The ‘cost of living crisis’ is the expected to be most challenging event for families up and down the country as general price increases have now been coupled with exponential rises in energy costs. 

With these tough times ahead we sat down TGA HQ the other day and thought long and hard how we can help the reader save on energy costs. The result: a 100 ways to save energy in the home! As far as we can tell, there are a few tips that seem to get recycled by every website and media outlet out there – so we decided to amalgamate them all together and create an exhaustive list.

In 2022 we’ve all experienced rapid increasing energy bills (80% rise in Oct 2022), and 2023 could be no exception – so this list should hopefully prevent you from paying out more in energy costs that you need to!

Have a read and let us know in the comments below if there are any other ways that we might have missed…

1. Install insulation in the loft, this will help prevent heat escaping up through the top of your property (ideally 100% natural sheep wool).
2. Install cavity wall insulation – again this is a cheap option (most energy companies offer it for free) and will help minimise heat loss through the walls of your home.
3. Install a heat pump and take advantage of the RHI. If you boiler has packed up, try installing a renewable heating technology and the best bit, you get paid to produce the hot water by the government!
4. Draught proof around your front door (including the letter box) to help prevent cold air rushing into your home during the winter months.
5. Shower – don’t bath! Baths tend to use a huge amount of hot water compared to a shower.
6. Limit the length of the aforementioned shower. We know that, sometimes, nothing beats a nice long shower; but if you can try and keep these extended stays to a minimum you are going to save energy and reduce your bills (especially if you have a water meter).
7. Shut windows during the winter. It may seem a bit obvious, but if the heating is on and you are letting all the hot air escape straight out of the window, then you are wasting energy and money!
8. Install heavy curtains and make sure you close them at night. This again acts as a barrier to prevent heat loss out of the home.
9. Install chimney balloons or a chimney sheep – both work in the same way to stop cold draughts come down the chimney, just remember they are up there before you relight the fire!
10. If you have a regular boiler, turn down the thermostat on the hot water tank. This will mean the water in the tank never gets too warm. There is little point producing scalding hot water in the tank if you then simply add cold water in your mixer shower or bath to get it to a nice comfortable temperature. Making sure it is heated to the right temperature (and stored at the right temperature too) in your hot water tank is a great way to save on your heating bill and this is done by turning down the thermostat on the tank.
11. Insulate your hot water cylinder . If you have a hot water tank in your house, it is worth a trip down to the local DIY store to pick up a jacket to help limit heat loss.
12. Install double or triple glazing – it is never that cheap to do, but it will improve the thermal comfort of your home and should save you a little bit on your energy bills every year.
13. Install magnetic secondary glazing – this is cheaper to do than number 12, and is more effective in terms of noise reduction.
14. Turn down the roomstat by a couple of degrees. 19 degrees is about the norm here in the UK. Some people do like their homes a bit warmer, but as a rule of thumb, for every degree you turn your thermostat down you will save about £50.
15. Open windows instead of relying on an extractor fan – no electricity used, no cost!
16. Set your fridge/freezer to a higher temperature so they don’t need to work so hard. If you are defrosting food, always defrost it in the fridge because then the frozen food will keep the fridge cooler!
17. Replace your lighting with low energy LED lights, they not only use 90% less energy but they also last 10-20 times longer so you will hardly ever have to replace them.
18. Take advantage of solar gain in the winter to keep your house warm (keep curtains open in the daytime to maximise direct light entering the house).
19. Only buy A-rated appliances, or above. They are marginally more expensive, but in most cases the additional energy savings will cover the additional expense in just a year or two.
20. Install motion detector lights. There is no point leaving lights on if no-one is there to benefit from them. Motion detector lights are also a good deterrent against unwanted visitors.
21. Use microwaves to reheat food as opposed to the oven – they heat up the food far quicker so are therefore more efficient.
22. Repair refrigerator door seals. If warm air is seeping into the fridge then it will need to work harder (and use more electricity in the process) to keep it at the set temperature.
23. Fill your freezer up. It uses less energy since the frozen food won’t warm up when the door is opened. If the freezer is empty, then all the space will fill up with warm air when the door is opened, which the freezer needs to work hard to cool down when the door is shut again.
24. Turn lights off when you leave the room. This is one that parents (who tend to pay the energy bills) forever tell their kids. It is definitely worth it, especially if you haven’t made the swap to LED lights (see no.17!)
25. Avoid using the dryer – hang clothes outside when you can. Dryers have big motors to spin the clothes and heaters to help the drying process which means they are expensive bits of kit to run. If you can hang clothes outside you can normally get away without ironing them too because the wind does the work for you!
26. If you do use a dryer, clean the lint filter after every couple of uses. This will help it run more efficiently, helping to save electricity.
27. Try and maximise the use of the BBQ during the summer months – and use waste wood! This means no electricity or gas used in the home. Everyone much prefers BBQ food anyway!!
28. Only boil as much water as you need – i.e. don’t boil a kettle full of water for one cup of tea.
29. Always use your washing machine on the lowest temperature settings – bio washing powder contains enzymes that are specifically chosen because they work at this temperature. If you crank the temperature up then it can actually make the washing powder ineffective.
30. Install tap aerators. These ‘inject’ air into the water as it comes out the tap, so while it looks like there is no impact on the flow rate, a fraction of the water is used. These are especially useful if you are on a water meter.
31. Install a low flow shower head – same principle as number 30!
32. If your washing machine doesn’t have a half load setting – make sure you fill it with clothes
33. Plug things into a power strip and turn that off at the plug when not in use – to avoid leaving things in standby. Even though when things are in standby they use less energy, they do still use some! Turning everything off at the plug ensures that NO electricity is used.
34. Don’t leave your computer in standby – turn it off at the end of each day
35. Put Radflek (or other radiator reflectors) behind the radiators to reflect heat back into the room, the helps the radiators warm the room more effectively. GreenAge readers can get an exclusive 20% discount using offer code TGA20.
36. Unplug your phone from the charger (and the charger from the wall) when your phone is fully charged
37. Install a programmable thermostat – there is no point heating your home if you aren’t there. Better still, install a smart thermostat which you can control from outside your home. This will allow you to turn the heating on and off from wherever you are in the world, so if you suddenly realise you left the heating on while sitting on the sun bed in the Costa Del Sol you can turn it off to minimise wastage.
38. Try to avoid electric heating – electricity is 4x the price of gas. If you don’t have a choice opt for infrared or if funds allow, try and push for a heat pump – these two types of electric heating are by far the most efficient.
39. If you have tiled floors that get cold in the winter, cover the floor with a rug so your toes are kept nice and toasty warm!
40. Air conditioning in some case might be necessary, but strategically placing trees can cause shading to help provide some comfort from direct sunlight.
41. Install a new energy saving condensing boiler. If you have an old boiler in your house, it might be time to swap it to a new condensing version. This will recycle the heat in the waste exhaust gases making it run far more efficiently.
42. If you can access the back of the refrigerator – try and vacuum the coils once a year to ensure the fridge runs at maximum efficiency
43. Put lids on pots and pans to reduce cooking times.
44. Try and match the size of the burner to the right pot or pan – putting a small pan on a huge burner or electric hob will just waste electricity.
