Where your home is loosing the most heat

It is a question that so many home owners will ask. Especially as the temperatures start to drop at night. And while the answer varies depending on many factors sprcific to each home (like whether you live in a new build home or an older Victorian sandstone one), there are rough figures that we can provide that help to highlight the potential heat loss areas of your home.

35% – Uninsulated Walls

If your home has uninsulated walls then you could be loosing up to 35% of the total heat loss of your home through the walls alone. Older Victorian home that are so common in the West Coast, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire generally have an ‘air gap’ between the internal wall and the exterior sandstone wall. This is to allow the building to breath. It is the same reason that there will be a large ‘air gap’ space beneath the floor boards of your home and the actual ground beneath. Your home needs these air gaps to breath. Modern homes are built in a different way and can benefit from insulated walls.

25% – The roof

While heat loss varies from roof to roof, again depending on what level of insulation and reflective sheeting you have, it can be up to 25% of your total heat loss.

25% – Windows & Doors

Modern uPVC doors are a great way to seal your home from draughts. But if you have left the ‘trickle vents’ at the top of the door open then you can let a lot of colder air in.

Your front door will have a letter postal slot. Has it got any form of draught exclusion on it? If not then you are creating a nice entry point for cold air to get into your home. Double glazing is a great way to keep the heat in but if your home is older and has single glazed windows then you can expect to loose a lot more heat through them. So if you have thick curtains. Keep them shut at night to minimise the heat loss.

Windows and doors can loose up to 25% of your homes heat.

15% – Flooring

Wooden floors look lovely but they can be draughty and if there is no underfloor insulation, you can quickly find that your home will loose 15% of its heat through the flooring. Carpets and rugs are a good way of keeping the heat in.

Why does this matter?

It matters because understanding where your home is loosing heat from is the first step towards keeping more of it in. The benefit is that this will keep you warmer for longer and will keep your monthly heating bills down. If your home looses heat energy too quickly then your boiler has to work harder and for longer to heat the home. And the harder and longer a boiler has to work for, the more chances that it will develop a fault. Modern building construction and materials has made homes incredibly energy efficient. However older homes in Renfrewshire and the West Coast can suffer from multiple heat loss points.

At WrightGas, we obviously take pride in our boiler services but the core point in having a boiler is to keep your home warm and the hot tap hot. And we want our customers to get the full benefits of their boiler heat. Whether that comes from a new energy efficient boiler that we have installed or from an older boiler that we have serviced for you.

So from top tips in how to keep your house warm in winter to understanding where your heat energy is lost, it is all part of your homes heating ‘system’. And it can all help you to reduce your energy bills and get the best from your homes boiler.