UK households warned against common radiator mistake that could inflate energy bills

Many people turn up their thermostats in winter

As winter firmly takes hold, many of us will be turning up our thermostats – but without adjusting your radiators accordingly, you could be wasting money. However, by using your radiator valves and boiler settings together, you can maximise the efficiency of the heat being pumped into your rooms.

It is crucial to understand that the role of your thermostat is to signal to your boiler when to start and stop operating, as explained by Mr Central Heating.

Thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs), typically white dials at the base of your radiators, instruct your boiler when to cease pumping hot water into a specific room. This allows for precise control of heating on a room-by-room basis.

So, if your thermostat is telling your boiler to work hard, but your radiator valves are off, you are wasting energy and your house will remain cold. Which? emphasises the importance of considering your boiler, valves, and thermostat as a team.

Radiator valves prevent hot water from entering the radiator once a certain room temperature is reached, indicated by the numbers one to five on the dial.

What they don’t do, however, is determine whether your boiler is on and how hard it is working – that is the job of the thermostat. As long as the thermostat is on and instructing the boiler to operate, it will do so, sending a flow of hot water into your radiators.

For instance, if you have set your thermostat to 20C but have not adjusted the valves on your radiators to match this temperature, your boiler will continue to consume energy needlessly – as your radiators will not be letting any hot water in.

Therefore, it is crucial to ensure your thermostat only prompts the boiler to activate when necessary. The thermostat will also instruct the boiler to switch off once your desired temperature is achieved.

Most individuals opt for a setting between 18C and 21C. Ensure that radiator valves near the thermostat are fully open. In other rooms, you can adjust your radiators to lower valve settings.

The boiler will deactivate when your main thermostat reaches the set temperature, but rooms that are unoccupied or less frequently used will not have heated up as much since their radiators will have remained cool.

If you own a smart thermostat, try relocating it around your home to an area with good air circulation for the most accurate reading, as recommended by Best Heating. This way, it can accurately inform the boiler when to shut off, thereby saving you money.

The advantage of Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRVs) is that you can choose to turn some off, preventing unnecessary heating of radiators in vacant rooms, thus avoiding excessive heat.

However, any water circulated around the house will eventually return to the boiler in a cooled state. Therefore, it’s desirable for the returning water to have lost heat along its journey, enabling the boiler to condense it.

According to Which?, this suggests that maintaining some radiators at a low setting could enhance your boiler’s efficiency.

Ensuring a minimal flow of water through less frequently used rooms can also help prevent radiator damage caused by dampness and freezing conditions.

Nevertheless, the bulk of your energy consumption will be dedicated to heating the room housing the thermostat, ensuring the boiler switches off promptly and ceases gas combustion. Boiler engineers can provide valuable advice on optimising your boiler’s efficiency. However, the most effective tool at your disposal is the on and off switch.

The thermostat activates the boiler when it senses that the surrounding air temperature is lower than its set temperature, and deactivates it once the desired temperature is achieved.

New gas boiler installations should incorporate one of the following: load compensation, which enables boilers to determine the amount of heat a home requires; weather compensation, which adjusts heating based on external conditions; or smart technology, facilitating automated scheduling.

If these features aren’t proposed during installation, you should question your installer, as their inclusion is mandated under the Boiler Plus regulation of 2018, according to GOV UK.