As Energy Prices Rise Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

Winter is here and with energy prices still rising householders need to make their homes more energy efficient to help keep warm, as well as know what to do if you’re hit with frozen pipes or central heating not working.

British Gas, one of the ‘Big 6′ energy suppliers, fixed over 1.2 million boilers last winter, equivalent to one every 3 seconds.

This, coupled with the fact that many households are planning to ration their energy use to save money this winter, it is vital to take steps to make energy use as efficient as possible and of course to manage costs associated with fixing problems should they arise.

With help from Jenna Weston, British Gas’ Winter Homes Expert her are some top tips for this.

Stop your home losing heat

• A third of the heat from a home is lost through the walls. Insulating walls can save around £110 and you can save up to £145 insulating your loft. British Gas is currently offering free loft and cavity wall insulation for its customers, click here for more information.
• Keep heat in with heavy lined curtains and tilt Venetian blinds down
• Fit draft excluders to doors and windows that don’t seal properly to stop warm air escaping

Make sure radiators works properly – bleed them if necessary to get rid of cold spots which arise due to air in the system

Keep tight control on the temperature in your home

• Use your timer to have radiators on when you need them
• Don’t set your thermostat to high. Having it at 21c is optimum – turning it down just 1 degree can save £60 a year, according to the Energy Saving Trust
• Use radiator valves so you can control the temperature in each room independently

Insulate pipes – having burst pipes can be a major issue and to help prevent this ensure pipes are lagged properly to insulate them. Lagging pipes can also save money.

British Gas’ HomeCare range, covers everything from boilers and radiators through to internal plumbing and external drains and even your home’s electrics. The service offers customers a comprehensive service with the unlimited call outs, no hidden charges for parts or labour and the expertise of British Gas’ fully qualified engineers, who fix 95% of boilers on the first call out.

 Of course, if you are ever unsure, British Gas always has professional help on hand. Click here for more information  www.britishgas.co.uk/Homecare

If something does go wrong, it’s good to know practical steps you can take, so here are some top tips on trouble shooting.

Central heating and hot water not working

• Check to see that there are no other causes – are the other gas appliances and electric sockets working?
• Check your isolation switches are on and that the trip switches in your fuse box are also on
• If you are a pre-pay customer, also check that you are not out of credit
• Check your thermostat – it may simply be a case of turning it up
• Check appliance controls on your boiler and that the temperature dial is turned up
• Check that the pressure is sufficient, it should be between 1-2 bar. If it is too low, carefully turn on the valves next to your boiler until you see your pressure gage rise
• Reset your boiler’s timer. If you’re not sure how to set it, check the manufacturers guide
• Check your boiler’s pilot light – if you have a pilot light and it has gone out, check the manufacturer’s instructions as to how to relight it.

You might like to view this great video that British Gas have put together to help with this problem.

Pipe on boiler has frozen – Condensing boilers create condensation as a by-product, which runs through the condensate pipe. In extreme weather, this pipe can freeze and cause the boiler to shut down. To thaw it, dilute some boiling water from your kettle with some cold water, (never use boiling water directly) and pour this water into a hot water bottle and cushion it around the pipes or use a watering can to pour hot water over the pipe to thaw.

Frozen pipes

• Locate your main stop tap – it’s usually under the kitchen sink or in a utility room closest to where the water supply enters your property
• Apply a hot water bottle to the pipe, towel soaked in hot water or use a hairdryer in short bursts and held at a distance – never use a naked flame near the pipes or apply constant intense heat.

MoneyHighStreet comments: “Some great tips to pick up on, particularly at a time when large numbers of people are struggling to pay bills and to generally manage their finances, it’s important to take every opportunity to save money.

As part of this process you may find our article ‘Six ways to save money on your energy bill‘ useful.

Finally, whilst many people are not satisfied with their energy supplier, on a positive, one area that British Gas is working hard at is customer satisfaction and in fact in the latest independent Customer Satisfaction report from uSwitch.com, it improved its position in this area over last year.

If you’re not satisified you can of course speak to your supplier. If you’re still unhappy with the service you’re receiving, maybe it’s time to switch supplier?