Tips to keep your heating costs down

Here are 1Plus1’s tips to keep heating costs down and ensure your heating system is in top form. It’s tough managing energy costs to say the least Making big bill savings is not possible. Taking care of your boiler and how you use your heating, may keep your heating costs down.

Heating’s a big proportion of most homes' energy bills, so here are our tips!

More tips from Which? to help you save energy.

Mild today - Lower your thermostat

Familiar, but it's worth repeating.

The NHS recommends at least 16C for elderly and vulnerable and 18c for others.

The average UK thermostat is set to 20°C, so there’s room to lower it a little and save energy, if it’s set high through habit rather than necessity. During milder autumn days, nudging your thermostat down will reduce your energy bills.

The Energy Saving Trust advises that every degree you increase your temperature by could increase your heating bill by 10%. Turning it down jby just one degree could save your cash.

Our tip - try turning your thermostat down to 18°C then slowly raise it a degree at a time to see what feels comfortable.

Get your boiler serviced

If you find, however, that the pressure drops again soon after you've increased it, it most likely means there's a leak. to diagnose and fix the issue.

If you've not yet had a boiler service this year, it's a good idea to book one in. In this case you should contact a qualified heating engineer, such as those vetted by Which? Trusted Traders. The engineer will be able to help you get your boiler operating at its most efficient. After this, you should find your radiators start heating up quicker.

Make sure your radiators are heating up

The whole radiator should get hot. If it doesn't, then you’re not heating your home efficiently. Heating will be on longer, your boiler working harder, and higher energy bills.

If a radiator’s cold when it should be hot, it’s often a sign of an underlying issue that may be easy to fix yourself.

Make sure you bleed your radiators when you turn your heating back on this autumn

Keep the space around radiators clear

Radiators actually work by convection. The cold air surrounding and between gaps in the radiator is heated up. This warm air rises up and spreads around the room, and cool air then moves in to be heated.

If radiators are blocked, air cannot easily circulate, so your heating will be on for longer than necessary to get you warm!

A simple tip, easily overlooked, but can also be a quick-win. Cut costs by ensuring your radiators are able to circulate heat properly by moving furniture away from them, not hidden behind curtains or using radiator cabinets to disguise them.

Heating controls

Most of us have thermostats, timers or programmers. Upgrading heating controls could give you more control over your system and dramatically cut costs if you often forget to turn it off.

Here's a useful guide.

Get your boiler serviced

Getting an MOT flags any potential issues before they become a major problem, and means your car keeps working as well as it can.

The same principle applies. If you want your boiler to work efficiently, it needs to be kept in top working order.

A one-off boiler service costs around £90 on average, according to Checkatrade. It also reduces the risk of an unexpected breakdown and a big bill, or no heating.

When to call out an engineer

Boilers involve complex parts, gas, hot water and electricity, so, you should always call out a Gas Safe registered heating engineer for:

• Any repair inside the boiler – don’t take the casing off
• Anything to do with the gas supply or gas meter itself
• Anything that involves electricals
• Recharging the heating cylinder

Changing the valves on a radiator - you can replace the plastic part of a TRV yourself, but anything else should be looked at by a professional