Maximising the efficiency of your heating system is one method of ensuring of reducing the costs of your heating bill and cutting down on the environmental impact of heating your home.

However, there is another method which is just as effective at reducing costs and increasing warmth around the house.

Heating your home is as much about stopping heat from escaping as it is about maximising the output of your radiators and heaters. By reducing heat escape, you use less energy in heating the rooms.

The number one place to start with insulation of a home is the loft. This is not because insulation is unsightly, it’s because heat rises. Preventing the rising heat from escaping through the roof, is one way of ensuring your home stays warmer for less energy.
Letterbox Draught Excluder

Letterbox Draught Excluder

Loft insulation is neither expensive or difficult and is perhaps the most important eco friendly product.

For a few hundred pounds you can pay somebody to do it for you and by having a properly insulated loft it will pay for itself in smaller heating bills.

But there are other places heat escapes too. Badly fitting doors are a prime cause and in older homes this is more difficult to prevent. Problems often occur because door frames and walls slightly drop over the years and doors themselves expand and contract in the summer and winter. But draught excluders are easily fitted around frames and can prevent any heat from escaping and the cold air from coming in.

Doors have other areas that let draughts in too. Letter boxes are very rarely air tight and not only does the heat gush out but the cold air comes through. Draught excluders for letter boxes are rare but they are available. Letter box draught excluders are definitely worth considering in older homes with single doors.

Also a common area for draughts in older homes is the chimney. Originally designed for smoke to escape the provide an chute for all the hot air to rush out. If the fireplace is not in use a chimney balloon will expand in the chimney to prevent any hot air escaping and cold air coming in.

Richard N Williams is interested in green innovations and writes about them. Please visit our website if you are interested in letterbox draft excluder or other eco-friendly products.