Plumber’s EASY TIPS taught me how to SLASH my energy bills
EvErY day there seems to be more bad news about our heating bills. this week, dire warnings from forecasters were predicting that the typical household could be set to spend more than £4,400 a year on their energy by January, soaring to £5,000 by april. What?!
this is madness, I said to my friend Harland, a heating engineer. But he told me that there are some simple tweaks you can make to your heating system that can shave hundreds, if not thousands, off your annual bill.
Naturally, I asked him to give me these tips so I could let you know about them, too. In fact, I filmed our chat so you can watch how to do these little adjustments. (See this on my site, moneymagpie.com)
the first thing Harland, who runs Guscott Heating Services (guscottheating.co.uk) in Kent, did when he came to my flat was to ask if I knew what the ‘flow rate’ of my boiler was. Of course I didn’t. I didn’t even know there was such a thing!
In fact, the flow rate is the temperature at which the water leaves a boiler to go round the heating system.
Harland found mine was at the top heat of 75 degrees when it doesn’t need to be more than 55 degrees.
‘You need to find the radiator symbol on your boiler and turn it down,’ he explained. ‘the best way to find that is through your operating manual as it will tell you there. Or if you really struggle you can ring the manufacturer or a heating professional and they will talk you through it.’
It took Harland 10 seconds to do it and this alone will save me about 16 per cent on my gas bills. ‘For every 10 degrees you reduce the flow rate, you save 6 to 8 per cent on you bills,’ he said.
Smart controls and weather compensators can also help adjust the flow rates of the boiler, depending on the temperature outside. they would probably cost you £100 to £200 to install but would increase your home’s heat efficiency by 3 to 5 per cent.
Next he examined the temperature of my hot water. ‘Look for the hot water symbol (usually a tap) on the boiler and check the temperature,’ said Harland.
‘most people add cold water when they use the hot tap which is a big waste.
‘Why heat water that you are then going to cool down? If you’re doing this, lower the hot water temperature to a point where you don’t need to add cold. If it isn’t warm enough when you use it next, you can raise the temperature again. For every 10 degrees you lower the water temperature you will save 3 to 5 per cent on your bills.’
With mine we dropped the temperature by about 6 degrees, another saving of around 4 per cent on my bills per year.
With just those two little tweaks alone I’ve immediately saved 15 to 20 per cent on my gas bills.
Harland also surprised me by saying that it’s often a waste of money to replace a boiler, even if it’s 10 to 15years-old. ‘the industry is lying to us,’ he said.
‘a well-installed boiler with the right filters and a clean system, serviced regularly, lasts a long time — up to 20 years. People think that they need to replace their boiler every 10 years but they don’t. Just get it looked after by a proper heating engineer who will fine-tune it to your needs.’
much of the inefficiencies happen because of poor installation. full of sludge they push the gas bill higher and your boiler will break down more often.
Fitting a central-heating filter on your boiler can save up to 8 per cent on your gas bills. Flushing the system thoroughly, if you find the insides need a clean, will bring efficiency up too.
People like me are always telling others to turn their thermostat down to save money. Harland took it further and said that it’s worth finding a decent, constant temperature and keeping it there rather than putting the thermostat up and down.
‘about 19 degrees is usually a good temperature for most households,’ he says, ‘although everyone is different and you need to work out what you’re comfortable with. But stop turning it off and on. It used to be that turning down the thermostat by one degree saved you £80 a year, but after the price increases it’s now more like a £400-per-degree saving!’