With the cost of energy prices rising, it’s important that you heat your home efficiently so you can save on your bills.

Heating your home efficiently can also help to prevent problems such as condensation and mould. Find out more about condensation, damp and mould here.

Check out these tips to help heat your home efficiently:

  • With your timer, set your heating to come on 30 minutes before you need a room to be warm and turn off 30 minutes before you leave your home or go to bed.
  • This way, your home will be warm before you wake up and your home will have built up enough warmth when it is not needed.

  • Buy radiator reflective panels to fit behind your radiator. This will help to stop heat being wasted at the back of the radiator. You will need to cut the reflective panels to size in order to fit behind your radiator and use double sided tape to attach it to the wall.
  • You can buy ‘Radiator Shelfs’ which can help deflect heat back into your home rather than being wasted into the ceiling.
  • If you have radiators fitted with 'TRVs', you can use these to control the temperature in different rooms. 'TRVs' sense the ambient temperature around the valve, so reducing the flow of hot water to the radiator. You can use these to control the heat in one particular room. Try setting these to 3 or 4 and increase this if you feel the room isn’t warm enough.  
  • If you decide to turn down the temperature in rooms you use less often, make sure you keep a high enough temperature to prevent condensation and mould occurring.
  • Avoid putting pieces of furniture in front of your radiator so you can benefit from the heat.
  • Tuck curtains behind radiators if they are under your windows as this will help to keep the heat in.

  • Make sure you use your timer to help heat your home at the time of day your home needs to be warm.
  • If you set your home to a certain temperature, for example 19 degrees, your radiators will heat up the room in which the thermostat is fitted to this temperature and will then turn off when it has been reached. They will come back on when the temperature drops below 19 degrees.
  • By keeping your home warm all day on a low temperature, your heating will use more fuel and your home will still be at this low temperature when you arrive home.
  • Constantly turning your heating up from a set temperature will mean that you’re using more energy and won't heat up your room quicker.
  • If you have a small home, it is better to heat the whole of your house. In large homes, you can heat individual rooms but make sure enough heat is going to less used rooms to help prevent condensation and damp occurring.

Electric storage heaters are designed to store heat overnight when your electricity is off-peak. This may be commonly referred to as 'Economy 7'. These storage heaters contain specialist bricks which warm up and retain heat in the night and will then release this heat when you need it during the day.

You can find out how to use your storage heater with our video:

 

Your storage heaters will usually have two controls located under a flap at the top of your heater. These are ‘Input’ and ‘Output’:

Input

This controls how much heat is stored. You will use this dial to determine how much heat you think you will need the next day. The higher you turn the dial, the more heat you will store and more electricity you will use. Set your input dial to midway to start.

When you start to use your storage heater, if you find that the room is too hot or cold, adjust the dial to suit. You will find your preferred temperature as you start to use it.

Have it on a low setting during mild weather and a higher setting in colder weather. As the weather gets warmer, start to turn your input dial down.

Output

This controls how much heat you want for your room. The higher the dial, the more heat you will give out until the heat in the storage heater runs out.

Start by setting your dial on your storage heater to a minimum and then turn up if you feel you require more heat. If you feel that your room is warm enough, turn the dial down.

Your output dial on your storage heater should be turned down to 1 before you go to bed and then turned to zero. This will help to prevent heat being used throughout the night when it may not be needed.  If you have a room which isn’t being used, turn the output dial on your storage heater to 1 to help prevent condensation and mould.

When the weather is warm enough, turn off your storage heaters at the wall as well as turning the dial to zero.

Economy 7 gives a set amount of hours of electricity at an off peak rate. Speak to your supplier about switching to 'Economy 10'. This can provide you with 3 extended hours of heat.

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You can lose heat throughout your home through drafts. These can be from your windows, doors, walls or roofs. Preventing draughts can help to heat your home efficiently. Here are some tips to help draught proof your home:

  • Buy a draft excluder for your doors or make your own. Find out how to do this here
  • Make sure you close doors when moving between rooms.
  • Buy ’draft proof foam’ from your local hardware store. These can be cut to size and fitted around doors and windows to help prevent draughts.
  • If you have floorboards, use sealant to close in any gaps.
  • If you don’t have a carpet, put a rug down to help keep your floor warm.

There are different ways you can save energy in your home and save on your bills with our Money Saving Tips.

You could save money by switching energy suppliers. Check out our guide here.

Do you have any tips on how to heat your home efficiently that we haven't mentioned? Share them with us on Facebook or Twitter