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How to make your heating work for your home

Keeping your home warm while balancing out the energy bills, seems to be the annual fight we all face. What’s worse, millions of us are currently making the choice between heating and eating as energy prices rise. It’s why, this New Year, we want to start you off with some essential tips for keeping the heating in your home at an affordable price. Here’s how we’re creating the perfect balance, try our tips and see how much of a difference they make in your home.



Not blocking radiators  

It might be time to shuffle your furniture around. Did you know there should be at least a foot between your furniture and the radiator? If you block your radiators, then you trap the heat behind the item. Aside from this being a fire hazard for some radiators, it also means that your heating is not as efficient as it could be. You might be tempted to turn up the heat to try and get it around the room faster but before you do that, have a reshuffle. Allow your radiator to breathe instead. 

Reflector panels and radiator covers 

If you have radiator covers in your home, consider removing them. Especially if they’re traditional wooden ones. Again, they prevent your radiator from working at maximum efficiency. However, if they have a reflective panelling on the back, they’re doing more good than you may expect. 

Reflector panels are becoming increasingly popular, especially for radiators that sit on an outside wall. Imagine your radiator is on full, heating the room. Heat comes out from all angles, not just into your home. It means that if your radiator sits on an external wall, it is heating that wall and in turn, heating the streets. It’s a lot of wasted energy! Investing in reflector panels means you can reflect the heat back into your home. Making your heating and money go further than before! 

Keeping doors closed and using draught blockers 

It’s no surprise that our doors are the number one area where heat escapes from our home. Either around the rest of the house or out the front door. Replacing your front door with an energy-efficient door can help prevent heat from escaping from your home, but that can also be expensive – not exactly a financially accessible idea right after Christmas! But there are steps you can take to help. 

Closing doors for starters. Aside from the radiator in your hallways, no other heat source should be travelling out the front door. Close your internal doors and keep the heating in each room. You might think that by opening doors you let the heat travel around the home, but the chances are, the first place it’s going is outside the front door! This is why closing doors and draught-proofing them is essential. 

When it comes to draught-proofing your doors, there are four main areas. The bottom, the sides, and then for those front doors, the keyhole and letterbox. For the gaps around the edges and bottom, you can look at fitting a foam trimming to help minimise the draught. Alternatively, a decorative draught excluder at the bottom of the door could be a more stylish option. For your front door, fit a letterbox flap or brush to stop the heat escaping. For those older style doors, you can fit a metal cover for your lock, stopping any draught through the hole. These little additions can make a big difference when all are put into practice.  

How to make your heating money work more for you 

Now you’ve taken all the steps that you can to make the most of your heating. It’s time to look at reducing those costs. Remember it’s important to increase the efficiency of the heating in your home first, that way you can also make some savings.   

Heating the rooms you’re in 

It depends on what type of heating system you have in your home but try and heat the rooms you’re in or you’re going into. If you’ve timed your heating to come on at 5pm, does your bedroom radiator need to be on full whack too? Or could you go in there after dinner to heat the room just before going to bed? Being that little bit more prepared means you’re not wasting energy and money by heating rooms that you’re not in. 

Turning thermostat down 

We know what you’re thinking. Down?! It’s cold out there! But trust us when we say that turning your thermostat down can make all the difference to your bank balance without compromising on heat. For every degree you turn your thermostat down, you can save between 1-3% on your heating bill. That’s a nice tidy average saving of £80 for a difference you’ll barely notice now that you’ve maximised your heating’s efficiency! 

When it comes to ideal temperatures to heat your home at, it can be difficult to make the call. However, after you’ve made your heating efficient, you’ll notice that you don’t need the temperature as high as before. The Energy Saving Trust recommends 18°C as a comfortable lower-threshold temperature. Ask yourself if yours is too high. 



1/5 people in the UK live in a home that was built before 1919 and 20% of UK emissions come from poorly heated homes. So when we’re looking at making your heating work for your home, while keeping bills down is a great motivator, know that you’re also helping the environment. We love an eco-friendly action that benefits everyone involved and efficient heating is our favourite!

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