Installing loft and cavity wall insulation

If your home was built after 1930, it’s likely that your external walls are made of two layers with a small gap or ‘cavity’ between them. If your home has unfilled cavities, a big chunk of your energy bills goes on heating the air outside your home! However, the problem is easy to fix. When carried out by a professional, installing cavity wall insulation – and loft insulation – is usually simple and straightforward. If you’re keen on DIY, you might want to lay rolls of loft insulation yourself.

It needn’t cost a lot and it could be free!

There are many grants available to help you pay for the installation of energy efficiency measures. If you receive income-related benefits, disability living allowance, or are over 70, you could get the work done FREE of charge. To find out how we can help and what grants are available, phone energyline on 0800 072 7201.

Last but not least - double glazing

Unless you’re planning to change your window frames anyway, it’s not cost effective to put in double-glazing just to save energy. An alternative is to fit simple secondary glazing panels. These can either be left in place all year or removed and stored during the summer.

Important to remember

Adequate ventilation is required for gas appliances to work properly and safely.

Hot and cold water pipes in the loft must be lagged to stop them freezing in the winter.

Keep the heat inside your home

Most of the money we spend on fuel goes on heating our homes. So this is where you can make the greatest savings – simply by making sure that your home is as well insulated as possible.

Where does it all go?

Most heat is lost through the building itself – up to 25% through the roof and up to 35% through the walls. Insulating them gives you the biggest savings on your energy bills.

But don’t forget the other areas too. Your home won’t feel very comfortable if you’ve got draughts around skirtings, floorboards, windows, doors or coming down the chimney.

Little things that can make a real difference

It’s always worth tackling some low-cost measures first. You can cut a lot of annoying draughts, with a visit to your local DIY store. Here’s a shopping list of things you might want to fit yourself:

• Draught strips for windows or doors
• Key-hole and letter-box covers
• Threshold sealer – a brushed strip fitted to bottom of doors
• Silicone sealant to fill gaps around skirtings, floorboards and badly fitting window frames

If your chimney is no longer in use, seal it up – but make sure you fit a grille. This will reduce the heat lost up the chimney but still give some ventilation. This is important to prevent condensation and make sure there is enough air for fuel-burning heaters to operate safely and efficiently.

Getting the most out of your gas central heating system

Is your boiler energy efficient?

There are two common kinds of boiler: Regular boilers supply radiators and a separate storage cylinder for hot water.

Combination ‘combi’ boilers supply radiators and provide ‘instant’ hot water at the taps, with no hot water tank. Some boilers are far more energy efficient than others, so they cost a lot less to run. If your boiler is over 15 years old it could be up to 35% less efficient than a new ‘A’ rated ‘condensing’ boiler.† Condensing boilers look the same as ordinary boilers but they are designed to extract and re-use more of the heat that would normally be lost up the flue.

When it’s time to change your boiler, choose the latest ‘A’ rated energy efficient condensing model. It may cost around £50 more to buy but you could save more on your heating bills.

For more information on ‘A’ rated condensing boilers, phone the Energy Saving Trust on 0800 512 012 or visit their website at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk. For a free, no obligation quote to have your new boiler installed phone our installations team on 0845 070 2056 or visit www.ssehomeservices.co.uk

† Savings are based on replacing a 15 year old boiler with a new ‘A’ rated condensing boiler in a household with average levels of insulation.

Get an ‘A’ rated central heating pump and you could save up to 100kWh off your home’s electricity

Central heating pumps

Gas and oil central heating systems also consume electricity – and can actually account for over 10% of a home’s electricity consumption. So how can you get top marks for your central heating’s electricity consumption?

If you have an old system, the circulating pump may be in use even when your house is comfortably warm – but this uses a lot of energy unnecessarily. A central heating installer will advise you if your pump operation can be improved. Try changing your pump for a model with an ‘A’ energy rating. This could save you up to 100kWh per year.

Water heating – get a little help from the sun

The sun provides clean, free energy that you can use to heat some of your hot water.

Solar hot water systems can heat your water throughout the year. They can even produce some heat in the winter. Your existing hot water system acts as a top-up, working automatically to provide you with hot water at the required temperature when you want it.

Savings will depend on how much hot water you use, and what type of system you have. A typical gas heated 3-bedroom, semi-detached home could save around £40–£45 per year on heating bills.

To see what grants are available and to find out if your home is suitable for solar hot water heating, phone the Energy Savings Trust on 0800 512 012 or visit their website at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk.