To ensure your bank account doesn’t suffer in the coming winter months, we reveal five heating mistakes you should avoid!
The high electricity prices are still putting a strain on our bank account, and now the winter months are rolling around again, which require one thing above all else: lots of energy for heating! But what should you pay attention to when heating your home?
1. Open room doors
Do you think you can save money by only heating one room and heating the other rooms by leaving the doors open? Unfortunately, you’re mistaken.
As the Austrian Association of Energy Consumers explains, you should always keep the room doors closed to maintain the warm temperature in the room. If you try to warm up the other room with open doors, you constantly fight against the cooler air flowing from the neighboring room. This will only cost you more energy.
Which temperature is for which room?
According to “Utopia,” you can remember the following guide values:
Bedroom: approx. 18 degrees
Living room: around 20 degrees
Bathroom: approx. 22 to 24 degrees
Kitchen: approx. 18 degrees
The guide recommends that you set the thermostat to the asterisk in rooms that you rarely use. In these areas, the heating is only activated when the temperature falls below 5 degrees. This protects the heating system from frost.
2. Switch off the heating completely
Do you turn off your heating when you leave the house to save energy? According to “Viessmann Climate Solutions,” this is not a good idea: switching it off not only cools down the system – depending on the outside temperature and duration of your absence – but also the building envelope in some cases. If you want to heat your home again completely, you usually need more energy than before!
You should, therefore, turn your heating down a few degrees before you leave the house!
3. Heat the bathroom before use
Bathrooms are often only heated up just before use on cold days. However, according to “Viessmann Climate Solutions,” this is a mistake, as although the air in the room is heated, the walls remain cold. The moisture from showers can also condense on the walls and become the perfect breeding ground for mould.
4. Concealed radiator
Put the sofa in front of the radiator? It may sound like a clever move when furnishing your home. It can cause the heating to suffer. Furniture placed in front of radiators can “swallow” the heat emitted, making your furniture cozy and warm but leaving the room cold.
Better: give the radiator at least half a meter of free space so warm air can circulate. The same applies to covering radiators with curtains. However, as reported, thick curtains can undoubtedly save energy. Keeping them closed overnight also keeps the cold out better.
Don’t get into the habit of drying laundry on the radiator! Here, too, the heat builds up in the clothes rather than the room, and the wet laundry increases the humidity. Mold alarm!
5. Ventilate the wrong way
Do you like to tilt your windows in the hope that they will extract less heat and you can still enjoy fresh air in your room? No way! As “Utopia” explains, tilted windows hardly ensure adequate air exchange and instead contribute to the walls near the windows cooling down.
As a result, your heating system has to “work” harder to compensate for the lost heat. It is, therefore, better to give your home a regular airing during the day! Open the windows for a few minutes to air out thoroughly. Important: In the bedroom, you should air the room first thing in the morning – the humidity rises exceptionally high in bedrooms at night.
- source: k.at/picture: pixabay.com
This post has already been read 7748 times!