Reducing your gas bill does not always have to be complicated.

Many people now have smart meters which is a great step forward to monitor, in real-time, what you are actually using in terms of energy. This in turn helps with reducing your gas bill.

Just seeing what you are using however is not always enough to reduce your bill, you need to know where all this gas is disappearing to!

I go into people homes on a daily basis and see simple mistakes being made which add up over a course of a year. These small changes in habits can really add up to a substantial gas-saving without adversely affecting your comfort levels.

We all know that replacing the boiler for a modern condensing type is a big efficiency increase. This post is more about the cheap ways to reduce your gas bill that everyone can do themselves without our help in most cases.

Happy Saving!!

1- Reducing the flow temperature of the boiler

Sounds obvious doesn’t it but so many people I’ve met are not aware you can cool the water that runs around the radiators from the boiler thermostat. You may have to inch it back up again when the weather gets colder outside but in the Spring and Autumn months, there is usually no need to run the boiler at 70 degrees unless your radiators are sized conservatively.

The cooler you run the system the less gas you’ll use!

2- Check you are not heating rooms that are either empty or not used very often

Again sounds pretty obvious but I still see people heating every single room in the house when they are only living in two or three rooms.

The less radiators you are heating the less gas you’ll use

Either turn these unnecessary radiators off or ask us to price for thermostatic radiator valves which will allow you to control the air temperature of each room independently.

3- Check you have a room thermostat and that it works

A wall-mounted room thermostat provides an electrical interlock with the boiler shutting the boiler down completely when the air temperature is reached

Also Important to see where the room thermostat is located as this can also have a big affect on your comfort levels.

If you have a wireless thermostat try moving it around to an area where you spend more time like the lounge or dining room.

I often see room thermostats in hallways turned right up because the hallway rad is undersized. All the heat goes up the stairs while the family is sitting in the lounge cooking with no control of the air temperature in the most expensive room to heat.

Measure the air temperature of the area you spend the most time in!

If your thermostat is hard wired then maybe it’s time we quoted you for a wireless smart thermostat. A wireless smart thermostat can be put anywhere and is even more efficient than a standard room thermostat.

I will do a post on smart thermostats in the near future.

I hope this was helpful but please do not hesitate to call us if you need further energy efficient advice, my team is always on hand to help.