Within your home the central heating system will often provide both heat and hot water and households will typically spend over half of their fuel bill on using the system.

It is therefore important that households understand the heating system to ensure they are getting the most out of it.

The majority of households in the UK use a boiler with radiators to heat their homes. The boiler heats up the water and then distributes it to the radiators around the home as well as providing hot water for the house. Most boilers are gas but they can be run using oil, coal or wood. However, gas is considered the cheapest and also offers lower carbon dioxide emissions. There are two types of boilers which can be used, either combination boilers or boilers which heat up water through the use of an immersion heater and water is then stored in a hot water tank.

Boilers which heat up a tank are considered less energy efficient and if your household currently has this type of boiler there are a number of ways in which you can improve your energy-saving when using this boiler. This includes replacing the boiler with a newer energy efficient one, changing to a cheaper and lower emission fuel to heat the boiler such as wood as well as making insulation improvements to retain the heat for longer.

Gas boilers that have been installed since 2005 tend to be condensing boilers as these are more efficient. These boilers can either be a combination boiler or just a regular boiler. Combination boilers provide hot water directly as and when required whereas regular boilers need a hot water tank to heat up the water and a programmer to tell it when to heat up the water. Once the hot water is heated it will remain in the hot water tank until it is required.

If your household however doesn’t have a boiler or radiators then it is likely that they will use electric storage heaters. These heaters are often are used overnight (as it is cheaper to use electricity during the night) to provide a household with heat to last the day through. This type of heating system is considered the most expensive and also the most energy inefficient. It will also mean that these households will heat water through a hot water tank that is controlled by an immersion heater.

Guest Article by Sarah Wain

The Daily Telegraph is reporting a number of water companies are being accused by plumbers’ groups of turning down the mains pressure and thereby threatening boilers and power showers.

The newspaper reminds its readers that Ofwat, the water industry regulator, has already fined a number of water companies, notably Severn Trent and Southern Water, for giving false information, not reducing bills and telling porkies about leaks.

And it quotes two major plumbing firms which say that complaints about water pressure are on the increase, about five times what they were three years ago.

The plumbers feel frustrated because low mains water pressure means a boiler will not fire up properly and the consumer calls out a plumber to investigate. By the time they arrive, the pressure has reverted back to its normal levels, but the customer still has to pay the call-out charge, causing ill-feeling all around.

And the plumbers are saying customers feel that Ofwat, hard on the water companies in many areas, are not taking the problem seriously enough.

It’s pointed out if a customer sees their water supply drop below a certain level for more than an hour on two occasions in a month, they can claim £25 in compensation. But to prove their case, a customer is required to time how long it takes to fill a gallon of water into a bucket.

How many consumers will be bothered to conduct such tests, plus all the necessary paperwork, for a £25 refund remains to be seen, but a number of water companies asked for their opinion seemed to downplay the issues involved.

One replied that water pressure changes were designed not to help the water companies themselves, but the consumer. They point out that a too high water pressure causes many more problems, mainly leaking joints and pipes. And if they have to reduce water pressure on certain grids, then they let customers know when it’s to happen.

Another water company said they had reduced leakage by a quarter in the last four years and one way they did this was to ‘stabilise’ water pressure. Whether the word stabilise means decrease wasn’t clear, but with complaints rising all the time, it will remain a problem for plumbers and their customers for some time.

An Ofwat official was quoted as saying:
“Companies work hard to maintain pressure within an optimal range so that it is neither too high nor too low.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Virtually everyone I know is dreading winter because of the extortionate energy bills that will come through the door in the spring. There are ways of cutting the amount of energy you use through the winter though and when used as a plan they can save you a decent amount of money. Below are ten good energy-saving tips to help get you started.

