5 Ways To Reduce Your Energy Bill
You would think that with all the incredible technology developed over the course of the early 21st century that energy prices would have fallen. But the energy industry is stuck in something of a time-warp, using antiquated modes of production and charging customers handsomely for the privilege.
You don’t want to be a slave to high energy prices forever. It’s time to take control of your bills, get costs down and save your money for the things that really matter in life. But how?
In this article, we’re going to take a deep-dive into five ways that you could make substantial energy savings without reducing your quality of life. Let’s take a look.
Get Spring Boiler Maintenance
During the winter months, your boiler works hard. Practically every day it has to heat water in the system to a high temperature, providing you with warm showers and central heating. Although boilers may look calm and collected on the outside, it’s a different story on the inside. High heat and hard water can combine to cause damage to the components which, after sustained use, may require maintenance. In general, it’s not a good idea to use a boiler all winter long, turn it off in the spring, and then leave it until the following winter before turning it back on again. Your boiler needs to be well-maintained so that it can jump back into action when you need it.
Most people make the mistake of leaving their boiler off and unattended between March/April and October. When they turn it back on again at the start of the following winter, it doesn’t work as intended, and they end up spending more on sourcing parts for it, just when they need it. It’s much better to pay £70 for a gas-safe registered heating engineer to certify that the boiler is in good working order at the end of winter, giving you peace of mind. Regular maintenance in the spring will help to extend the life of your boiler.
Get An Autumn Boiler Service
In the Autumn, your boiler has to suddenly go from months of being idle to burning hot once more. Without proper maintenance, it might not burn fuel efficiently, pushing up your energy costs. It’s better, therefore, to have it serviced by a professional before you need it during the winter months.
When it comes to the Autumn service, you’ve got two options: you can either have your boiler maintained to ensure that all internal components work as they should, or you can opt to have the entire boiler replaced. Remember, boilers vary dramatically in terms of energy efficiency. Some newer boilers are many times more efficient than their older counterparts and can pay for themselves in saved energy in a single winter. If you think that your boiler isn’t as efficient as it could be, then why not consider changing it? A new boiler will lower your energy bills, pleasantly surprising you come the Spring.
Get A Smart Thermostat And Avoid Heating An Empty House
Although it may sound obvious, not heating an empty home is one of the best ways to reduce your energy bill. You don’t need to heat your home while you’re not there: it’s just wasting cash. At Bubbles Boilers, we think that a connected world is the future. Already we see many companies, like Hive, Tardo, and Nest, creating smart thermostats that connect to your smartphone allowing you to adjust your heating settings on the fly, no matter where you might be, offering tremendous benefits to homeowners.
Connected thermostats and the smart-home are creating new opportunities to save energy. You can fire up the heating control apps on your smartphone on the way back from work so that you avoid coming back to a cold house and make sure that your heating only turns on when you’re there. Likewise, when you leave your home, you may forget to turn off the heating as you go manually. Connected apps allow you to ditch old timed central heating methods and switch off your heating whenever you leave the house. With a smart thermostat, your home works around you, not the other way around.
Retro-Fit Air Source Heating
If you really want to get your energy bills down to a minimum, then you might consider using air source heating. Air source heating works similarly to your fridge. Just like a refrigerator extracts warm air from its interior, an air source heat pump extracts warm air from outside your home and then releases that heat through the radiators.
What is so amazing about air source heating is the fact that you can extract heat from air as cold as minus 15 degrees Celcius, meaning that it is a way to heat your home even in the coldest of conditions.
Air source heating has many advantages over ground source heating. Air source heaters tend to be easier to install (no drilling required), and they work with few moving parts, meaning less maintenance. Not only do they provide heating, but they can heat the water in your home too – no need for a boiler anymore.
Control Your Heating To Suit Your Lifestyle
One of the problems with conventional heating systems is that they don’t adjust and adapt to your lifestyle. You might want to go out of the house at different times during the week and the weekends, but your thermostat is set in its ways, only providing heat at the times that it’s been programmed to do so.
The connected home offers a solution to this rather annoying and otherwise intractable problem. With a connected thermostat, you don’t have to rely on timers any longer. You can control your heating remotely based on when you will be in the house, not when your timer says you’ll be there. With the internet of things and a connected home, you never have to come back to a cold house again, and you don’t have to waste money on heating services you don’t need.
