Getting heat into your home shouldn’t become a money drain.
For most households, heating is one of the biggest energy drains and one of the most significant concerns during the winter months, particularly with more of us spending so much more time at home right now. There’s plenty of choices when it comes to keeping your home warm, from conventional central heating to underfloor systems and storage heaters, so getting it right might save you from a hefty bill.
But which method offers the best bang for your buck?
Central heating
Central gas heating is what you’ll find in the vast majority of UK homes and it remains the default option for a reason. It’s affordable, reliable and has been rendered more energy efficient thanks to recent advances in smart metre technology. With central heating, however, there is a perpetual debate about how often to leave it on.
Some say it’s wise to leave it on a moderate setting all day, while others suggest only heating it up when you need the heat. We say that it depends on the size of your home. Larger homes take longer to heat up, after all. If you do leave it on all day then the ideal temperature to leave it at is around 19 or 20 degrees.
Underfloor heating
There is something undeniably luxurious about the feeling of a warm floor on bare feet. However, underfloor heating is an option you may live to regret. It might sound fancy but it is very messy and disruptive to install and can take just as long to warm up as your radiators.
We would also only recommend it if you have wooden or vinyl flooring as underfloor heating under a carpet would not end well at all. For one thing, it’s just wasted energy but it could also accentuate bad smells trapped in the fibres.
Electric storage heaters
Electric heaters are a relatively modern concept but they are bound to have a greater impact as we shift towards a more electric future. However, electrical heating still costs more per unit of energy than gas. You might be saving the environment but it will have a major impact on your bottom line.
Electric radiators and storage heaters become a more enticing prospect, however, when a building is not already connected to a gas network. In this case, the savings you’ll make avoiding having the building hooked up should mitigate the extra cost, and electric heaters are always getting more efficient too.
It’s the little things
It’s the small things that will help you spend less on your heating: Keeping doors closed, turning off radiators in rooms you don’t use and making sure pipes are properly insulated. Cavity wall and loft insulation won’t go amiss either. It all adds up and it all keeps you and your family nice and toasty!
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