7 Heating Mistakes That Cost Retired Homeowners Hundreds Every Winter, by Graham The Heating Man on YouTube. 12 min 31 s.
- Video length
- 12 min 31 s
- Time to do it
- 30 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Set the room thermostat to a steady 19 to 21°C. Turning it right up does not warm the house any faster, it just runs the boiler longer at the same slow pace.
Take washing off the radiators. Dry it on an airer in a ventilated room instead, because wet fabric soaks up the heat you have paid for.
Pull sofas, curtains and furniture clear of the radiators so warm air can rise and circulate. This costs nothing and makes an instant difference.
Set each thermostatic radiator valve by room. Try 3 or 4 in the living room, 2 or 3 in bedrooms, and leave the radiator in the room with the wall thermostat wide open.
Keep spare rooms at a low setting rather than shutting them off completely. A valve on 1 or the frost setting keeps air moving and helps prevent black mould.
Send a meter reading every month, or check your smart meter display is actually sending readings, so you stop paying estimated bills.
Turn down the heating flow temperature dial on your combi boiler to around 60 to 65°C for radiators. Check your manual first, and leave any hot water cylinder setting alone.
Bleed the radiators while they are cold and the heating is off. Hold a cloth under the bleed valve, open it with a radiator key until water trickles steadily, then close it.
Tips and common mistakes
Never remove boiler covers or touch gas parts yourself; that is a job for a Gas Safe registered engineer.
Keep a hot water cylinder thermostat at around 60°C so bacteria cannot build up in the tank.
If you smell gas, leave the property and call the gas emergency line. In Great Britain that is 0800 111 999.
If a radiator stays cold at the bottom after bleeding, it may need flushing, so ask an engineer to check it.
Questions
Why is my house still cold with the heating on?
Heat is often trapped or blocked rather than missing. Check for washing on radiators, furniture in front of them, valves turned down too low, or a flow temperature set too low on the boiler.
What number should my radiator valves be on?
Around 3 or 4 in rooms you use most, 2 or 3 in bedrooms, and low in spare rooms. Leave the radiator in the room with the wall thermostat fully open so the boiler can read the temperature.
Does turning the thermostat up heat the house faster?
No. It only tells the boiler to keep going to a higher temperature, so the rooms warm at the same rate but end up hotter and costlier.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
