Finding the best way to heat your house has become somewhat of a science nowadays – of course you want it to be nice and warm, but isn’t that easier said than done when you consider how prices for natural gas and heating oil have gone through the roof in recent months? And what about the moisture content of the air? If the relative humidity is too high then there’s a real risk of mould forming – mould that can seriously affect your health and damage your possessions. Too low and you can quickly end up with dry, itchy skin, chapped lips and a sore throat and a barking cough to go with it.
What many people do not realise, however, is that you can actually save yourself a tidy sum and more importantly perhaps protect yourself, your family and your property if you are prepared to say goodbye to one or two popular myths which are commonly associated with heating and ventilation:
Myth Number 1:
Remember to turn off the heating before you go to work or if you’re gone for the day – that way you can make substantial savings on your energy bill
Wrong. And as is the case with most myths, one which might prove hard to shake off because it has been around for so long. If you’ve been away all day and return to a cold home or flat, you will require a substantial amount of energy, and end up paying an equally substantial amount of hard-earned money, to heat up the rooms to a comfortable level. This revelation might take some getting used to, but you really should turn the heating up a little while you’re away from home in order to prevent the walls, and subsequently the room, from cooling down. Not only are you saving a nice sum in the long run, you also have the added benefit of no longer wanting to put off coming home in the evening because you simply can’t bear the thought of a coming home to a cold, dark, empty house.
Myth Number 2:
Turn the thermostat all the way up when it’s cold – that way it only takes half as long to heat up the room
Wrong again. A thermostat doesn’t work like a kitchen tap. You can’t heat up a room faster by turning up the thermostat. You are just producing more heat and wasting precious energy. A thermostat is designed to maintain a constant temperature level. Each notch on your thermostat equates to a temperature difference of about 4C. So by turning your thermostat all the way up you are not heating your room faster, you are heating it up until it has reached a temperature of roughly 28C! Now depending on what you’re planning on doing this is normally going to be way too hot!
Myth Number 3:
There’ s no need to open the window all the way when you want to ventilate your room. Just open it a crack to stop too much heat from escaping through the window.
Yes, you’ve guessed it. Wrong again. Rooms have to be ventilated properly. And the only way to get rid of the stale air in the room is to replace it with fresh air from the outside. Open the window wide for a few minutes and if possible open a door to create a draught so that the cold winter air which can hold more moisture than the previously warm air enters the room thereby effectively reducing the air humidity. The cold air does not take long to heat up again and the walls do not have enough time to cool down. You only use up a lot of energy when you need to heat up a room with cold walls – which is exactly what happens when you open the window a crack instead of airing properly. And because the cold air from outside heats up again quickly it condenses on the cold walls and provides the ideal breeding grounds for mould and mildew.
Myth Number 4:
There is no need for you to heat your bedroom – just leave the door open
You couldn’t be more wrong. And this is a myth which could cost you dearly. When the warm and therefore moister air from the rooms which have been heated makes its way into the cold bedroom it ends up condensing on the cold bedroom walls. And wet walls mean mould. Mould that can first fester unnoticed and then develop into a health hazard and a real threat to your possessions. What’s more you are not actually saving at all, because by turning off the heating in the bedroom the radiator in the other room has the task of heating both rooms. So the only real choice that you have is toeither keep the doors closed or all the radiators turned on.
So as we said before – time to say goodbye to a few myths and time to start saving on your next energy bill.
And if you have now decided that these warnings are to be taken seriously you may wish to take a closer look at the T260 thermohygrometer, a highly sophisticated measuring device which can provide you with exact information on the temperature, the surface temperature and the relative humidity thereby giving you the chance to nip mould in the bud and stop it from wrecking your life.
