Given the relatively high price of home heating oil in the UK, most families are understandably very cautious about their oil usage. However, when the frost is on the ground, your home needs to be warm, especially if there are young children or elderly persons present.
We all know that setting the timer is a sensible idea and only having the heating switched on for a few hours each day will reduce your oil consumption. Keeping the boiler or room thermostats at a lower level will also reduce usage levels but there are a few other steps that we can take to keep costs in line with the family budget and some of the savings are really attractive.
As we have previously covered, OFTEC registered boiler servicing is always highly recommended to achieve better boiler efficiency and the service should e carried out every 12 months to avoid excess carbon build up. An additional service which many heating engineers or plumbers can provide involves fitting a “Magnaclean filter” on to the home heating system for improved efficiency. The majority of heating systems systems suffer from black iron oxide contamination. This creates thick sludge like deposits which are the result of corrosion taking place within radiators and other metallic components.
The filter attaches to any point on the main heating oil circuit but it is ideally located between the last radiator and the boiler. As the water circulates, the magnet removes all the red metal particles (and also the non-magnetic parts) that have built up in the water.
Replacing the old water in the heating system with fresh water and flushing all of the radiators with a cleaning agent whilst using a drill hammer to tap all the radiators will clear any excess particle build-up throughout the entire heating system.
According to ADEY professional heating solutions the system ‘Saves up to 6% a year on heating energy bills’ and customers who have had the MagnaClean installed report that the boiler was able to heat every radiator in every room in half the time that it normally takes. As a result of the filter rooms heat up quicker and the room thermostats then kick in much earlier. Some customers are reporting that their home now heats up in about 1/3 of the time it used to take.
Given the tough economic times we would highly recommend asking your local OFTEC registered engineer or plumber for an estimated cost of having the filter supplied and fitted as in the long run it will inevitably save you money on your heating oil bills.
