How to Keep Your House Warmer Without Turning Up the Heating
Heating your home can be a real burden in the winter, especially with the energy costs rising. There are however, several things that can be done to heat your home without being crippled by heating bills.
Read on to learn our top-tips on keeping your home warm and cosy this winter, while saving a few quid.
Install Weather Stripping on Doors and Windows
Like with most houses, the stack or chimney effect is present. As the hot air within your home rises and escapes, cold air enters to replace it. You can mitigate this problem and retain heat in various way, one being weather stripping. Weather stripping works 2 fold, the first is by preventing warm air escaping from around doors and windows whilst also preventing cold air from creeping in.
To figure out which of your doors and windows most needs weather stripping, light a match and pass it over the edges of your doors and windows. If the match flickers, you’ll know you have a draught coming from your window or door.
Use a Draft Stopper
A draft stopper or door snake can block those cold drafts coming in under your doors, both internal and external, they can look stylish too. You can buy one pre-made or make your own with any fabric you have lying around.
Make it long enough to cover the entire width of the door to cover the gap at the bottom of the door. It can be filled with sand, stuffing and other material that can prevent the air passing through it but it’ll need to be heavy enough to stop it from moving.
Reverse the Direction of Your Ceiling Fan Blades
Ceiling fans aren’t just for keeping cool in the summer. If you reverse the direction in which the blades spin in the winter, your ceiling fan pulls air up pushing the warm air above it down into the lower half of the room where it can actually do some good.
Whilst this won’t actually affect the temperature in the room, you’ll feel the benefits of the warm air circulating the room. If you don’t have a ceiling fan It can be worth the money to install one for year-round savings. Purchase a ceiling fan with built-in lights to provide lighting as well as air circulation.
Switch to a Programmable Thermostat
A programmable thermostat can save you so much money on heating, especially if no one is home during the day. You can set a programmable thermostat to control the temperature in your home when you need it, opting for keeping it cooler when no one is home.
Programme your thermostat to keep your home at 15 degrees Celsius during the day when everyone is out and at night when everyone is in bed. In addition you can programme the thermostat to keep the house at 20 degrees or more when everyone is home and awake.
Insulate Windows with Sealing Film
If you have older single-pane windows, an extra layer of insulation can really help keep warm air sealed in. Use plastic sealing film to seal your windows against the cold. For extra insulation, buy lined curtains or cover your windows with a layer of bubble wrap.
Open the Drapes During the Day
Even in the winter, sunny days shouldn’t be wasted. When it’s nice outside, the sun shining through your windows will warm the inside of your house a bit, even if it’s cold outside. Open your curtains or blinds in the morning to capture the heat of the sun. Close them before sunset to keep that solar-heated air trapped inside.
Keep Interior Doors Open
It might seem counterintuitive to keep your interior doors open during the winter, but it can really help with air circulation. Of course, this works best if you have central heating; if you have a boiler, you can turn off radiators in rooms you’re not using and close the doors to ease the burden on your system and save some heating.
But if your heat comes out of registers or vents, it’s coming out of all of them, and just closing the vents won’t stop it (but could contribute to mould growth). Keep your vents and your interior doors wide open so your heating can regulate the temperature throughout your house more efficiently.
Move Furniture Away from Radiators
Furniture blocking vents and radiators can keep heat from radiating throughout the room. Move furniture away from radiators, heating vents, and registers so that heat can flow freely into the room.
If you’ve got central heating, it’s important that hot air can flow freely from all your vents to keep the heating system in equilibrium.
You don’t need to struggle with high energy bills this winter. Do what you can to conserve heat, and you can stay comfortable without the costs.