45. Don’t position the thermostat near the front door – any cold air entering the home will manipulate the temperature being recorded near the thermostat, forcing the boiler to fire up unnecessarily.
46. Decorate with pale colours – soft tones reflect more light and therefore you should get away with using lower wattage bulbs and still achieve the same levels of illumination
47. Keep the garage door shut at all times – normally garages in some way share a party wall / floor with the main house and therefore the warmer they are, the less heat will escape from the rooms adjacent to them
48. Unplug any device that is not being used.
49. Don’t oversize your appliances – a massive American style fridge is (normally!) unnecessary for a household of 1.
50. Charge things at night if you are on an Economy 7 tariff, the night time tariff tends to be half the price of the day time tariff.
51. Install insulation in the floor – this is not the cheapest thing to do, but if done when replacing the floor anyway then it is certainly worth doing. If the floor can be accessed from underneath, you can attach net ‘hammock’s underneath the joists which can be filled with insulation. Expect to save about 5-10% on your energy bills if you can insulate the entire floor.
52. Make sure you use the dishwasher – these tend to use far less water than washing by hand – but be sure to put them on ECO mode to help minimise the energy used in the process (they use less water and heat it up to a slightly lower temperature).
53. Turn your tap off while brushing your teeth – this is only really going to save on your water bills if you are metered, but is still good practise!
54. Fill the sink with hot water before you shave – the same as above here although people tend to shave using hot water, so using a sink full rather than a running tap is better because you will use significantly less hot water.
55. Watch less television – read a book instead! Reading a book is proven to be more relaxing than watching TV and a book doesn’t require electricity to run!
56. Open a window instead of firing up the air conditioning unit – these are real energy guzzlers, so if do have the option of opening a window then you are going to save significantly on your electricity bills.
57. Use glass and ceramic dishes if cooking in the oven, they hold heat better and mean that you can use a slightly lower temperature to cook food.
58. Don’t open the oven to look at the food inside – peep through the window to help prevent the expensive hot air inside escaping.
59. Avoid opening the fridge or freezer to browse – every time you do, the appliance will need to fire up to cool down the air again.
60. Recycle your cardboard and old newspapers into logs using the ‘Logmaker’ – if you don’t have a fire to burn your paper logs on, then make sure you recycle paper rather than throwing it in the bin.
61. Avoid drying clothes directly on your radiators as it lowers the room temperature, which means the boiler will need to work harder.
62. Allow cooked food to cool before putting it in the fridge / freezer, otherwise the fridge / freezer will have to work harder to cool it down.
63. If there are rooms that you rarely use – ensure that thermostatic valves are installed on the radiators – since these can be set to zero if the room is not in use so the space is not unnecessarily heated.
64. Avoid blocking radiators with furniture – allowing convection currents to flow around the room as the hot air will be felt across the room quicker.
65. Plant a tree in a south-facing garden to lower solar gain during the summer – the leaves should limit the amount of direct sunlight hitting your home (and in particular windows). This will limit the amount of cooling you need to do in your home e.g. air conditioning or a fan.
66. If you have a ceiling fan, it should blow down in the winter and up in the summer, so you will need to turn the blades around to achieve this.
67. On the loft hatch, ensure you attach insulation to the top of it, and then create a seal with draught proofing around the perimeter. So many people spend a huge amount insulating their lofts, but neglect the loft hatch completely meaning lots of heat escapes up through the hatch. If you are looking for a really simple way to save energy in the home, then ensuring the loft hatch is adequately insulated and draught proofed is a great way to get started!
68. Keep curtains and blinds closed at night to keep cold air out – if you have especially cold rooms, you can get thick curtain linings to help increase their energy saving ability even further.
69. Install solid wall insulation
70. Use microwaves to cook food – they use only 20% of the energy required to run a full size oven.
71. Recharge batteries instead of buying throw away ones.
72. Recycle whatever you can – think plastic, paper and even food stuff (in a composter).
73. Get a gas safe engineer to come and inspect your heating system once a year to make sure it is working at maximum efficiency. It is worth doing this just before the winter months because then hopefully they will be able to spot any potential issues before they actually materialise.
74. Move in with your partner – save on heating and electricity!
75. Carpooling saves fuel – find people at work who live close to you and take it in turns driving to work, someone to chat to on the way and you halve your fuel bill
76. Holiday in Britain if possible (surfing in Cornwall is excellent!). As you might expect as we write this it is absolutely bucketing outside our office, but honestly the UK is a nice holiday destination just remember to take your raincoat!
77. Grow your own fruit and veg in your garden – it not only saves you money, but you can save on fuel since you don’t need to go down to the shops so often. Also (and this is from first hand experience) home grown produce tastes better!
78. Take a mug into work instead of using a new polystyrene cup each time.
79. Although price comparison sites like USwitch became a bit irrelevant in 2022, do still follow updates and compare energy costs from time-to-time. Should energy costs rapidly decrease in 2023 and 2024, then cheaper energy tariffs in theory should come back.
80. Dim your smart phone, it will use less energy so you won’t need to charge it so frequently (especially important if you have an iPhone!!)
81. Likewise, turn off 3G/4G /Bluetooth where possible since they use more energy in this mode – it will save you money on charging
82. When you go on holiday, turn all plugs off unless absolutely necessary – you don’t use a radio alarm if you aren’t at home!
83. If you store things in your loft, make sure it doesn’t compress the insulation since it will lose some of its thermal insulating properties. Use loft lifters to raise the height of the joists – this allows you to make a solid storage platform in the loft while still allowing you to install the 300mm of insulation to maximise the energy savings.
84. Inflate your tires car tyres – this lowers resistance on the road and saves on fuel.
85. If the shops are a 10 minute walk away, don’t use the car!
86. Fix leaking taps or toilets.
87. Don’t store things permanently in the boot of the car – the extra weight needs to be shifted and this requires extra fuel
88. Make sure the wireless thermostat is not above another a heating source like a wood burner or radiator – since it will give a false representation of the temperature. Likewise, if it is by a window or the front door, every time that is opened during the winter it will basically cool the air temperature down in the immediate vicinity of the thermostat. The thermostat will take this as a sign that the house is cold and will therefore instruct the boiler to fire up and for the heating to come on.
89. Install a combi boiler instead of a regular boiler – combi boilers don’t require you to store hot water in hot water tanks and also you don’t need pumps to power showers
90. Flush the toilet less often! A bit gross, but ‘if it’s yellow, let it mellow’. Not to the extent that your toilet smells though!
91. Print on both sides of paper.
92. Fill an old bottle up with water and store it in the fridge rather than running the tap cold every time you want a glass of water.
93. Water the lawn first thing in the morning when temperature and wind speed are at the lowest – this will slow down evaporation, meaning less water will go further.
94. Regularly defrost your freezer – ice building up in the freezer reduces its effectiveness.
95. Leave food out to thaw before trying to cook it – this means less energy is required to cook it.
96. Shower at work – let them pick up the bill! A naughty one, but useful especially if you get sweaty cycling to work or you go to the gym in the mornings.
97. Get a thicker duvet for the winter
98. Put on an extra jumper!
99. Get a LCD or LED TV, they are more efficient than plasmas and way more efficient that old CRTs
100. Hire an environmental consultant to get a tailor made view of where to achieve energy savings in your property.

If you can think of any other ways to save energy in the home – feel free to comment below!

When your boiler packs up, it is sometimes easy to just take the first quote you see and get your heating back up and running, but you could be making problems for yourself if you take the wrong option. A boiler should last 12 years or more, so it is worth making the right choice upfront!

There are two main types of boiler – a Combination boiler (commonly known as combi) and heat-only boilers (sometimes referred to as regular boilers).

They are both quite different – heat-only boilers work in conjunction with a hot water cylinder where the heated water is stored, whereas combi boilers create hot water on demand, as and when you need it.

There is no hard and fast rule as to what is the best for your home, and both can be very efficient. Typically combi boilers go well in smaller properties because you don’t need a hot water tank or any cold water tanks – helping to save space, whilst heat-only boilers can provide hot water to multiple taps at once, so are more suited to larger households.

Typically combi boilers are approximately £100 more than the equivalent size heat-only boiler – but the real cost difference comes when you are converting from a heat-only boiler to a combi (so you lose all the water storage tanks) which can add £800-£1,000 to the cost in some instances. You can find out more about the cost of boilers by clicking here.

Does the brand matter? A good boiler is a good boiler, whether it is a heat-only or a combi. Whilst there are some exceptions, if a company makes reliable heat-only boilers, they will make reliable combis too. For example, Vaillant are well regarded for both – their Ecotec models are generally seen as high quality boilers.

