1. Get your boiler serviced
It’s recommended that all households and businesses conduct a boiler service annually to maintain optimum performance. Regular servicing will ensure that boilers are running efficiently and avoids losing money on poorly performing systems that waste energy, compromise on comfort and drive high energy bills.
2. Consider conducting an energy check
Energy checks are a key solution to soaring energy bills. Home energy audits don’t need to be expensive and can identify areas where energy is being lost unnecessarily, while also providing suggestions on how to boost energy efficiency in the home.
3. Adjust your boiler’s flow temperature
The flow temperature refers to the temperature of the water in the supply (flow) pipe in a heating system. By default, many boilers are often set too high at 70°C or 80°C which is unnecessary given many homes with condensing combi boilers can be suitably warmed with heating flow temperatures of 50°C–70°C or lower. Making this small adjustment would reduce overall gas use and help cut energy bills.
4. Replace old heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems
Over a third (35%) of buildings in Europe are aged over 50 years old, which means that energy optimisation is difficult, causing higher operational costs and ultimately costly energy bills. Replace old, technical installations and energy-consuming appliances like boilers and circulator pumps to secure long-term savings. The savings potential of optimisation packages are significant with an average of about 30% savings of final energy with a return-on-investment usually secured in less than 5 years (Source: ECOFYS).
5. Look after your radiators
Good radiator health is essential to achieve optimum heating so keep a close eye out for any issues. When installing radiators in the first place, it’s important that you have the correct size for the space to ensure sufficient heating based on room dimension. A useful addition is a controlling device like a radiator thermostat that can automatically feed the right amount of heated water into a radiator which is needed to efficiently bring a room to the desired temperature.
6. Avoid energy waste due to an uneven heating system
If you find that rooms (or part of rooms) are too cold while other areas are too hot, there are hot and cold spots on your radiators or some radiators get warm while others do not then it’s likely that you have an issue with balancing. Hydronic balancing is the process of ensuring that all heating systems are heating up evenly via the optimum distribution of hot water in the heating system, helping to achieve improved home comfort by customising temperatures in all rooms in the house. Once an installer has implemented the process, balancing can offer as much as 20% energy savings annually (Study of FH Münster, 2015).
7. Fix water issues with technological innovation
Does your water take ages to heat up? Most households waste between 15,000 and 20,000 litres of water every year - enough to supply 7,500 people with fresh drinking water for an entire day. Such excessive waste is not only bad for the environment, contributing to the world’s water shortage crisis, but it also costs a premium in water and energy bills as a result of a daily wait for water to reach the right temperature. Hot water recirculation pumps provide instant hot water from the moment a tap is turned on. Using intelligent technological innovations, the pump can use up to 90% less energy compared to traditional recirculation systems. Within 18 to 24 months, the recirculator essentially pays for itself through savings made on bills.
8. Don’t ignore low water pressure
Low water pressure causes unnecessary water and energy waste due to issues such as prolonged bath filling time and toilet cisterns being slow to fill, so it’s important to get the issue checked out promptly to avoid costly repairs and extensive water bills. One cause of low water pressure could be poor control of the water pressure boosting system, damaging pumps and causing pipes to leak. Over time, this can result in excessive water consumption, spiralling bills, and even flooding in the home. A booster pump can detect these operational risks and react to avoid them via in-app alarms, enabling issues to be dealt with before they cause any damage.
