Autumn has arrived, beautiful colours outside, falling leaves, but also temperatures are dropping. So, we slowly switch on the heating. So it’s important to keep the warmth inside your house. These tips might help you a little.
Radiator foil
A radiator is warming the house by radiating the heat, but does that in all directions. If the radiator is close to a non-insulated exterior wall, heat will escape. This is visible with an infrared camera, pointing from outside to the walls of your house. The facade will light up where the radiotor is.
To prevent the warmth goes outside, you can stick radiator foil on the wall. This will reflect the radiation. This foil is made of layer of aluminium foil and a thin layer of insulation. The foil can be bought for a few Euro per square meter. You can also use regular aluminium foil, but this is missing the insulation and is ripping very fast when you want to stick it to the wall.
Sun during the day, closing in the evening
Let the autumn or winter sun in during the day. The sun is low but warms a large area indoors. In the evening, it is best to close the blind and/or curtains. These will keep the warmth inside and are an extra layer between the warmth inside and the cold outside air.
But don't block the heat. Make sure the curtains are not hanging over the radiators or furniture is in fronnt of it. Also try to avoid drying clothes on them, it will all block the warmth and heat is wasted.
Cracks and crevices
A lot of old, not renovated, houses are not airtight. This means that cold air can constantly come inside and warm air goes out. When you seal single glas windows it can bring an energy saving of 12 %. Replace it by double glazing and that will give about 10 % savings.
It’s worth to close the cracks and crevices on exterior doors and windows. Use drafts strips which you can stick in the old carpentry. A draft stopper, pillows in the shape of these long dogs are useful for bigger cracks under doors or windows to keep the cold air out.
Important to remember is that you need to need to ventilate an airtight house well to prevent damp air and cold. Opening a window shortly a few times per day is enough to circulate the air. Opening windows all day should not be done because the rooms will cool down too much. It will take much longer to warm them up again, which is costing a lot of energy.
Cold and warm compartment.
If the roof is insufficiently insulated or you’re waiting for that job to be done, it may be useful to use the spaces between the warm living area and the cold attic to prevent too much heat from escaping. For example using the bedrooms which are not heated during the day as an insulation buffer. It’s important to remember to keep those rooms closed to prevent the warm air coming from the ground floor to the not heated rooms.
Heat regulators
With your heat regulator or thermostat you can manage the warmth in your home. You can set day and night temperatures, which will save energy in a significant way.
Clothing
Dress warmly. Many people prefer light clothing, but warm clothes will keep the interior temperature slightly lower. It's winter and a warm sweater and thick socks will add coziness.
It's important to not let the warmth escape from your home. First of all it will lower your energy bills, but it's also a real contribution to environmental protection. Every degree of reduced energy consumption means less to pay and fewer CO₂ emissions and a lighter burden on the planet.
Sometimes a little goes a long way.
Bron: destandaard.be