What is the price difference?

What you may be surprised to know is that the difference in cost between the cheaper budget boilers and the higher end models is just a few hundred pounds. Typically, around half the cost of the new boiler is the cost of labour to install it, and that will not change with the brand of boiler. What does that mean? It means that you could get a high end boiler for just a little bit more than the budget one you were looking at. You can find out more about how the job is costed here.

Is it worth paying extra?

The call out charge for a repair is getting very expensive these days, so if you can just cut the number of breakdowns by 1 or 2 over the lifetime of the boiler, you will have made back those savings from buying a cheap unreliable model. Not only is it more expensive in the long run, you have to deal with the inconvenience of doing without heating until the boiler can be fixed!

There is also the warranty issue, good boilers come with a 5 year + warranty (Vaillant offer a 7 year warranty on some of their boilers) where as the cheaper makes and models may only come with a two year warranty. We think the warranty length says a lot about the quality of the boiler – and so in our opinion yes – it is worth paying a lot.

What do customers say?

There are a few customer surveys knocking around online and these seem to be the general trend: Vaillant and Worcester boilers tend to be top of the pile among the big brands, while Ideal, Halstead, Vokera and Ferolli tend to have the most criticism.

What do we recommend?

Many of our partners who supply and install hundreds of boilers every year tend to recommend Vaillant and Baxi boilers. They tend to be very reliable and are good value for money. They can however, fit any almost any model of boiler you may require, so please do give us a call if you have something specific in mind.

Installing a new boiler

Are you thinking about getting a new boiler? We have scoured the country for the best tradespeople, so that we can make sure we only recommend those we really trust.

If you would like us to find you a local installer to install a new boiler in your home, just fill in the form below and we will be in touch shortly!

A life-cycle assessment, or LCA, is the name for a technique used by _ to give a rough idea of the environmental impact of a given project, process or service. It attempts to take into account the entire process, all the way from the gathering the raw materials involved, to how defunct materials are disposed of at the end of the project’s life.

What is the point of a life cycle assessment?

If you’re looking to calculate the environmental impact of a project, LCA provides two main advantages over traditional methods of trying to estimate sustainability. Firstly, it takes into account the entirety of the projects life-cycle, from start to finish (and beyond), as opposed to only holding materials and scenarios accountable for as long as the project uses them. For example, even though wood is considered a carbon-neutral energy source by conventional wisdom, by LCA standards it would be. This is because it would take into account the method of harvesting the wood (generally fossil-fuel powered heavy machinery), processing it, and transporting it.

An LCA will therefore help to show where in the life cycle of the project the greatest environmental impact is caused, and thus where work can be done to lower it. We can provide an impact number for the sandwich you had for lunch, but how does that help the manufacturer know how to change it? An LCA provides an entire journey, letting us pinpoint whether the most impact is coming from the harvesting methods of the tomatoes, the husbandry of the pork, the shipping of the lettuce, etc etc. 

How is an LCA different to a carbon footprint?

You might be thinking that a life cycle assessment sounds a lot like you’re simply working out the carbon footprint of something, however this isn’t totally accurate. A carbon footprint does exactly what it says – it measures the carbon of something. An LCA takes more environmental impact categories into account, such as land use, water use, acidification and more.

What are the steps of a life cycle assessment?

There are 4 basic steps to a life cycle assessment.

1. Goal and scope: This is basically the framework of what is going to be studied and how.
2. Inventory analysis: This stage is about accounting for the
3. Impact assessment
4. Interpretation 

If you have just bought a new home, your existing boiler has broken down or the boiler that you have is over 12 years old, then you should maybe consider a replacement. Combi boilers are fantastic, as they provide space heating as well as water on demand – you can do away with the hot water tank.

If you have a regular heat-only boiler is it worth making the change?

Your existing heating system

First of all, it is important to establish the existing heating system you have and the type of arrangement you are looking for. This will impact on whether or not a combi boiler is appropriate to install in your home.

When talking about ‘conventional systems’, we are normally referring to a heat-only boiler, which has two cold-water tanks in the loft space and a hot water tank, normally found in the airing cupboard.

A system boiler is very much like a heat-only boiler, except you don’t require the feed and expansion cold-water tanks in the loft.

A combi boiler, as discussed previously, works by providing hot water without the need for a hot or cold water tank. Basically, if you turn the hot water taps on, the boiler will fire up and heat the water coming out of the pipes. Since you don’t need to store the hot water before you use it (i.e. there is no hot water tank), these tend to be considered more efficient.

What are the reasons for installing a combi boiler?

One of the main reasons for installing a combi boiler is the fact you can do away with the water tanks and this obviously frees up a lot of space. This is particularly important in flats and small houses where space is at a premium. Imagine suddenly being able to use your existing airing cupboard for additional storage space. You still need a space for the boiler of course, but it is typically similar in size to a standard heat-only boiler and could go in the same space.

Related to the previous point is the fact that the combi boiler doesn’t produce and store hot water. With a regular boiler, hot water tends to be produced twice a day, regardless of if it gets used or not – in the morning and in the evening. Now obviously this requires the boiler to fire up to produce the hot water, and if for whatever reason it doesn’t get used the water simply cools down, which is a waste of energy. Combi boilers only produce the hot water when you need it (i.e. you turn a tap or the shower on), so obviously for many people this produces substantial energy savings.

>>> How much should a new boiler cost? >>>

Combi boilers are great when you have relatively small hot water demand at any one time. If you require hot water feeds in multiple outlets at the same time– say that you want to run 2 showers at the same time in the morning, then a combi boiler won’t be suitable. In this case a regular or system boiler might be more suitable.

The final point is that with a regular boiler or system boiler once you have used all the hot water, that is it; you’ll need to wait until the boiler fires up and produces new hot water as per your programmer settings. With a combi boiler you could in theory produce limitless hot water although the mains water pressure defines the output.

Obviously it is worth mentioning efficiency – a new combi boiler should be around 90% efficient (as would a new system or regular boiler), so if your boiler is particularly old you might want to install a new boiler at this point.  You can run some calculations to see if this might be relevant for you – you can learn more about it here or talk to our partners over at Heatable.

When should I install a combi boiler?

You can in theory change your heating system any time, but the best time to do this is probably during a general refurbishment (provided the boiler is working okay!).  Carrying out this work when you refurbish will help minimise upheaval since things like running new pipes under floors are complicated if there is a nice carpet in place! Adding any new radiators to the system will obviously make this a bigger job, as will a system conversion when you move from a system or heat-only boiler (with tanks) to a combi.

If you are carrying out refurbishment work, you should also try and install as much insulation as you can at the same time as installing a new heating system – this will lower your gas demand since heat will leave the home more slowly and therefore you should see even bigger energy savings.

>>> How much should a new boiler cost? >>>

We also recommend looking to install a boiler before the winter, since at this time there tends to be a big rush on plumbers, which pushes the price up a little – changing the boiler during the summer months should therefore be a little cheaper.

The final point is related to positioning the new boiler – with regards to where the existing boiler and flue currently sit. If the boiler is being replaced then the flue will have to sit on an outside facing wall, which may require physically relocating it. This will add to your costs. A plume diverter may also need to be installed depending how close the current flue is in proximity to your local neighbours.

Companies like Heatable will often also offer finance options, meaning that your new boiler could cost you from as little at £10.50 a month. You can visit them here for more details.

Condensing combi boilers

Condensing boilers are pretty much standard these days for all domestic applications – any boiler you install now, be it combi, heat only or system will be condensing.

Condensing boilers are highly efficient and most are now manufactured with an efficiency rating of 90% or better. They use heat in the waste flue gas to pre-heat the cold water going into the boiler, hence this high level of efficiency.

A condensing combi boiler (like all condensing boilers) will have an additional condensing pipe that allows the condensed vapours to be drained away as the boiler is working. This shouldn’t be a problem as long as the installer can attach the pipe outlet to a drain, either internal or external. If this isn’t possible then the boiler may have to be relocated, which will add to the overall installation cost.

Combi boilers and flue gas heat recovery systems

A Flue Gas Heat Recovery System (FGHRS) works by using a further heat-exchanging unit to take advantage of the heat within the waste flue gases, which any boiler will produce. This recovered heat is used to preheat the cold water entering the boiler, thereby lowering the amount of energy needed to warm the water up to the required level.

Even the most efficient boilers available on the market today are only 90% efficient, as a result of heat lost in the waste flue gas; however the installation of a FGHRS on even a brand new boiler can help further drive up energy efficiency, helping you save money on your bills.

>>> What is the best brand of boiler to install? <<<

How much do combi boilers cost?

There is a blog discussing the cost of boilers here.

• Straight swap with existing combi – starting £1,600 + VAT (labour & parts)
• Combi conversion (going from heat only or system) – starting at £2,500 + VAT (labour & parts)

Is it worth swapping to a combi boiler?

If you have a small house and you are already tight for space, then combi boilers are a fantastic solution. Also if you are just moving into a property and will be carrying out extensive refurbishment, then having a new heating system installed at this time is ideal.

On the other hand, if you have a large house with extensive hot water demand at any one time, you may want to go for a system/regular boiler.

Also if you are on a tight budget, the system conversion will add to the overall costs.

Installing a new boiler

Are you thinking about getting a new boiler? We have scoured the country for the best tradespeople, so that we can make sure we only recommend those we really trust.

If you would like us to find you a local installer to install a new boiler in your home, just fill in the form below and we will be in touch shortly!

Finding the efficiency of your boiler

The first thing to do is to check your boiler for a little sticker with an energy efficiency rating on it. Most modern boilers should have this sticker either on the boiler itself, or somewhere in the pack that you will have been given. The rating will be clearly displayed on this.

If your boiler is older, or you just don’t have this sticker, then there are a few other ways to work out how efficient your boiler is.

The key is going to be working out the model number. Check under the boiler where the pipes come out, and under the flap at the front where the dials are. Usually there is a little sticker or plate with the exact model. This will mean a brand name, like Vaillant, Worcester Bosch, Ideal, Baxi or any number of others. Along with the brand there will be a model, usually this will be a number that refers to the size of the boiler and perhaps some other qualifiers, for example Worcester Bosch Greenstar 24i.

Once you have the model, the best place to check the rating is to go to the pcdb database. This database has nearly every boiler ever made and it’s really easy to find your boiler and get that efficiency figure. You can visit the site here.

The figure you are looking for is the seasonal efficiency, as this gives the fairest reflection of how the boiler performs over the course of a year.

