
A variety of sealants are easily accessible and affordable so you can make sure you’re not going to be losing any heat through gaps in the wall.
When the days are short and it’s dark, it can be tempting to combat that feeling of gloom by leaving the lights on the landing or in the hallway so that there’s light for when you walk between rooms - but this wastes a lot of energy.
Try to get into the habit of turning lights off every time you leave the room - if no one’s going to be using a room, there’s no use in keeping it well lit.
When it comes to drying your clean clothes, always try to dry your clothes on the line outside. If the air’s too damp, make sure you don’t opt for drying them on the radiator. Your boiler will need to work harder, and it’ll make the air feel more humid and ultimately cooler – use free- standing clothes airers or your tumble dryer (if you’re short on time) to dry a full load instead.
Whilst these ways to save energy are applicable all year round, it can be especially easy to slip into bad habits with our energy usage in winter, but at a time of year when we’re all thinking about saving up for Christmas, it pays to get into good habits.
If you want to have a chat about how you can save energy every day with an upgraded boiler, feel free to get in touch with our team.
Complete the form below and one of the Plumbcare.com team will get back to you as soon as possible.
