A heating expert has issued a warning to households across the UK, who may be waiting to turn their heating on and avoid large bills.
The expert has noted that waiting to crank the thermostat up could cause "unnecessary" problems", reported the Mirror. Approximately 22 million homes will see energy bills rise rapidly by 6.5 per cent from October 2022.
This news comes as a result of rising wholesale gas prices, and the new staggering energy price cap. Due to this, many UK households have vowed to put off keeping their heating on until the last minute.
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However, founder of Avenue Heating and expert, Winston Davies, has warned of the potential dangers of putting off the inevitable. He also revealed the exact date that people should be sticking their thermostat up.
Winston told the Express: "Whilst we’re still in high double-digits, I don’t think it’s necessary to have your heating switched on just yet.
"However, that said, you should be turning your heating on once a week for half an hour, just to keep the moving parts from seizing up when you actually need them.
“The biggest downside is that people don’t turn their system on all summer and then try and use it when it’s really cold, only to find it doesn’t work!
"There are ball bearings in pumps and other hydraulic components that can seize up if not used regularly.”
In order to avoid unnecessary heating problems, the expert shared that October 1 2022 is the best time to begin turning on your heating. He also revealed that leaving it on at a lower temperature of 16 degrees Celsius for a couple hours each day is enough to "warm up" the system.
Winston also explained that using heating consistently is more useful in keeping costs to a minimum - without compromising your health or comfort.
Winston continued: "If you have a digital thermostat, you can select a certain temperature (we use 18C in our house) and leave the heating on.
"But it will only come on if the temperature goes below what it has been set to. This is a great way of keeping an ambient temperature on a budget."
For those who don't have access to digital heating controls, an alternative is to set a timer on the heating to come on and off at different points during the day.
The expert added: "The issue with this is that if it is freezing and you have to get up early and the programmer isn’t set to an earlier time, it can be quite uncomfortable.”
Winston also noted that another issue that may arise is finding a heating company to fix any problems caused by not using the central heating system. He concluded: "Not only are you then left with the almost impossible task of finding a good heating company when ‘silly-season’ has arrived, but allowing your home to drop to anything below 10 degrees could really start to cause problems."
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