How To Make Your Home More Efficient

By Author: Carolyn Clayton
Total Articles: 129
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Living in the UK you are probably feeling the pinch from the recent budget. Everything from food, clothes, petrol and gas is more expensive than this time last year. There is one way to get back some of this money and that is by stop wasting energy by being more efficient in your home.

The cheapest way to pay energy bills is by monthly Direct Debit and by having paperless bills. Many suppliers offer the cheapest deal if you go for these. You need to ensure you have the money in the bank when the direct debit goes out, but the savings are worth it. Do you have your gas and electric on a meter? If so, and only if you can, have this removed immediately as you are paying more than everyone else. These meters are for people who cannot budget their money but sadly it means they pay more than everyone else. You will be on a higher tariff and you will also be paying for the privilege of these dreadful machines! Switching energy supplier could save you money on your energy bills, so check the online energy comparison sites.

Insulating your roof will reduce energy loss through the roof. The better insulated your ...
... home is, the less energy you need to keep it warm. We know heat rises so without proper insulation you are effectively just letting your heating go through the roof! If you already have insulation in between the roof joists, this isn't enough. The recommended depth for mineral wool insulation is 27cm. So if your insulation is below this, get some more and just roll it over your existing insulation.

Replace windows if they are single glazed. A lot of energy goes out through old and leaky windows. According to the website EnergyStar.gov, replacing your windows with new modern double glazing units will save 7 to 24% percent of your heating.

If your boiler hasn't been changed for a sometime you may find that it's not very efficient at all. Modern boilers are 98% efficient as they have been cleverly designed to be so. Condensing boilers are a clever invention because they use the latent heat which normally goes out the flue (chimney). With older boilers fuel is burned and the hot gasses are passed through a heat exchanger where most of the heat is transferred to water. One of the hot gases which is produced in the combustion process is steam or water vapour. This arises from burning the hydrogen content of the fuel. With a modern condensing boiler it extracts additional heat from the waste gases by condensing this water vapour to liquid water, which means it is recovering latent heat. A typical increase of efficiency can be as much as 10-12% which over a year is as considerable saving.
Northern Gas Heating - the UK's local supplier of new Central Heating Systems offering new boilers and Boiler Installation.
Northern Gas Heating - the UK's local supplier of new Condensing boilers. Contact us today if you are looking at replacing or installing a new Combination boilers.