Is your home ready for winter?

The arrival of winter coincides with shorter and colder days. If you want to get through the winter nice and warm without breaking the bank, whilst spending a thought for the environment, here are a few tips and tricks that will help you get your home ready for winter.

Indoors

• Set the thermostat to the right setting. Make sure you have jumpers and blankets within easy reach: 1 degree less means a 5 to 7% saving.
• Have your boiler checked. A poorly serviced boiler is less efficient and is likely to break down when it is least convenient.
• Check the water pressure. If the pressure is too low, the heating will not work as it should.
• Bleed your radiators and do not set stuff down on them (this reduces their efficiency).
• Check the humidity and condensation. Homes are often found to be more humid during winter due to a lack of ventilation. Upshot: you are required to drive up the temperature to reduce that clammy feeling.
• Get your chimney swept.
• Fit a carbon monoxide detector to avoid CO intoxication.
• Have your solar thermal installation serviced every three years.
• Clean the air filters of your controlled mechanical ventilation system.
• Replace halogen or LED light bulbs with the same light output, starting with areas that are lit up often.
• Remove dust from bulbs and lampshades to avoid losing light.

Outdoors

• Use insulating foam to insulate pipes that pass through unheated areas.
• Shut off all outside taps, but do not forget to first bleed the water in the pipes.
• Draft-proof all openings and fill in cracks and gaps. Use draft excluders for the doorsteps, putty to fix connection joints around the framework and curtains for the windows. But make sure you do not cut out the ventilation in the rooms where the water heater or boiler have been installed!
• If need be, replace old window frames so as to improve insulation.
• Clean out the gutters. Also check the mountings and remove snow and dead leaves.
• Remove snow and fallen leaves from your solar panels.
• Clean your windows. Let the sun into your home and make the most of the natural heat it brings.