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What is a good rating?

So you’ve got the rating, but what does it mean? Well, the figure is going to range from 60% all the way up to 95% depending on the age and type of boiler. Any boilers manufactured today are going to be in the high 80s or low 90s, which are very efficient boilers. Anything under 85% is almost always going to be a non-condensing boiler and likely 15 years old or more. We would say anything above 85% is good enough, and we would not recommend changing the boiler until it stops working, as the paybacks would be very poor. Boilers below 80% are going to be those older models, and it may be worth switching these to a newer model of boiler; this will be very dependant on the property and the potential savings.

What about the letters? Well, the letters are just a better way to convey the efficiency figure. Anything below 70% efficient is G rated, and the rating goes up from there in 4% increments, with 82-86 being a C, 86-90 being a B and 90+ being A rated.

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What if you can’t find your model number?

It might be that the boiler model number has worn off the plate, or you’ve lost the documentation the boiler came with. In this case it can be quite tricky to work out the efficiency. We can only really get a rough idea.

Your plumber will likely be able to give you the model number by removing the cover on the boiler and taking a look inside, but we would not recommend doing this unless you are a Gas Safe engineer. Instead we would suggest trying to check for some of the telltale signs of the type of boiler you have. Check to see if the boiler has a condense pipe running from under it. This will usually be a white plastic pipe next to the copper pipes where the water comes out. The pipe should go to a drain or even through the outside wall into a downpipe. If this pipe is present, then you have a condensing boiler of relatively high efficiency (i.e. above 85%).

>>>What Kind of Boiler Do I Have?<<<

You can also look at the flue. If you have an old open flue or the large ‘biscuit tin’ type flue, chances are the boiler is older and less efficient.

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Just because you have an old boiler does not mean you should change it. For many, especially smaller properties, the savings to be made will be small and we would usually suggest waiting for the boiler to break down or become unreliable before replacing it. Every property is going to be a little different though, so seek advice from an independent company (not your heating engineer!).

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When comes to energy saving, the average homeowner will want to make sure that any investments made in their property have the best payback possible. In this blog we are going to go through the five best ways to improve your home, in terms of energy saving payback.

Draught-proof your doors and windows

Whilst insulation is essential in keeping your home warm, ensuring draughts are cut out is just as crucial. You can have a super-insulated wall with a thick layer of insulation, but if there is a big old crack around the door with a freezing cold draught coming through it, all that is negated.

Draught-proofing is really easy to do and you can do it yourself. The initial cost is only a few pounds and the payback will be swift. You could be looking at a payback period of just 6 months!

PAYBACK: 6 months – 1 year

Install a hot water cylinder jacket

This is only relevant to those of you with a system boiler, but if you have a cylinder, insulation is really important. Some cylinders have a loose jacket that has been tied on, whilst others have a foam jacket which is installed in the factory. Either way, there are usually more savings to be made by adding another jacket. Factory spray foam is usually around 50mm thick, and adding a loose jacket to this will usually save £20-30. If you have no insulation on the cylinder at all (i.e. there is visible metal with no jacket), then you could save hundreds of pounds a year by insulating.

The payback period is therefore a few months to a year. If you want to go the extra mile, you can add a cylinder thermostat. These need to be installed by a heating engineer, but they allow you to prevent the water from overheating, which can save you even more money.

PAYBACK: 2 months to 1 year

Install loft insulation

Loft insulation is one of the most commonly installed measures, but it makes a huge difference, simply because heat rises. Insulating the average loft costs just a few hundred pounds, but you may be able to get an ECO grant to reduce the cost, or even get it for free. A 270mm-thick layer is usually installed, and this will give you savings of £200 a year on the average bill. If you already have some insulation, it might be worth getting a top-up. If you have 50mm insulation at the moment, a top-up could save you £50-100 a year, which will pay back in just a few years.

PAYBACK: 1 to 3 years

Install cavity wall insulation

Most properties in the UK are built with cavity walls. These types of walls have a gap between the bricks that can be injected with insulation. This process is cheap, costing only a few hundred pounds with an ECO grant, and also really quick. The average installation takes just a few hours to complete.

Savings on cavity wall insulation are typically £150 a year on the average house, so again the payback here is going to be 2-5 years on average. Well worth the effort! Remember that around half the cavity-walled properties in the UK have already been insulated, so you will need to choose yours hasn’t already been done!

PAYBACK: 3-7 years

Install energy efficient lighting

Lighting is the easiest of these measures to undertake in the majority of cases. It is usually just a case of switching one light bulb for another. Using LED lighting instead of incandescent or halogen bulbs can pay back in as little as 6 months.

We often hear people say that they will upgrade their bulbs as and when they blow. This will actually cost more in the long run, because the lifespan of an old halogen bulb is longer than the payback time from an LED. It makes zero sense not to switch straight away!

PAYBACK: 6 months

Want to find an installer?

Need any of these techs installed? We have scoured the country for the best tradespeople, so that we can make sure we only recommend those we really trust.

If you would like us to find you a local insulation installer, just fill in the form below and we will be in touch shortly!

