Winters are fast approaching, and few have paid any heed to the heating needs of their houses. If you plan in advance and figure out the exact needs of your house well before time, then you will be much better off than those who are waiting for the season to fully approach.
If you set out to recondition your house’s heating and insulation as early as possible, you will be able to take the chilly nights of the coming winter season head-on and with full preparation. This means that you will spend most of the winter nights in your warm, cosy house, while some will still be left fixing their heating or installing insulation in the cold of winter.
The best way to keep warm in winter is to have a robust heating system in place. However, that alone will either not function well or yield high energy costs if you do not have any complementary systems in place. Let’s discuss some of the ways in which you can keep your house sufficiently warm, without having to spend extra on heating bills. Let’s dive into it!
Get Your Home Boiler Serviced
This is the first step you should take as the end of the summer season draws near. All boilers require getting serviced once every year. Therefore, get your boiler serviced well before the winter season so that you can make the most of it when needed. A boiler that is not serviced on time leads to high energy costs since it has to work much harder to maintain the same temperature. Furthermore, if your boiler is too old and faulty, consider replacing it altogether, preferably with an A-rated condenser boiler.
If you are on the lookout for boiler services in West London, Harrow, and surrounding areas, OBS Facilities is where you should be headed. Our exceptional building, plumbing, and boiler services speak for themselves. Get in touch with us so you can also profit from our three decade’s worth of experience.
Make Sure You Bleed Your Radiators
Consistent use of your heating system causes air to be trapped inside your radiators. Once this happens, your radiators will not be working as effectively as they should. In order to make sure whether air is actually trapped within any or all of your radiators, check to see if it is heating to the top or not. If not, slightly open the valve at the top using a radiator bleed key and allow all the air to escape until you see a drip of water, at which point you will close the valve securely.
Thermostat Update
A faulty thermostat either does not heat your home sufficiently, leaving much to be desired in terms of heating, or it heats up your home more aggressively than required. This, inadvertently, results in high heating bills for your house. Both are undesirable situations that you would not want to be in. Therefore, if you notice any fault in your thermostat, try replacing it as soon as possible. Nowadays, due to massive advancements in technology, you can also acquire a smart thermostat, which you can operate using an app on your smartphone. You can set timers on such thermostats so you turn on the heating for only the required period and at the desired temperature.
Make the Most of Your Heating System
The best way of maximising heating with minimal costs is by redirecting the heat of your radiators. This is done by attaching tin foil to the wall on the back of your radiators. Tinfoil effectively reflects heat; therefore, rather than warming up your walls or the ceiling, you will be warming up the atmosphere of your home, making for a cosier environment.
Rearranging Your Furniture
Check if a piece of furniture is blocking any of your radiators, hence hindering heat dissipation. This is wasteful in two ways, one being that the heat is not effectively warming up the home atmosphere as desired. The second wastefulness would be that the constant radiation of heat would also ruin the visual appeal of that very piece of furniture.
Replace Your Windows with Draught-Resistant Ones
Windows with a single pane of glass tend to allow heat to flow through, rendering the heating somewhat ineffective. Double-glazed windows, with a layer of air in between, trap heat better. Furthermore, closing down any cracks or small spaces around the windows using a window draught excluder is a task that will prove itself to be worth it’s while.
Make the Most of the Sun
This tip is most fruitful for people with homes that have windows facing the South or the West, driving in the most sunshine over the course of the day. Keeping the curtains closed during night-time helps keep heat inside for the longest time possible. However, for those few sunny days of the winter, it is best advised to keep your curtains drawn and allow sunlight to enter. Light brings with it heat, eliminating the need to turn on your heating. As soon as dusk falls, close the curtains so that the heat you just received is retained for the longest time possible.
Also, for your windows, use curtains that are thermal-lined so they trap heat better. If that is not the case, curtains have to have a minimum of one layer of lining. If you don’t even have that, you will be losing heat fairly quickly, increasing your need for heating. Therefore, replace your unlined curtains with thermal-lined ones.
Install Insulation to Your Loft
If you have a loft above your house that is without any form of insulation, then you are losing about 25% of your heating to it. It is just like covering each of your body parts in thermal wear but leaving your head uncovered. Heat rises, so any form of heating you have working in your house is losing its heat to your loft, which is directly above it. Therefore, although a high upfront cost will be incurred, insulating your loft will lead to future cost savings. Also, insulate your loft hatch using draught strips to minimise heat loss.
Apply Insulation to Your Doors
Even when closed, doors tend to be a source of loss of heat output. Although small, the space between the door and its frame, or the space between the door and the floor, are sources of draught inflow. Therefore, applying draught-proof strips between the doors and their frames minimises draught. You can also apply a draught excluder to close the space between the door and the floor. Finally, keyholes can also bring in draught. Therefore, you can attach covers to minimise it.
Lay Down Rugs at Various Spaces
Rugs do not only improve the visual appeal of your living space, but they also have functional benefits. Rugs, especially those made of wool, are an effective method of insulating your floor. This is because wool fibres have exceptional insulation properties, and they also control humidity by absorbing or dispersing water vapours.
Wrapping It Up!
Winters are fast approaching, and keeping yourself sufficiently warm is vital. In the upcoming winter season, it is highly critical that you maintain the temperature of your house to a desired level. The main procedure for this would be an effective heating system in your house, with a working boiler and unhindered radiators. However, if this system is not complemented by steps to retain the heat that it produces, the warmth will not last for long. Take the actions outlined above and ensure the best living standard for yourself.