Well, it wasn’t much of a summer but most of us tried to make the best of it. But we can all feel the change in the weather now and this signals the oncoming winter, so time for a few tweaks and checks to not only make the our homes more comfortable but also save us some hard earned money.
Here are some seasonal tips to help you keep your heating bills down this winter, starting with the most obvious one:
1. Keep doors and windows closed and make sure when they are open it’s for the shortest time possible. You may have the latest boiler and top quality double glazing but it only takes a few moments with a door or window unnecessarily open to lose valuable, paid for heat.
2. Turn the thermostat down a degree or two. You won’t notice the difference but that will be a little energy saved every day, and over the course of the winter it will amount to a significant saving.
3. When you make a cup of tea or coffee, only boil the water you need, don’t fill it up and leave the rest to cool down again. (I’m sure we’ve all done it!)
4. Check that the fridge and freezer are not turned down to an unnecessarily low temperature. Excessively low temperatures will only increase you bills without any benefit to the safety of your food.
5. Check that your loft insulation is adequate. If you’ve had a plumber or an electrician up there to do any work, has he replaced all the insulation correctly? It’s very easy to leave areas of the loft exposed and lose heat. The old type of glass fibre or Rockwool insulation is very unpleasant (and can be unhealthy) to work with, so if you’r not sure about it and you don’t fancy crawling around up there, give us a call to see if you qualify for a free inspection.