IF you want to save money on your energy bills, a key way to cut your costs is to stop heat leaking from your home.
Phil Steele, future technologies specialist at energy provider Octopus Energy, says: “The quicker heat escapes, the harder your boiler has to work to keep your house at the right temperature – meaning you are paying for energy which is literally going out the window.”
You can prevent heat loss by draught-proofing, particularly around doors and windows, and insulating surfaces where heat escapes easily, like an uninsulated roof, wall or single-glazed window.
But installing loft or cavity wall insulation or double-glazed windows can cost thousands – and isn’t always practical, especially if you rent your home.
Instead, you can try cheaper tricks to reduce draughts and trap warm air inside, such as putting up curtains, adding draught excluders and installing secondary glazing (coverings for single-glazed windows).
Reducing draughts and heat loss in this way could lower your heating costs by between 10% and 20% Steele says.
“When you warm a house, you’re warming the air. But draughts let warm air leak out and radiation of heat through material [like walls and doors] also lets heat escape,” he adds.
“By cutting off draughts and adding layers, you’re trapping warm air inside.”
Our writer Rosie Taylor tried four cheap DIY heat-saving hacks to stop heat escaping from her home: draught-proofing the front door, replacing blinds with curtains, installing secondary window film and insulating a draughty loft hatch.
Steele predicts these small changes have reduced her bills by up to 20%.
And with the average home costing around £1,300 per year to keep warm (under the current energy price cap), this means a saving of up to £260.
Octopus Energy loaned Rosie a thermal imaging camera to check out how effective her heat-saving hacks were.
Customers with the supplier struggling to pay their bills can apply online to borrow one too, so they can identify heat loss spots and make simple changes to keep their homes warmer.
But even without one Rosie's tests show the small fixes that can add up to big savings around the home: here's what she found.
The blue areas on the camera show where heat is escaping from the home, while orange and yellow areas show where heat is being retained inside.
Cheap draught fix
The dark blue areas on thermal camera showed heat was escaping around the edges of my front door, but also through the wooden door itself.
Draught-proofing windows and doors is an easy way to save around £60 per year off your heating bills, according to the Energy Saving Trust.
And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune.
I covered the door with a curtain - bought from a charity shop for £1 – and fixed it in place with a wooden pole from a DIY store, costing £3, using screw-in hooks.
I also added a draught excluder, which cost from £7 at Dunelm or Amazon.
You can also make your own for free using a folded old blanket or towel.
DIY double glazing
Heat escapes quickly through single-glazed windows, but fitting double glazing can be costly and isn’t always possible – especially if you’re not a homeowner.
A cheap temporary solution is window film, which is a type of secondary glazing. The clear plastic film covers your window.
You stick it in place by attaching it to the edges of your frames with sticky tape, then sealing it with a hairdryer – the heat shrinks it slightly, forming a tight seal.
“The film itself has no insulation quality but it traps air which acts as an increased layer of insulation on the window,” explains Steele.
When properly installed, you can’t even see it is there - wrinkles in the film are a sign it hasn’t been fitted with a tight enough seal.
It costs from around £2.30 per square metre – or around £5 for a large sash window.
In the bedroom, I fitted film on the lower pane of the sash window and the thermal imaging camera showed it kept it around 1C warmer than the uncovered pane.
Cover leaky lofts
“Hot air rises upwards and can easily escape through a poorly-insulated loft hatch or roof,” says Steele.
The blue area captured by the thermal camera showed a huge amount of warmth was disappearing through my loft hatch, which was made of one thin layer of wood, without insulation.
So I pulled an old duvet over the opening to keep it covered when it wasn’t in use.
The duvet was being stored in the loft anyway, so it cost nothing - but it instantly made a big difference.
For extra heat-loss protection, you could attach foam draught excluders around the edge of your loft hatch.
These cost from around £2.95 for 5 metres.
Swap blinds for curtains
The camera revealed heat was rapidly escaping through a bay window which was fitted with blinds.
Adding curtains and keeping them drawn once the sun goes down can keep heat trapped inside.
I bought a set of blackout curtains (from £40) and a hanging rail (from £16) from Dunelm – but you can find cheap curtains in charity shops or recycling centres.
Although this was my most costly heat-loss fix, it saved the greatest amount of heat, increasing the temperature inside the window area by 5.5C.
The camera showed I still had a problem with heat-loss through the walls of the bay, which were constructed from a single layer of brick without insulation.
For greater heat-loss protection, I could get professional wall insulation installed. However, this is likely to cost around £500.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk