Save Your Money - Tips to Reduce the Heating Costs

During the cold winter months, the heating may be the major energy consumer. There are many heating mistakes to be made, which may have costly consequences. However, it is not so difficult. There are only a few things to consider to reduce permanently the heating costs.
You should be aware that, despite the energy-saving efforts, the temperatures in the apartment should not sink too low, because this would favour mould growth.

To ensure that your apartment is always pleasantly warm and homely in winter, you should check whether all the doors and windows are draught-proof. It is also important that the radiators are not covered by furniture or curtains and are regularly bled. If it is not so cold in spring and autumn, the radiators should be turned off at night.

Experts generally recommend keeping the thermostats at a low level (1 or 2), but not turning them completely off. After all, it is more energy-consuming to reheat the apartment completely than to keep the heating running at a low level. Actually, heating is only necessary in the living area (recommended room temperature of 18 to 20 °C) and in the bathroom (ideally 22 °C). The temperature in the kitchen and in the bedrooms can be lower. It is anyway much healthier to sleep at a lower ambient temperature. A recent study conducted by the American National Health Institute proves that a temperature of about 18 °C in the bedroom not only helps fall asleep more quickly, but also stimulates the metabolism.

There is a kind of golden rule of thumb: lowering the room temperature by 1 °C means reducing the energy consumption by 6 %. But beware: if the room temperature falls below 15° C, mould can grow more easily. In such a case the costs for mould removal may far exceed the savings of energy costs.

Adequate ventilation requires some consideration. For a good room climate and ideal heating efficiency is it recommend to shortly ventilate the whole apartment once or twice a day. You should turn off the heating while opening wide the windows for about 5 to 10 minutes. Preferably, the last ventilation should be performed shortly before you go to bed.

You can save 25 % of the heating costs by closing the blinds and the curtains at night, since this prevents the warm air from cooling down quickly. The tenant who is also eager to close always the internal doors of the apartment must no longer fear the next heating bill.