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Promotion Codes
October 15, 2009Find our latest promotion codes in this area, grab a discount and start saving money with heatingoil.co.uk.
What can you do to save energy?
October 14, 2009When you burn heating oil, most of the heat will be contained within your home but some will escape through:
• Walls
• Windows
• Roof
• Floor
• Draughts
In a standard home around one-third of the heat produced is lost through these areas according to a recent report by Haringey Council. There are a number of measures that you can take to reduce this heat loss.
One way to prevent this heat loss is to spend large sums of money on double glazing, cavity walls and loft insulation. Although these will be effective, to do all three could cost large amounts of money. If you don’t want to spend such sums insulating your home there are a number of cheaper ways that you can save energy.
Top 10 heating oil saving tips
We at heatingoil.co.uk have come up with a top 10 of energy saving tips to help you save money whilst being as kind as possible to the environment. Why not have a read through and you might be suprised at just how easy it is to save on heating oil!
1. Make sure all windows and doors are properly shut. Draughts are a large source of heat loss in the home and it has been suggested they can contribute to between 15 and 50% of total heat loss depending on the structure of the property (Peterborough City Council). Shutting interior doors behind you as well as exterior doors means that the heat will be trapped in each room and take longer to escape through the walls. Simply remembering to shut doors could save you ££s each year!
2. Fit covers to key holes and letter boxes. If you can feel cold air getting in through these holes then the heat from your home is also escaping. This means you will burn more heating oil as the heat will not stay in the room for as long. An insulated letter box cover costs next to nothing but could help make large savings on your heating oil.
3. Ensure that none of your taps are leaking. A large amount of energy used at home goes on heating your water This means that if the hot tap is constantly dripping you’re burning oil 24 hours a day and wasting money 24 hours a day.
4. Replace old or thin curtains with brand new thick ones. This will serve as an extra layer between the heat in your home and the cold air outside.
5. If you feel cold and want to heat up your home, before you turn up the thermostat put on an extra layer of clothing. According to the energy saving trust, increasing your room temperature by one 1 degree can increase your energy bill by ten percent. Also if you keep your thermostat just one degree lower on average over the year you could save up to £55! That’s more than enough to buy a nice thick jumper!
6. Have a shower instead of a bath. An ordinary shower uses two fifths of the water that a bath does. So for every 10 baths you have, you are using the same amount of water as 25 showers!
7. Only heat the rooms that you use most often. How many times do you go into your bedroom, spare room, bathroom and utility room on average every day? If the answer is not very much and you have a radiator in these rooms, you are wasting valuable heating oil trying to keep them up to temperature. If you turn off the radiators in these rooms during the day and put them on half an hour before you go to bed you could make a huge energy saving and won’t have to order heating oil again so soon.
8. After washing your clothes, instead of turning the heating on and trying to dry them inside on the radiator, hang them outside and let the sun get them dry. A washing line and some pegs could cost as little as £2 from your supermarket so it makes sense to hang your washing outside… so long as it’s not raining!
9. Get jogging! Why not run up and down the stairs when you start to feel cold. This will get the heart beating and the blood pumping and after 5 times up and down you won’t even notice the cold!
10. Make sure your boiler is kept in good condition and is checked and serviced regularly. Independent assessments suggest that the efficiency of a boiler serviced once a year can be 20-30% lower between these services. A large reason for this is due to the build up of deposits inside the boiler. Although it may cost a small amount to get your boiler serviced, the improved gains in benefit should outweigh these costs.
If you do all these things you will need to burn less oil each day as your home will keep the heat better and this will be better for the environment.
* For more energy saving advice please visit energysavingadvice.co.uk.
* Disclaimer: The information above is for general purposes only. Any reliance you place on the above information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
Oil price graph
October 14, 2009
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Is now a good time to buy?
Knowing when is the best time to buy home heating oil is a tricky task as prices fluctuate frequently and can be unpredictable. However, the chart below shows the current historical trends in the price of home heating oil (kerosene). The prices are shown in $/tonne as this is the global units for oil traders and gives the most accurate and relevant prices.
Environment News
September 24, 2009Oil Tank Chat
September 24, 2009Feel free to discuss oil tanks on this page, such as security, best prices, where to put them.
Oil tank security
October 15, 2009How secure is your oil tank? Discuss oil tank security tips on this page, which products work best? has there been a spate of heating oil thefts in your area?
