Save Energy and Money with our Top Tips for Heating Your Home

The spring sunshine is lifting all our spirits whilst many of us are working from or staying home right now, but with summer still a little way off and with some chilly starts and cooler evenings, our heating systems may be working harder than ever. How can we stay cosy and save energy in the process?

Thankfully, Vaillant has been in the business of providing heating systems for many years (150 to be precise!) and we’ve learned a lot along the way, so here are a few of our top tips to keep your energy bills down:

• Turn your heating down – doing this by just one degree can result in savings of up to £80 a year, not to mention savings of around 320kg of carbon dioxide a year too*. You won’t feel the difference, but your energy bills will.
• Use smart controls – using this type of heating control can really help to manage the efficiency of your boiler. They allow you to easily schedule your heating and hot water, providing you with a simple way to track and adjust your energy usage. You can also control your thermostat remotely so you’re not pumping out the heat when it’s not needed. Many smart heating controls also help to keep the home at a comfortable temperature by adapting to outside weather conditions.

You can check out some of our new, state-of-the-art modulating thermostats, such as the sensoHOME or the sensoCOMFORT, which have an “energy dashboard” that shows how much energy your boiler is using at different times, helping you to reduce energy wastage. They can be retrofitted to most boilers and work with the myVAILLANT connect and myVAILLANT app so you can adjust your heating and water wherever you are.

As an added bonus, if you install a new Vaillant boiler with one of our controls, we’ll match the guarantee for these to your boiler, meaning you could get some controls with a guarantee for up to 10 years!**

• Zone your heating – if you’ve got smart heating controls installed that allow you to set up different zones, make sure you take advantage of this function. Zoning allows you to set different temperatures for different rooms in the home, meaning your lounge can be kept at a warm 20 degrees, whilst your unused dining room can be turned down to 16/17 degrees when it’s not being used. Measures such as this help you to avoid wasting unnecessary energy.
• Ensure radiators (and water cylinders) are fitted with thermostatic controls – this will help you to reduce the temperature in those rooms you use least.
• Adjust timers and schedules on standard thermostats and water cylinders to ensure they aren’t running longer than you need at this time of year.
• Tuck curtains behind radiators at night when the heating is running to keep heat in the room rather than losing it out of the window. Radiator reflectors (available in most hardware shops) are great for reflecting the heat back into your room, too.
• Use a filter for an efficient boiler – make sure you’re using a boiler filter to help protect your system. These magnetic filters attach to the pipework inside your boiler and extract any debris and sludge that’s building up inside. If left untreated, this build up can cause your boiler to run less efficiently and eventually breakdown.
• Look after your boiler – an annual service will help keep it running more efficiently and it will be less likely to break down. And remember, most guarantees are invalid without an annual service. Find a gas safe registered engineer in your area, here.
• Insulate, insulate, insulate! The energy escaping through your walls and ceilings is wasted money as your boiler will need to run longer to maintain the temperature. Consider loft and cavity wall insulation and double or secondary glazing to reduce bills.
• Oil or LPG heating? If you’re off-grid, consider switching to an air source heat pump which could save you £100s and help make savings of 1,980kg of carbon dioxide and more a year*. These clever pumps absorb the heat from the outside air and use it to heat your home and provide you with hot water.
• Time to upgrade your heating system? A new system can save you up to 30% energy*! One of Vaillant’s registered gas installers can give you a no obligation free quotation.

Even if you’re only able to take on board a few of these tips, they will result in savings on your energy bills, so take a look at your system today.

*stats from the Energy Saving Trust

**subject to boiler model and specified warranty that goes with that particular model