How to reduce the heating bill this winter? An expert reveals 6 simple and effective tricks

Image: spm

The use of the radiator in winter seems essential to keep the house warm, but this is often accompanied by excessive energy consumption which increases the electricity bill. On the other hand, it is possible to continue to use the radiator to heat the house, while saving energy. Find out how to reduce heating bills this winter.

Using the radiator without causing overconsumption of energy is possible. For this, it is advisable to adopt certain effective eco-gestures to reduce energy consumption in winter and not to increase the electricity bill.

Reduce your energy bill. Source: spm

How to reduce heating bills in winter?

According to John Lawless, an expert from British radiator supplier BestHeating, the best way to heat the house while saving energy is to not keep the heating on all day. In a central heating system, the radiators are connected to a boiler. It is true that it will be very busy to heat a cold house, but keeping the heating on all day is more energy-intensive than turning the heating down or turning it off when you are outside or when you sleep at night.

To keep the house warm even when the heating is off, it is important to have good thermal insulation. It is necessary to ensure the house a good airtightness but also to water to avoid the infiltrations of air and water which cool our interior. To limit heat loss, consider installing thick curtains, or replacing your single glazing with double glazing or triple glazing which will also limit noise pollution from the outside. Also, constantly check the seals of your windows, because when they wear out, they promote air leaks. You can also caulk your windows and the front door to prevent drafts.

And in order to limit heat loss through the floor, place rugs or carpets, preferably in dark colors. Thus they will be able to absorb the heat of the sun which infiltrates during the day.

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If you have a central heating system, you can control the energy consumption of water heaters. To do this, add thermostatic valves to them to adjust the temperature of each room. Indeed, it is not necessary to heat the whole house to the same temperature, if not all the rooms are used. The best thing is to simply heat the room in which you spend the most time, and lower the temperature of the radiators in the other rooms. In addition to saving energy, this will allow you to improve the energy performance of your central heating system. Note that lowering the thermostat by one degree saves 7% on the electricity bill.

Tip: To reduce your energy bill, choose a low temperature boiler for your water radiators. This will heat the water to 50°C, unlike conventional energy-guzzling boilers which heat the water to a high temperature, between 65°C and 90°C.

Save electricity. Source: spm

In winter, when it rains, we tend to dry clothes inside, and put our clothes on the radiator. But this is not recommended. In fact, in addition to increasing the humidity level in the room and promoting condensation, this technique prevents the heat from spreading throughout the room. We will thus have to keep the radiator on for long hours, or even all day, to obtain the desired heat.

If you notice your radiators leaking and staying lukewarm even when you turn the boiler temperature up, it means that sludge has built up inside your heater, restricting heat diffusion. In this case, it is advisable to remove sludge from the boiler and radiators to eliminate the sludge. This is also caused by limescale deposits or corrosion of the piping.

Placing furniture in front of radiators reduces heat diffusion. This therefore forces us to increase the heating fully to reach the desired temperature. To save energy, clear your radiators. You can also place reflective panels or insulating film behind them to reflect heat throughout the room and prevent heat loss, especially when the radiator is placed against the wall. This applies to auxiliary heating radiators, but also to central heating.

Radiator. Source: spm

These few simple actions will allow you to reduce the energy consumption of your radiators and considerably reduce the electricity bill. But to make more savings, you can adopt other reflexes that will help you use less energy. For this, do not keep your devices on standby. Remember to unplug electrical appliances that you don't use, and to use bulbs that belong to energy class A, such as LEDs or compact fluorescent bulbs, also called low-energy bulbs.

Read also How to heat the house without using heating and save money? 7 infallible tips