With the cost of household bills skyrocketing in the past year, many homeowners are concerned about how to keep their homes warm without breaking the bank. We’ve put together some tips to keep your home warm without having to have the heating on as often.

Make your radiators more efficient

The radiators are the main source of heat in most houses, but they can be inefficient because the backside of them that is against the wall isn’t much good for heating anything other than the wall itself. One way around this is to buy foil insulation and place it behind your radiators, which reflects heat back into the room and prevents it from being lost through the wall.

Install pipe lagging

To keep your home warm, you need to ensure your current heating system is working as well as it can. Pipe lagging is foam insulation that helps to keep your water pipes hotter for longer and prevents them from freezing. This makes your heating and hot water much more efficient, meaning you won’t need to put your heating on as often, as a little will go a long way. 

Bleed your radiators

Radiators can easily get air trapped in them which prevents them from heating all the way to the top. To prevent this, you will need to bleed them by opening the valve at the top, which you can do with a radiator bleed key or sometimes just a flathead screwdriver. When you open the valve, air will start to escape with a hissing sound. Hold a cloth or rag below the valve and as soon as the liquid starts to come out, close the valve again.

Get your boiler serviced or replaced

Making sure your boiler is working properly is the best way to ensure that you are heating your home efficiently and driving your heating costs down. Arrange a boiler service as soon as possible, or start looking at upgrading to a new energy-efficient boiler or heat pump if your current appliance is very old. 

Draught-proof your home

To keep your home warm, you should ensure it is draught-proofed. Gaps around your windows and doors are an invitation for heat to escape and make your home colder. Draught-proofing your home means you will keep more of the heat that you pay for inside, and this is easy enough to do with a draught excluding insulating tape.

Install external wall insulation

One investment that will eventually pay for itself due to savings on heating bills is external wall insulation. External wall insulation is a layered system of insulation applied to the outside of your house that can reduce your annual heating bill by up to 50% because of how much it improves your home’s thermal efficiency. Other benefits of EWI include reduced condensation and improved soundproofing.

Make sure your roof is well insulated

25% of the heat generated in the home is lost through the roof, so you should ensure that you have adequate insulation in your roof or loft space. You will need different types of insulation based on whether you have a warm loft (liveable space) or cold loft (non-liveable space).

Upgrade your windows

If you are struggling to keep the heat inside your home, you might need to look at your windows. Single-glazed and even standard double-glazed windows aren’t enough to keep your home thermally efficient during the coldest months of the year. Consider upgrading to triple-glazing or Pilkington K-glass which provides the same thermal efficiency but with only 2 panes.

 

If you want to keep your home warm without using the heating as much, you need to ensure your home is designed to retain as much heat as possible and that the heating you do use is efficient. Maximising your home’s thermal efficiency might require an initial investment, but the savings will be long-term.