| It would make a big difference if you dress appropriately for the weather, and set your thermostat to the lowest possible comfortable setting. On winter nights, put an extra blanket on the bed and turn down your thermostat more. By turning your thermostat down by 1°C could cut your heating bills by up to 10%, which could save you around £40 annually. When you leave the house for the day or extended periods of time (i.e. holiday) turn it down several degrees. You can also save by turning the thermostat down a couple of degrees all the time or by heating your home for an hour less each day.
Also only heat the rooms you need and close the doors of unused rooms.
Curtains
During the day open your curtains to let light and heat in and in the evening close them to prevent heat from being lost through the windows (especially if you don’t have double glazing). Keeping that in mind make sure you don’t drape the curtains over the radiator, as this will funnel heat straight out of the windows.
Radiators
Keep all the radiators unrestricted by furniture, carpets or drapes.
By placing heat reflectors (foil panels) behind the radiators (these are attached to the outside walls) you reduce the amount of heat lost to the outside. This is especially useful in houses with little insulation.
Fireplace
By closing the (glass) doors in front of your fire place stops heat from being lost up the chimney. If you do not have doors, block up the chimney by using newspaper or cardboard. Also, close the fireplace damper when not in use.
Windows
By replacing your windows with double-glazing cuts heat loss through windows by 50%.
Also place draught strips around windows (and outside doors). Perhaps fit a flap across the letter-box preventing cold air seeping into the house. You can actually test for air leaks by holding a lit incense stick next to the window (or door, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, attic hatches, etc) and watching how the smoke travels. If it travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing or weather stripping.
|