1. Have your boiler serviced during late autumn so that it is running efficiently for the start of the winter. This can also identify any problems that may arise when it’s being used day in and day out.
2. Bleed your radiators so that they warm your house as efficiently as they possibly can. If you have unused rooms in your house then you might want to manually turn the radiator off and keep the door of the room closed.
3. Draught-proof your external windows and doors to stop cold air coming in and warm air going out. This is an easy DIY job and all you need is some quite inexpensive weather strips and maybe a tube of caulk. You may also want to use good old fashioned draught excluders at the foot of your doors.
4. Turn your thermostat down by a degree or two and wear an extra jumper! A single degree can save up to 5% on your energy usage which can in turn save a good few pounds each month.
5. Insulate your loft and walls if you can afford it. There are government grants available to help with costs in most homes. In fact, many people can get full insulation for free if they receive specific benefits, and even if you don’t you can still save around 70% on the normal price.
6. Some say that keeping your home at a constant temperature of about 68 degrees costs less than letting your home go cold during the day or through the night and then turning your boiler up to re-warm to a comfortable temperature. This idea is often debated by gas engineers so please don’t take it as gospel.
7. Switch off any lights when they are not being used as light bulbs can use a fair amount of energy without you realising it. As an additional point you might want to think about using energy efficient bulbs as they are often less than £1 each now.
8. Have showers instead of baths whenever you can, especially if you have a shower that heats the water itself and doesn’t involve the boiler. It has been estimated that a family of four can save up to £90 per year by taking showers instead of baths.
9. Check online to see if you can save money by changing to a different energy supplier. Some may offer the same prices but will guarantee a price freeze for the next few years – which will save you in the long run.
10. If all else fails, visit as many of your friends and relatives as you possibly can each evening and make use of their energy instead of your own!

Guest Article by Clare Lynock

See also: Top Ten Tips for Saving Energy Around the Home

Let’s face it, energy costs a fortune and even if the credit crunch brings a respite to the oil and gas prices, once things recover economically, then they will go up again.

So, whatever steps you can do around your property, then it will undoubtedly save you money, not just for this winter, but for many winters ahead. What you need to do is a personal property energy audit. Take a couple of hours to have a look at your flat, or your house, and make a list of things that need attention.

And bear in mind that the Government is encouraging you to save energy. There are many organisations out there that will help you if you need advice on the grants and financial support packages. If you don’t ask, you don’t get, so make sure you claim for all that you are entitled to.

And here are ten things to have a look out for when you’re doing your own audit.

If you have one, start with your loft. A loft which is not insulated is literally throwing money away; over £200 for an average sized house. And even if you have insulation, check that it is in good shape and that it is the improved thickness of 270mm. It may well be that you had yours done some years ago and it needs sprucing up. And have a look at the vast range of products that are currently available on the market; get the best you can afford, it will pay back the investment in the first year.

Take a look at your hot water tank. Make sure it is well insulated. If it’s jacket is hanging off, then get it a new one.

Next have a look at your water tank and pipes, especially those exposed in the attic, or outside; make sure they are all lagged and not suffering from corrosion.

Once you have the insulated the loft, how well is the rest of the house insulated? Have you considered cavity wall insulation for example? Again, as with the loft, heat pours out of a house through a wall which does not have the benefit of being insulated.

Another great bonus is double glazing. This can be a pricey option, but well worth it if you need your windows replacing either as one job, or section by section. If you don’t want to spend a fortune on double glazing, then consider a DIY window insulation kit through the winter as this could have the same effect.

Have a think about draughts. Look around the window frames, around the door frames and any holes (not ones that are there to allow the house to breathe) that allow cold air in. It’s amazing what gaps you might find that is letting your precious heat out. Gaps under doors are big culprits, so think about using curtains, door insulators, or bolsters to keep out the icy cold air.

So once you think you’ve covered the insulation and draught issues, turn your attention to your boiler. Is it serviced once a year? If not, it really must be looked at as soon as possible. Four out of ten people don’t give their boiler an annual service. So four out of ten people are risking theirs’ and their families’ lives to the dire effects of carbon monoxide poisoning. Over 30 people a year die of this and it’s all down to faulty boilers. And even this horrendous risk to one side, an unserviced boiler is an inefficient boiler. It won’t work as well and will cost more to operate. Get it looked at.

