Okay that’s a little bit harsh. But by loser we mean losing heat, or money really. If we paid money to heat a space like our home, and that heat is lost so is the money it costs to heat it. People are pretty savvy nowadays when it comes to heat loss but let’s run through some simple things we can do to ensure we are not wasting money ahead of her time a potential difficulties for everyone.
Close The Gaps
Modern double glazed windows often have little vents at the top to allow air in. This also allows heat out. The heating is on, it makes sense to close these. Often doorways can be draughty, sometimes around windows. Do whatever you can to reduce these draughts without reducing the ability to open and close things. Another place that can be quite cold is the little hatch into the attic. It is well worth making sure there is either insulation above it or some form of seal below it. A cheap solution for problematic doorways is to hang thick curtain behind it. None of these methods are pretty but we are talking about saving money and we are being practical. We are not being expensive.
I’m going to do that one day
When will that day come? We’ve got those things that we will do one day, one of the most common ones seems to be leaving insulation stacked up ready to be applied and spread out in the attic. It would take a relatively short time to spread it even loosely in the attic, and that would make a big difference to heat loss. Remember that you don’t need to go all the way to the edges, the space behind guttering is called the eaves and is designed to allow air movement under the roof. Insulation is designed in a loft to prevent all the heat going into a space that is designed to have lots of fresh air moving through it and cooling it down. Laying out that insulation doesn’t need to obstruct the eaves but it will save you some money.
Look at those lovely curtains
Sometimes those lovely thick long curtains hang over the top of radiators. Often allowing that radiator to do a great job of heating the window and a terrible job of heating the room. Tuck those curtains in behind the radiator if you can. Another problem with long curtains is that they often lie around the thermostatic radiator valve. The radiator valve gets nice and hot in a very small area and turns the radiator off leaving the rest of the room quite cool.
Behind the dreaded sofa
Another common problem is those wonderful large L-shaped sofas which are pushed against the radiators. Radiator is designed for, you guessed it, radiating heat. It can’t do that if a wonderful reclining DFS bargain is pushed against it. Pull it away from the radiator the width of a cup or mug and you’ll be much warmer.
It’s prettier than a radiator
Sometimes a radiator cover is prettier than a radiator, but it doesn’t do much for heat. It’s basically a box around the radiator, in some ways it would have been better to leave the radiator in a box. Take it off, let that radiator breath if only in the short term to help keep your home warm.
What is the right setting on the boiler?
There isn’t really a right answer to this but it does need to be at least 11° warmer than the dew point of a condensing boiler, in other words above 65°. Because you haven’t tested the efficiency of your system, it is often safer to set the boiler to 75°. If it has a dial for the radiator temperature it needs to be rotated far enough round to warm the house up quickly – less than half an hour – but not using all the gas of a small country. Most boiler manufacturers have a technical helpline and I guess the best answer is as long as it’s hot enough to make that boiler condense, set it as low as you can but it’s still going to be pretty hot. What it doesn’t need to be is turned fully up unless you have undersized radiators. By that we mean is the radiators are too small for the rooms and the homeowner is forced to use the radiators at a higher temperature just to get the room is warm enough.
We hope this has been helpful and we hope you aren’t drying all of your clothes on the radiators and wondering why it’s still cold. The final part will cover tips for reducing your heating bill.
