As the winter sets in and gets colder, energy costs, especially heating, increase significantly. Despite adjusting the temperature and trying to control the thermostat, the energy bills skyrocket during these months. With energy and basic utility prices remaining high, it is important to control heating consumption to ensure spending does not increase more than necessary.
Today, on SUN SEA LIFE Blog, we give you the key advice on keeping your energy consumption in check during the months when temperatures drop the most.
- Here’s How You Can Save on Heating
Although the cold has been slower to come this year, we are well into the depths of winter and most houses have had their heat turned on for a week or so. This affects consumption and thus increases energy bills. It’s time to be careful and consider some practical tips to save money on heating costs and thus reduce consumption.
Most households account for more than 40% of their energy costs. In order to prevent your energy bills from skyrocketing, it is important to understand the costs, try to put a few tricks into practice and you will see reductions in consumption and bills.
- Improve your home’s insulation
Naturally the best way to preserve energy, have effective heat (and cooling in summer months) is to have good insulation. Improving the insulation of the windows and entrance doors in your home is the key. Short of big investment in actually replacing windows and doors, there are other, less expensive and very simple and effective ways you can apply that will help you keep the energy cost down and temperature in your home stable. One of them is to lower the blinds and draw the curtains at night to prevent the heat from escaping through the windows. Get some insulation tape (draught excluders) from a DIY store and place it on the frames between windows and doors. On certain windows it might be even possible to put household clingfilm across the entire window. This will act as temporary secondary glazing while allowing light and heat in to the home.
- Make the most of the sun’s heat
Allow the Sun to heat your home by shining its rays into the various rooms of your house during the day. Additionally, this would be the perfect time to ventilate your home. Very often, usually around midday, the temperature outside might be higher than inside. Equally, by ventilating you might also benefit from less condensation inside. It only takes 10 minutes for the results to become apparent.
- Close the inner room doors.
The heat is trapped within the house if the doors are closed, so you can use less energy to heat your home. You might need to heat certain rooms or a bathroom only before you actually want to use it and not throughout the day.
- Practical tips for saving money on home heating
Check radiators and boilers first, it’s important to check your radiators to make sure they’re working properly. Before the cold sets in, it is advisable to check that your home heating system is functioning properly. Often air might be trapped in central heating radiators, so you may need to bleed the air first before starting the system. It is also important to check the emersion heater and make sure it is working properly. If you have timers don’t forget to check they are also set correctly – especially if you use dual tariff electricity. Cheaper, night time electricity can make great difference on energy cost.
- Use the thermostat correctly
It is important to use the thermostat to help maintain a constant temperature in all the rooms in your home. Since it might be very cold when you arrive in your property, raising the temperature too much might not be a practical option. Even if you do that, make sure you lower it in couple of hours. A sudden increase in temperature will only cost you more. Daytime temperatures should vary between 15º and 20º, and night-time temperatures should vary between 10º and 15º. With this policy, we can save 8% to 13%.
- Carpets and rugs – your great winter allies
In winter, using carpets and rugs can help keep the heat in your home. During the colder months, you should have them on the floor to maintain the temperature without turning up the heater too high. This helps reduce heat loss from usually tiled cold floors, making your home more comfortable.
- Avoid covering the radiator
Avoid drying clothes on radiators, which is a common practice in many homes. Covering radiators in our houses increases consumption and thus our bills – not to mention the potential fire hazard.
When cooking try use the oven more often to take advantage of its heat. If you had not used your oven for a long time, start with lowest temperature setting and after about 30 minutes gradually increase it. As air humidity along the coastal region is high, it could remain in the oven condenser. Hence, by gradually heating the oven, you will dry any residual condensation first and avoid short-circuiting in the condenser. When you’re done cooking, leave the oven door open and use the heat to distribute it throughout the house. During use, a lot of heat is concentrated in this appliance, and one way to use it is to radiate heat throughout the home.
- Other electrical appliances
Make sure that any other electrical appliances that might be in ‘stand-by’ mode (TV’s, radios, Hi-Fi’s etc.) are switched off as they still consume some electricity even when they are not on. This also applies to all chargers. Simple rule is, when not charging the appliance (phone, laptop, tablet, cordless or robot vacuum cleaners etc.) – always unplug from the wall socket. Even though the appliance is not connected, the charger is using the electricity and consuming it. This will benefit you not only by reducing the energy cost but also prolonging the life of the charger.
- Ready to make some wintertime energy savings?
- Have you previously used any of these suggestions to reduce your home’s heating costs during these chilly months?
- If there are any additional tips and advice we missed on, please drop us a line and let us know so that we can share it with everyone in the community!
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At SUN SEA LIFE we always try to provide you with useful advice so you can enjoy your home in the most efficient way.
