A FEW simple changes to his boiler settings has helped Tim Jones save £100 on his gas bill – and it took him just a matter of minutes.
Switching off his boiler's pre-heat setting and turning down the temperature has helped him lower his energy costs.
His gas bill before he made the changes in September last year stood at £380.
His latest gas bill a year after he made the energy saving tweaks now stands at £278 – nearly £100 less.
IT professional Tim, 43, began to look at ways to shave money off his bills last winter, when prices began to soar due to the energy crisis.
He noticed his energy usage – and bills – spiked during winter when the heating is switched on.
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"I wanted to understand what we used as a household so I had a smart meter installed," he said.
"That really turned a light on our energy consumption – I wanted to drive down my usage."
While researching energy saving tips online, he realised he could potentially save hundreds of pounds by simply changing the settings on his boiler.
You can buy gadgets which connect your boiler to your wifi, allowing you to monitor how much energy your boiler is using through an app.
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You can also see how much it is costing you to run.
Tim bought one of these gadgets to check out how much he was saving on his gas bill by logging how much less energy his boiler needed to run after changing his boiler's settings.
Switching off the boiler's preheat setting has saved Tim £51 a year.
Boilers are often installed with the pre-heat setting turned on – which is a function that provides you with instant hot water.
But Tim discovered it was driving his energy bills up.
"The preheat setting on my boiler was using 1.92kwh of gas every hour of every day, which was costing me £51 a year," he said.
"All I had to do was switch this setting off – it was so simple to do and saves me £51 now it's switched off."
Tim also turned down his boiler's flow temperature to save even more money.
The tip only works if you have a combi-boiler.
Typically boilers come pre-set to a temperature that is far higher than needed, this doesn't make your home warmer, but it can add massively to your bills and emissions.
The flow settings on your boiler control the temperature that hot water is heated to before it comes out the taps.
"Boilers tend to be set to too high temperatures – mine was set to 74 degrees, but I worked out that it was working just as well at 60 degrees," Tim said.
Octopus says you can save 8% on your energy bills turning down the temperature on your boiler.
Tim has also put reflective foil behind his radiators and draught-proofed his home to help him save even more money.
Instead of your radiator blowing hot air at the wall, if you put the foil behind the radiator, it will reflect it.
According to British Gas engineer Joanna Flowers, the trick could save you £20 a year.
How else can I slash my energy bills?
Tumble dryers are one of the biggest energy guzzlers, costing around £1.27 per cycle, according to Uswitch.
Turn it off at the switch and use a clothes horse instead to dry your clothes for free.
Turning your thermostat down just one degree can save you £100, the Energy Saving Trust says.
While properly draught proofing your house can save £45 a year – you can use old socks and towels to put up against your door.
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