Here are some useful tips on what makes a difference to your EPC rating and what you can do to boost that rating:

1. Top up your loft insulation – this is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve your EPC rating. Going from no insulation to 270mm can improve the rating by 10 or 15 points, whilst even a top up on existing insulation can get 2-5 points worth of improvement in many cases.
2. Cavity wall insulation – If you have cavity walls, make sure they are insulated. Insulating a cavity can improve the rating by 5-10 points on average.
3. Upgrade your heating – The heating system is one of the key factors in the EPC. If you have an old boiler, upgrading to a new condensing model will improve your rating by 5-20 points depending on the age of the current system.
4. Insulate your hot water cylinder – Not everyone has a hot water cylinder, but if you do, it is worth adding insulation to the tank. This is cheap and easy to do, and will bump your rating by a few points as well.
5. Glazing – If you have single glazed windows, upgrading to new double glazing will make several points difference on average – not as much as wall and loft insulation, but still a noticeable increase. If you already have double glazing, even if it is old, there is not going to be much improvement in the rating.
6. Documentation – If you have already had insulation installed, or if you think there may be insulation from a previous occupier, but there is no access to the space, then you should try to get documentation to show this to the EPC assessor. Sometimes this can make as much difference as actually installing an improvement. The same goes for windows installations and other improvements.
7. Seal open chimneys – Open fires and draughty chimneys actually make some difference to the EPC rating. If possible, block these up permanently, or install a closed heater in the opening to add a few further points of improvement.
8. Solid wall insulation – If the property has solid walls, the EPC rating is going to be much lower than an equivalent cavity wall property. You can either insulate internally or externally with a solid wall, and either way it is expensive. The good news is that it can increase the rating of the property by 10-20 points or more, so if maximising your EPC rating is important to you, then this is the way to go.
9. Renewables – Adding solar PV should boost your rating, dependent on the size of the system being installed. With larger 16 panel systems, you could add 10 points to the rating. Solar thermal, although usually a bit cheaper than a PV system, will only add a few points to the rating. Wind turbines can also improve the rating, but this is only going to make a difference for larger turbines in rural areas. Small urban turbines have little impact, both in the EPC and in your electricity supply!
10. Lighting and draught proofing – Adding draught proofing and changing your lights over to energy efficient versions can add about a point each onto the final rating. Not much, but they don’t cost much to do!

If you have any plans in mind to improve your property, and you would like to get our advice on how this will impact the energy rating, then please contact us and ask for a recommendations report. This tailored service will be able to help inform you of the energy efficiency implications of any works, and ensure your works get the right end result for your EPC rating.

Getting an EPC

Need an EPC? We have scoured the country for the best surveyors, so that we can make sure we only recommend those we really trust.

If you would like us to find you a local surveyor, just fill in the form below and we will be in touch shortly!

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A term we see banded about online nowadays is ‘smart lighting’, but what exactly does it mean, and is it something we can all can take advantage of?

The age of LEDs

Over the past 10 years or so, lighting has been completely revolutionised. With homes and offices switching to LED, lighting costs have been slashed by 90% or so overnight in many cases. It means that lighting in a modern home or office is only a small fraction of the total energy cost of running the building, but there are plenty of things that can be done to improve the energy savings from lighting still further.

Lighting controls

Most homes will have the odd dimmer switch that they use to help control their lighting. For many years, older dimmer switches worked by adding resistance to the circuit, which meant that though the light was dimmer, it didn’t actually save you any money. Modern LED dimmers work by turning the light on or off very quickly – so fast that all you see is a dimming of the light. This in turn will save energy as the light is on less.

But modern lighting can have even more control than this. Homes and offices can be equipped with sensors to detect when someone is in a room or corridor, and turn the lights on or off as needed. This is great for office applications, as there are plenty of times lights can be left on in corridors and meeting rooms when they simply aren’t needed. Also, whereas in the past old CFL lights needed some time to turn on and warm up, LEDs work at full impact straight away, making them perfect for this kind of on/off frequent operation.

Homes can also make use of this technology – we see plenty of them installed in bathrooms and hallways.

Commercial Spaces and illuminance control

Perhaps a step too far for domestic properties, it is possible to have a lighting control system that can adjust the lighting levels relative to the level of daylight. Illuminance control is the ultimate way to help limit the energy used by lighting systems.

Of course, it is better to avoid artificial lighting all together if possible. For commercial spaces, we would encourage the use of roof lights and natural lighting wherever possible. Despite most offices having working hours and daylight hours overlapping, many still end up having their lights on all day. This is partly down to poor building design not making the most natural light, and also due to lighting controls and management of the building.

Light pipes

Another piece of technology that can be seen more often these days in both domestic and commercial properties is light pipes. These are tubes which go through the roof and into the room below, amplifying any natural light and spreading it into the room below. This can take a room with no windows or natural light of any kind and add enough light in day time to avoid the use of artificial lighting at all.

You can also now find light pipes with built in LED bulbs, which work by adding artificial light when the light pipe is not providing enough for the room.

Behaviours

LED lighting really has changed the amount of energy we use for lighting our homes, but it hasn’t really change the way we light our homes. As energy efficiency grow in importance, and all the easy wins like switching to LED are complete, the obvious place to look next is at the behaviours we exhibit around lighting. Leaving lights on at night for example, or closing the blinds to mask glare during the day only to turn the light on to be able to read. These sorts of things will come under the spotlight more, and we can either adapt our behaviours around lighting, or add evermore smart lighting technology to assist us in lowering our lighting energy demand. As with most things associated with human nature, getting someone to change their habits is much harder than getting them to change the tech around them. My bet is on smarter lighting technologies in the near future.

