My Home Energy Advice Visit

Recently I had a visit from an energy advisor from Greener Kirkcaldy’s Cosy Kingdom energy advice service. We were having some issues heating up our home and felt the boiler was not working the way it should. We were getting an average of 16°C and no matter what we did with the heater it would not get any warmer. We initially thought the big floor to sealing window in our living room was to blame, but after we covered this with a woollen blanket to retain more heat the temperature only rose to 17°C on average. So we contacted Greener Kirkcaldy and arranged a visit from one of their energy advisors.

The Visit

We filled in a few information sheets about how much electricity and gas we use; what kind of heating system we have and what kind of boiler we use. As we already do rather well on our energy bill there was no need to look into the bills in too much detail but GK’s energy advisors can also give you advice on how to improve or understand your energy bills.
We use an average of 150 kWh of electricity and 665 kWh of gas a month (Gas is higher in winter lower in summer). If you look at the numbers in the UK then we are well below average for a 2 bedroom house (source). So then we had a look at our boiler and heaters. We have a combi boiler and radiators with a thermostat in every room. We had them all on low except the living room and this was our error as we were loosing all our heat to the rest of the house.

The energy advisor helped us adjust the thermostats to an average of 2 and 3 in the living room. After finding a manual online for our boiler, he helped us choose the auto timer setting to have the boiler run a few times a day for about 30 to 45 minutes. Now our home is a comfortable 19/21°C and our gas usage is actually slightly lower.

The energy advisor also gave us a few cool gadgets that will help us save that little bit more:

• A shower timer

It gives you 4 minutes for a shower – the length of a water efficient shower. Could you take a shower in 4 minutes? I tried and well lets just say, I need some more practice.

• A thermostat

We put this in our bedroom to keep an eye on the temperature there as we already have one in our living room.

• A energy saver plug

This helps you save energy by not letting your TV stay on standby, but switching the power off for you. It even has a infra-red sensor so you can use your normal TV remote to do this.

Do you want help getting a better grip on your current energy use? You can get your very own home visit from Greener Kirkcaldy’s energy advisors, whether you’re a tenant or a home owner. To request a visit, fill in the form here, call 01592 858458, or pop into the High Street Hub, 254a High Street, Wednesday to Saturday, 10am – 4pm.