With the clocks changing last weekend, dark nights are now upon us, a sure sign that winter is drawing closer. So with the colder months fast approaching, now’s the time to get your home winter-ready to ensure you and your family stay cozy and avoid cold-weather surprises.
As UKIFDA, the trade association for the liquid fuels distribution industry, launches its ‘Be Winter Wise and Prepare Now’ campaign, we’re going to look at what you can do to prepare your home for winter, and provide some useful advice for the many homeowners in rural, off-grid areas that rely on heating oil and/or LPG for their energy.
Keep your heating system well-maintained
If you haven’t had your boiler serviced yet this year, now is the time to act. Regular maintenance of your boiler by a professional heating engineer will ensure it works efficiently, reliably, and safely, preparing you for a more energy-efficient winter and helping to extend your boiler’s lifespan.
Energy costs have been at the forefront of all our minds over recent years as they’ve made headline news, and having your boiler regularly serviced cuts down on fuel usage potentially by as much as 10%, as well as helping early detection of issues which could later lead to bigger problems, including carbon monoxide detection, which is vitally important to the safety of your family.
Another reason to look after your boiler is that cold weather can impact our health. Older people and those with weakened immune systems or pre-existing health conditions are particularly vulnerable to the cold. So book your boiler service now – for heating oil users we would always recommend using an OFTEC registered engineer, and for those with LPG, a GAS SAFE engineer.
If you’re over 75 or chronically ill or disabled, whether you use heating oil, LPG or both, as a Northern Energy customer you can register for our Cold Weather Priority Scheme. It’s free to register, and you’ll receive priority fuel deliveries to ensure you’re not left in the cold without fuel.
Order ahead of the winter rush
With winter can come higher prices and the potential of weather-related delays. With both heating oil and LPG being delivered by road, deliveries throughout the winter months can be disrupted by difficult weather conditions as winter weather impacts. Also, higher demand can lead to extended delivery schedules, so think ahead, order in good time, and avoid the distress of looking across a snow-filled lawn at an empty tank.
Historically, heating oil prices rise in winter months due to the increased supply and demand we see every year once the cold weather hits. This is especially true in the build-up to Christmas. So by ordering your heating oil well before the build up to the festive season begins, you can potentially get a more favourable price and save a significant amount on your heating oil costs. Find out more about when to order your heating oil here.
Budget ahead
If the thought of big winter bills make you shudder, plan ahead and speak to your supplier about payment options. Many suppliers offer monthly payment plans to help you budget and spread the cost, making large winter bills more manageable and reducing financial stress.
The Northern Energy Premium Package* offers customers just that – and interest-free too. It also comes with a 2 pence per litre discount off every heating oil delivery, and an upgrade to Premium Heating oil which contains an additive, is more economical, and has been specially formulated to optimize the performance of your boiler. And for LPG users, with the Northern Energy LPG Package*, customers receive VAT paid deliveries.
If you are struggling with high energy costs, the first recommendation is to speak to your supplier. And the UK Government also provides a range of financial support to help with heating bills for those on certain benefits, such as the Warm Home Discount and the Cold Weather Payment schemes.
Keep the cold out and the warmth in
Keeping your home nice and toasty in the winter months is important for your comfort. But even with your heating running, you can lose heat through your doors and windows, so take some simple measures to tackle heat loss.
You can prevent heat from escaping by insulating doors and windows – and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Effective draught excluder strips can be bought for just a few pounds from your local DIY to block gaps around windows and doors to prevent warm air from escaping which will mean your heating system won’t need to work as hard to keep your home warm, lowering your heating costs.
Don’t forget to protect yourself from frozen pipes which can burst when thawing and cause flooding and damage to your home. So whilst you’re down at the DIY, buy some pipe insulation tubes to lag your pipes and add a layer of protection, preventing your pipes from freezing.
It’s also a good time to check for missing or cracked roof tiles and to clear gutters and downpipes which may have been clogged by falling autumn leaves. Remove any foreign objects, check for signs of holes or cracks and deal with them now to prevent problems as the weather gets colder and wetter.
Get your car winter-ready
Make sure you’re a step ahead of winter weather and make the time to get your car prepped. It’s illegal to drive with low levels of tread on your vehicle’s tyres, so check the tyre tread depth to make sure they’re legal and you have adequate tread, and check the air pressure. The RAC, which has some great winter driving advice, recommends changing your tyres before they get to the low limit – the legal tyre tread depth for cars in the UK is 1.6mm. Check your coolant level and add antifreeze, and add a screen wash additive to keep your windscreen free of winter road grime.
Put together a winter car kit – an ice scraper, de-icer, jump leads, a blanket and in-car phone charger are all easy items to put together in a basic winter car kit and will come in handy in freezing weather conditions.
We hope you’ve found this helpful, but don’t forget we’re always on the end of the phone and ready to help and advise. We’ll be out and about delivering this winter, and if you need a top up now to ensure you’re winter-ready, call us on 01423 770 666 for heating oil or go online, and for LPG, call us on 01423 772 789.
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