Staying with the boiler, is it of the latest design and type. The law says now that when replacing a boiler, you should buy, if appropriate, a High Efficiency (HE) boiler. These are called condensing boilers and are over 90% efficient. They achieve this by capturing the heat not only from the fuel combustion process, but also from the exhaust gases. And because this dual process requires an outside wall situated flue and drain pipework, they are not appropriate for every property (and so the law in that case will let you off). But if you have an old boiler it might only be just over 50% efficient, so try to replace it with a new one and it will be twice as efficient, making your fuel go further.

Right, boiler issues over, think about your central heating system. First, have you bled your radiators recently? If they feel cold halfway up, then find the plug key and bleed them. This removes the air locked in the radiator and allows the hot water to flow freely. If you don’t do this regularly, effectively all radiators could be working at half capacity.

Also, you could consider flushing out your heating system if it hasn’t been done for a few years. Water within the system can turn into a horrible black sludge, especially if it hasn’t been operating at its optimum level for some time. And this black sludge slows the system right down, meaning that it quickly becomes far less efficient. So, a power flush is often a sound idea as it will literally blast your system free of most of the dirty sludge and residues. It’s not cheap and should be done by someone who knows what they’re doing, but well worth it.

Finally, make sure you properly understand your thermostats and boiler controls. Thermostats allow you to judge the temperature in your rooms. But make sure they are sited properly – not in a cold room which gives the impression the whole house is cold, or not near a fire, which makes it think the whole house is warm. And check that the boiler settings are correct (they usually have few controls, but do check it’s on the right season – winter, summer – for example) and that the system is timed to come on and off at the right time.

So there you have it; a bit of attention to your property could save you a lot of money.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

See Also: My Winter Energy Saving Plan

Most people haven’t heard of the term ‘Power Flush’ however the process may help to quieten your heating system and give it a few more years of service. Basically this is a full cleansing process which uses a series of chemicals to wash out rust, sludge and other contaminants from your radiators and pipes so that they work much more effectively. Not every system needs a power flush however and having one when you don’t need it can be expensive, so how do you know when the process is needed?

The signs to watch out for

The main indicators that your central heating system could do with a flush include cold areas on the radiators, a noisy boiler and pipe work, radiators that are slow to warm up and discoloured water coming from the radiators when you bleed them. Most of these symptoms can be due to a simple ‘air in the pipes’ problem and bleeding each of your radiators might fix them. If not however then a power flush could be the only answer and although the process can be expensive, you’ll notice the difference in terms of heat efficiency almost immediately.

What does power flushing involve?

The whole point of the power flushing process is to clean out the central heating system so that hot water can circulate to all areas. The first step is to find a good plumber that has previous experience of this process and that has the necessary tools to do the job. This may sound like an obvious thing to say but bad plumbers have been known to cause more damage to the boiler and heating system than it’s actually worth.

Your plumber will begin by attaching a high flow/low pressure pumping unit to the central heating system before adding the necessary chemicals. These strong cleansing chemicals help to break the crust that develops on sludge before breaking it down and washing it away. They also clean out any other gunk that may be lurking in the pipes, including particles of sand and flakes of rust. When the system is deemed to be clean a descaler is added to combat limescale and a corrosion inhibitor to stop any further rusting.

The entire power flushing process takes around 6 hours for the average sized central heating system although some badly effected homes may take an entire day. Not surprisingly, the process doesn’t come cheap and in some areas of the country a full flush can cost upward of £1200; the average price however is around £500 if done properly and by a reputable company. You should make a point of asking though if all of the chemicals are included in the quote as some companies charge extra for the descaler.

Although the power flush process is quite expensive it can save you an equal amount of money on your heating bills within a couple of years and in most cases your central heating system will run as quietly and efficiently as it did when it was first installed.

Guest Article by Clare Lynock