How to cope with dropping temperatures

Keeping warm this winter without spending a fortune on heating your home will be just one of things on your mind during the Christmas and New Year period. A lot will depend on the heat efficiency of your home. There are some steps that you can take immediately to ensure you stay warm and comfortable and able to enjoy the festivities.

Keeping warm affects many things and not just how you comfortable you feel. A cold home can contribute to things like colds, flu and even heart attack, stroke, pneumonia and depression. This is particularly concerning for our older generation who may feel that they can’t always have the heating on. Health concerns are also more likely to occur if you’re on a low income, have a long term chronic health condition already or you are disabled.

In these circumstances, a home should be heated to 18C, especially the bedroom. A hot water bottle or electric blanket are further options but not to be used together. Keeping as active as you can is recommended and so is making sure you eat regularly as food provides much needed energy. Hot meals and drinks throughout the day are really important. Making sure you have a fully functional boiler is also essential. For Woking Boiler installations, visit http://www.rjplumbingandheating.co.uk/

You could think about switching your energy supplier if you’ve been with them for a long time. It could be that you are not getting the best deal you could be getting. Use a comparison website and then call your existing supplier. You never know, they might be able to better the price and you could save hundreds of pounds a year!

When it’s cold it is tempting to shut all the doors inside your home to somehow trap the heat, however, the opposite could help. Opening doors can help increase and spread heat. For example, after a shower, leave the bathroom door open and the steam will spread into the other rooms. Cooking with the oven is another effective way to heat up the downstairs and if you can safely leave the oven door open after you’ve finished, then the heat will spread.

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Have a look around your property and try to identify any gaps under doors or windows that quite shut properly. Drafts could be causing your home to be cooler than it should be and is also affecting the heat efficiency. Draft excluders can be placed around the house in any cold spots. If you don’t want to buy excluders from a shop then you can easily make your own using old pillowcases stuffed with old socks or tights. This is a very cheap and effective way of making your home as efficient as possible.

If there is a room in your home that isn’t used then think about turning the radiator off and closing the door. After all, there is no point in heating a room that nobody uses. Closing curtains can make a surprisingly big difference too. Thermal curtains are best and in the rooms you use most often, make sure they are closed as soon as darkness falls. Heat loss can be reduced by a quarter just by making this small adjustment.