6 Great Tips For Efficiently Heating Your Home In Winter
Keeping your home cosy and warm throughout the winter months doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. With the right tips and tricks it’s perfectly possible to heat your home efficiently and cost-effectively in the coldest of weather, without compromising on warmth. Save money whilst helping the environment with the following tips for efficiently heating your home in winter:
Heat Your Home With Firewood
Heating your home with wood has always been the most cost-effective way of heating your home in winter, however this is becoming even more apparent as we see the cost of electricity and gas increasing year upon year. Wood burning stoves and log burners create a maximum heat output in comparison to the amount of fuel that is required, meaning less energy is wasted and consequently greater savings are made. Choosing wood as the method for heating your home in winter also prevents you from being tied into any problematic electric or gas contracts, where charges could be increased. When heating your home in winter with wood, make sure that you’re choosing the best firewood to maximise efficiency…
Choose Quality Firewood
When looking at the best methods for efficiently heating your home in winter, it’s crucial to emphasise the importance of choosing the right firewood. This will ensure your log burner or stove burns cleanly, efficiently and with a maximum heat output. It’s essential to choose firewood that has a moisture content below 20%, which is indicated by Defra’s official Ready To Burn logo (a yellow-red circle). Burning wet wood makes your fire less efficient, and more importantly, creates harmful pollutants that are damaging to both human health and the environment. You’ll find Defra’s Ready To Burn logo on all Lekto Wood Fuels which are known for their exceptional dryness and sustainable sourcing.
Maximise Heat From Your Wood Burner
The most important way to maximise heat from your log burner is to choose the best quality firewood, however this isn’t the only way. One of the best methods for efficiently heating your home in winter is to attach a stove fan to your fireplace. This helps to circulate heat created by the fire around the property, maximising use of the heat created. It’s also important to keep your stove clean and well maintained and to control the airflows once you’ve got the fire burning. Use the air vents on your wood burner to maintain a consistent airflow to ensure the fire stays energised but not so much that the flames become too big, and as a result become inefficient.
Upgrade Your Central Heating System
If you’re using a central heating system alongside a wood burner for heating your home in winter, make sure that the system is up to date and efficient. Boilers use the vast majority of energy for heating your home in winter, and so it’s crucial to ensure your boiler is operating efficiently. Traditional gas or oiler boilers can have a tendency to waste energy, meaning that if you’ve owned your boiler for a while, it may be time to start thinking about upgrading. Modern boilers operate at low temperatures and are more efficient at recovering usable heat that would otherwise have been wasted. You will also have the option to install smart heating controls with modern systems that give you greater control in turning on your heating room by room and remotely using your smartphone.
Draught-Proof Your Home
Maximising heat from your log burner or upgrading your heating system is wasted when the heat created will be lost through draughts. That’s why draught-proofing is such an important step for efficiently heating your home in winter. Draught-proofing involves blocking up unwanted gaps where hot air can escape out and cold air can come in. Whether you choose to draught-proof your home yourself or choose to enlist the help of a professional, you should focus on the windows and doors as these are the areas where most heat is lost from the home. Simple steps, such as placing draught-excluders at the foot of the door will make a huge difference in making your home more cosy and warm.
Insulate Your Property
Another crucial aspect of efficiently heating your home in winter is installing insulation. This is another important part of ensuring that heat created remains inside the house, and that cold air cannot get in to counteract this. The main areas of the home to focus on insulating are the roof, floors and walls. Installing insulation in your home will involve an initial investment, however the savings that you make on your energy bills in the long run will be huge. One of our most important tips for efficiently heating your home in winter, insulating your property will benefit the environment as well as your wallet by increasing the overall energy efficiency of your home.