Tips to Save Money on Your Gas Heating Bill

Tips to save money on your gas heating bill

Does your boiler look like this when you open the door at the bottom?

Yes? Then here are some tips on how to control your heating.

If you turn your heating on by the wall thermostat

You are not alone, with over 95% of our residents never using the programmer on their boiler. It’s probably much the same across the whole country. So how can you save money on your gas heating bill?

The Eco button

Firstly, is the Eco button on your boiler lit green? If so, you can turn it off. While this setting can help you save water, it actually means you use more gas through the year, because it turns the boiler on once every hour for 20-30 seconds to pre-heat water in case you would like to use it.

If the Eco button is off, try turning it on just to check it’s working. If it doesn’t light up green then that means there is an issue, so please contact our repairs team on 0800 358 3783 or [email protected].

Did you know that little green light can cost you £20 a year in itself?

The timer clock on the boiler

Changing your clock / timer can help save money. The only tools you will need are a ball point pen or pencil to move the pins.

Firstly, slide all the pins in so they are in the ‘on’ position, then slide every other pin out. Each pin equals 15 minutes.

Next, move the slide switch on the lower right side of the timer switch from ‘on’ to the clock symbol.

Your timer should look something like this: You can now close the boiler door and when you want to put on heating, you can use the wall thermostat as you always have done.

If you pay for your gas using a card or key you will notice a change in what you spend quite quickly. If you pay by quarterly bill, it can take a take longer to notice a difference.

The timer on the boiler will only work when the wall thermostat instructs it to do so.

While changing the system will result in taking slightly longer to warm the home, you can leave the heating on up to twice as long as you did before without it costing more.

Don’t worry if your heating doesn’t come on when you turn the temperature up on your wall thermostat. Wait up to 15 minutes for it to kick in.

If you’d like to return the boiler to its original settings, you can do so by opening the panel on the boiler and sliding the switch from the clock symbol to ‘on’ again. The system will resume just as it was before.

Did you know that how you turn on taps can save you money? (Combination boilers only)

When you use hot water in the kitchen or bathroom, turn the hot water tap on slowly for the first 10 to 15 seconds, enough to make the boiler fire, then turn it on quicker as you would do normally.

What does this do? By turning the water on slowly at first, the boiler will heat the water quicker as the water is passing through it slowly. Once up to temperature, the boiler can cope with the tap turned on faster. Also, by turning the tap on slower at first, you will find hot water is dispensed quicker.

Did you know that by using this method, you can save between £30 -£50 a year, dependant on the number of people living in your home?

The difference a degree makes

Throughout the year, by setting the temperature to 22 degrees C rather than 21 can cost an average household up to £65 per year. So by reducing your heating by 1 degree you could save up to £100 per year.