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When we talk about insulation in lofts, we are usually referring to rock wool or glass fibre insulation. There is another- sometimes overlooked – category of insulation: foil. We know that foil makes a good insulator because of its very highly reflective properties, but does a thin layer of foil actually perform as well as a thick slab of insulation? Is there any way to get those ultra-low U-values required of modern buildings without having a thick layer of rock wool? Let’s take a closer look.

U-value of foil insulation

The U-value is a simple measure of how easily heat is able to pass through a material. Lower U-values mean better thermal performance. Most brands of insulation have a U-value displayed on their products as a matter of pride. Typical fibreglass insulation, for example, requires 270mm of insulation to get to a U-value of 0.16. Phenolic board like Celotex or Kingspan requires 175mm or so to achieve 0.16.
If you pick up a pack of foil insulation, the U-value is often not easy to find, if it’s there at all. So what is the U-value of foil?

Radiation vs conduction

Regular insulation works by preventing the conduction of heat through the material. The insulation is tested in a lab to work out the conduction through the material, λ (lambda). This value can be used to work out the U-value for any given width of material.

This works well for most insulation materials, because conduction is the main way they prevent the movement of heat. Foil insulation works slightly differently, however. Whilst there will be some resistance to conduction, thanks to the air gaps between the layers of foil, most of the performance of the material lies in its ability to reflect radiative heat back into the room. This characteristic is not an important player when it comes to fibreglass or wool insulation, but is crucial for foil.

It means that foil insulation is going to have a higher U-value, but may well perform better than expected in the real world. There is not much unbiased data out there to give you on this, but some manufacturers have done real world tests comparing foil with standard insulation, with encouraging results. Obviously, it depends on the type of foil and the amount of layers present, but some evidence suggests a performance better than standard insulation at much reduced thicknesses.

Foil insulation is used by NASA, right?

Foil is used in space-faring craft because of these great properties preventing radiant heat loss. Because space is a vacuum, there is very little heat lost by conduction, so foil is absolutely perfect.

How do I use foil insulation?

Foil insulation is worth considering if you have restricted space in your loft or roof space that means regular insulation is not viable. You will have to ensure there are good air gaps either side of the foil to get the best performance. We would recommend going for one with plenty of layers and some heft to it, as the thinner ones will not give a great performance.

Building regulations and foil

You might wonder – if the U-value is not apparent – whether foil insulation can be used to meet building regulations requirements for insulation. The answer is that it is at the discretion of the planning authority, and each authority will probably treat things differently. Because foil insulation companies will provide their own energy saving data on their product, it is down to the individual planning authority as to whether it can be used and what thickness is required to meet the standard.

Should you use foil insulation?

We would probably recommend shying away from it unless it really is the most practical option, due to space constraints. In this case, speak to your architect and planning authority to find exactly what would be the most suitable thickness.

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There are several main types of material that window frames can be made out of: wood, metal and uPVC. Can they be used interchangeably? Is it simply an aesthetic consideration? Or is there a ‘better’ type of frame? Let’s take a closer look.

Wooden window frames

Wood has been used to make windows for far longer than any other material. There are several big advantages to using wood.

Advantages of wooden windows:

• Wood is more likely to fit in on a period property, and may be stipulated by building regulations in some areas.
• Wood adds a lot of style to your home.
• If maintained well, wood will last much longer than PVC.

Disadvantages of wooden windows:

• Wood is around twice the price of cheaper PVC windows.
• Wooden windows require more maintenance to keep them in good condition.

uPVC window frames

uPVC or plastic windows have become the default frame for modern double glazing. They are relatively cheap and highly effective, but they do have some downsides.

Advantages of uPVC windows

• uPVC is usually the cheapest option
• PVC requires very little maintenance
• It has good thermal performance, even at the lower end of the market.

Disadvantages of uPVC windows

• More difficult to repair.
• PVC, especially white PVC, can discolour as it ages with exposure to sunlight.
• It is environmentally less sustainable and more difficult to recycle
• Lifespan is shorter than other types of window frame.

Aluminium and steel window frames

There are varying types of metal frames, but many of the benefits are similar, so we have categorised these together.

Advantages of metal window frames:

• Long lasting and durable frames
• Recyclable and reusable in most instances.

Disadvantages of metal window frames:

• Whilst recyclable, more CO2 is produced in the making of these frames, and the embodied energy from making them is also much higher.
• Steel requires regular maintenance to protect against corrosion.
• Lower thermal performance than PVC.

What should I bear in mind when buying new windows?

Although it will depend greatly on the manufacturing and design of the frame, we can make some broad generalisations as to the performance of the windows. As with any insulating product, the all-important figure is the U-value. This number, very simply, gives you one figure which accurately describes how good the product is at preventing heat from moving through it. The lower the number, the better the performance. Older double glazing might have a U-value of 2 or more, whilst new double glazing will likely have a U-value at 1.4 or lower. The very best double glazing on the market will have a U-value of around 0.7. Generally speaking, uPVC windows will have a better performance at a price point than the other types of window. It is possible to achieve these sorts of ultra low U-values with other materials, but the cost will likely be higher. Always check the U-value of your new windows before you get them installed, to make sure you are getting a high-performing window.

 

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