Set heating and hot water systems to keep you comfortable but limit your use of energy and save money!

Make sure that you set heating and hot water controls for energy efficiency throughout the year. If you have central heating, change the settings to match your different needs in summer and winter.

Thermostats

Set thermostats so that you’re comfortable — but turn them down when you don’t need the house to be as warm. You may have up to three types of thermostats on your heating system:

Thermostatic Radiator Valves

TRVs allow you to adjust the temperature room by room — they reduce the flow of water when the set temperature is reached. Make sure they’re working — if not, its worth replacing them.

Adjust TRVs to your needs — turn them right down if you don’t use the room. If you use the room regularly set them at 2 or 3 and only turn them higher if you’re uncomfortably cool after an hour or so.

Room thermostat

You may have a thermostat on the wall of the living room or the hall which controls the boiler system.

Experiment to find the lowest setting that suits your needs. 18°C (65°F) may be enough for you but people who aren’t very active or are unwell may need a setting of 23°C (73°F).

Boiler thermostats

Older heater systems may not have room thermostats, in which case you need to experiment to find the lowest setting that is comfortable. If you have a room thermostat, set the boiler thermostat to 80°C when its very cold outside, 75°C in milder weather and put it down to 65°C when you only need water heating.

Savings [Savings information from EST]

• Reducing your heating thermostat by 1°C when you are too warm can cut up to 10% off your heating bill.

Bleed Radiators

Sometimes air gets trapped inside the radiator so that it feels cold at the top and warm at the bottom or in the pipes — so instead of turning up the thermostat, bleed the radiator to release the air so that it can re-fill with water.

For most types of boilers you can use a key to bleed radiators yourself — but check the manual to make sure its safe for your boiler.

With combi boilers, remember to top up the system with water — check the manual for instructions on what to do and when to do it.

If you go away for a few days, turn the room thermostat down to no less than 5°C (41°F) — just enough to prevent damage in cold weather.

Sometimes water spurts out once the radiator is full — so cover the floor nearby and turn off the heating system so you don’t scald your hand. Turning it off also means it can’t pump even more air into the system!