How to make your home feel hotter and save hundreds of pounds on energy bills with four easy radiator tricks

FOUR simple radiator mistakes could be needlessly driving up your energy bills by hundreds of pounds a year.

Households across the UK have been hit with freezing temperatures in recent weeks and will be cranking up the heating.

But the way you’re using your radiators could be hampering their efficiency and seeing costs rack up without you realising.

You’ll want to avoid these four simple errors if you want a smoother-running – and therefore cheaper – central heating system.

Not bleeding your radiators

Trapped air in your radiators can lead to cold spots, which means your central heating system is having to work harder to get to the right temperature.

But you can avoid the issue by bleeding them, which will ensure your system is running more smoothly.

Jess Steele, heating technology expert at BestHeating, said: “A quick and easy job that will improve the efficiency of your radiators is bleeding them to release trapped air.

“Check for cold spots at the top of a radiator to allow hot water to circulate freely which can lower bills by around £130 a year.”

Bleeding your radiators is relatively simple – you just have to turn off the heating then find the bleed valve, which is usually at the top of radiator.

You then insert a radiator key into the valve and start draining the water from inside.

Make sure you’ve got a tray or jug underneath the unit so any water doesn’t spill onto the floor.

When water starts to flow steadily, turn the valve clockwise to close it and then you can restart your heating system.

You can buy a radiator key for a few pounds at most.

Your radiators aren’t balanced

Some radiators may end up colder than others because the flow of hot water isn’t being distributed evenly between them.

Jess, from BestHeating, explained: “When some radiators are hot, and others remain cold it may be a balancing issue where the hot water is not evenly distributed across the system.”

To fix it, you need to adjust the lockshield valve on each radiator, which is usually found at the bottom on the opposite end to the thermostatic radiator valve (TRV).

“This will reduce their flow and allow more hot water to reach the colder radiators,” Jess added.

“This requires a small adjustment and testing over time to balance the heat.”

Putting furniture in front

It can be tempting to put furniture like sofas in front of radiators to hide them and give your room a polished look.

But doing this will block some of the heat that’s being pumped out, meaning the room will stay cold.

Instead, make sure any upholstery you’ve got is a few centimetres away from any radiators so any hot air can flow freely.

Joanna Flowers, a British Gas service and repair engineer, said: “Putting your sofa in front of a radiator will absorb heat that could be warming the rest of the room.”

You’re not using reflective foil

Once you’ve cleared any furniture out of the way, you’ll want to maximise the heat that’s coming out of your radiators.

You can do this with special reflective foil which reflects heat back into the room and limits the amount that can escape outside.

At the time of writing, you could get some from Toolstation for £7.99 or £7.51 from Screwfix.

If you don’t have the budget, you can always buy standard tin foil from the supermarket.

Emily Seymour, energy editor at Which?, said: “Adding foil behind radiators will make sure their heat is reflected back into the room and reduce the rate of heat loss, and is especially helpful when they are mounted on uninsulated external walls.”

How else to save money on energy bills this winter

Small tweaks to the way you use our radiators will save you money on your bills, but there are plenty of other ways to cut costs.

Cutting out draughts is one quick way to ensure less heat from inside your home escapes and more colder air gets in.

Door draught excluders start from just a few pounds at Online Home Shop, Dunelm and Toolstation.

Make sure the flow temperature on your boiler is set correctly as well – this could save you hundreds of pounds a year.

Ian Palmer-Smith, supplier and heating service director at Domestic & General, previously told The Sun the boiler heating side should be set to 70 degrees and the water side to 60.

Do this, and you are increasing the efficiency of your boiler by up to 15%.

Avoid using the tumble dryer as well as they guzzle through fuel – use a heated airer instead which is much cheaper.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

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