Combat the 2021 Energy Price Hike with Two Super Simple Fixes
In the wake of the first UK national lockdown and all of the uncertainty surrounding it, the energy price cap dropped by £84 to its lowest level in years for the winter period. Those savings were invaluable whilst we were all spending more and more time at home, during those high energy months! Now things are returning back to ‘normal’, wholesale prices for energy are once again on the rise. In fact, Ofgem have announced an increase in the price cap for the 6 months from April 2021 – which in practice means that consumers are facing a hike in …
Preparing Your Home for an Unexpected Cold Snap
Who can forget those big old March snowstorms of three years ago? The ones that ground the UK to a halt and huddled the whole country under a frozen blanket. The weather in the UK, and further afield, is getting increasingly unpredictable with cold spells like that one seemingly coming from nowhere, potentially causing all kinds of problems in unprepared homes. The good news is that however unexpected a cold front might be, there are some easy things you can do to make sure you don’t end up forking out for damage that is easily preventable. PressureSentry It’s important to …
Tackling Fuel Poverty in 2021
In England one in every nine households (2.4 million) live in fuel poverty. A further 500,000 live within just £30 of going into fuel poverty. This year the energy regulator Ofgem has lifted its cap on fuel bills in the UK, allowing providers to increase tariffs which could cost millions of households an extra £100 per year. In fact, one of the biggest energy suppliers – British Gas – has already implemented the increase among its customers. Those who simply cannot afford such a price hike will of course look for other ways to reduce their energy costs, which generally …
Three things you can do during a lockdown
No matter how much we may love our homes, did any of us think we’d be spending quite so much time in them over the last 12 months? Whilst the first lockdown was all about the outside space and getting those gardens ready for a long, hot summer of staying at home, Lockdown 3.0 is a different beast altogether. January and February, commonly the coldest months of the British year, bring with them plummeting temperatures and escalating heating bills; at a time when many have found themselves redundant from work, or on reduced furlough wages, a lot of people across …
Don’t let your boiler fail you this Christmas
Christmas is normally a time of great comfort for people; getting to spend quality time with your family, enjoy a few days off work, exchange presents and eat a delicious Christmas dinner. Yet that reassuring safety and familiarity is under threat this winter, in one of the most tumultuous and unpredictable years in living memory. With swathes of the UK living under high level restrictions due to Covid-19 and the looming threat of a second wave of the disease, it’s difficult to know what is going to happen in the weeks and months leading up to Christmas. The current tougher …
Autumn’s erratic weather can put strain on our boilers
Autumn is a strange time of year. We picture it as being a time where the summer sunshine is simply cooling off and giving way to cloudier and cooler weather, with a bit more rain and the leaves falling off the trees. But as a season of transition, it’s more complicated than that, with rain one day giving way to sunshine the next and the sunshine giving way to frost the next. British weather is renowned for being changeable all year round but it seems more changeable than ever in the autumn months! This autumn is set to be no …
What to do if your boiler loses pressure
With the depths of winter on the way in the months ahead, you’ll want to take whatever steps you can to make sure your heating system is working properly and you’ll be able to keep your home warm for you and your family. One of the more common reasons that heating systems break down in winter is a loss in pressure; your boiler must be at the correct pressure for hot water to circulate properly between your radiators. The good news is that low pressure is relatively easy to diagnose and on some occasions, put it right yourself. To help …
Avoid costly pressure loss in your heating system this winter
As much as we all might want to deny it, it’s just too chilly to ignore the cold, hard truth; we’re now well into autumn and heading towards the coldest months of the year. That inevitably means we will all be putting our heating back on, often for the first time in months. Stagnant heating systems can lead to problems There are few things more comforting when the weather gets cold than coming home, flicking on the heating and curling up on the sofa in a warm house. Yet firing up the boiler for the first time after a long …
Keeping your home warm during the coldest spell of the year
Late February and early March can be an odd time of year; with Christmas over and the evenings drawing out, it feels like it should be getting warmer, but statistics say it tends to get colder and the weather often takes a turn for the worst; enter Storm Ciara and Dennis! But as we move further into February and the chances of snow and a severe cold snap increase, there’s no need to let your home get cold too. After all, when you’re getting home from a long day, there’s nothing more comforting than getting into a warm house, sitting …
How PressureSentry can help your housing association save money this winter
The cold winter months are approaching, which means that people up and down the country are beginning to put on an extra layer, cosy up under blankets and fire up their heating systems for the first time in months. But cranking up the heating following a long period of inactivity puts added pressure on systems components, increasing the risk of boiler breakdown just when heating is needed most. It’s a worry for housing associations in the UK; with all their tenants flicking on the heating again, if a handful of those people encounter boiler problems it could lead to bills …
