A weather expert has warned of a widespread cold snap, with snow and ice likely to hit much of the country in the coming days – and is now urging UK homeowners to take action
UK households are being advised to “cover their letterboxes” by one heating expert. It comes as a significant issue sweeps across England following Storm Goretti, which has caused temperatures to plummet nationwide.
The Met Office has issued new yellow warnings for ice this week in the latest cold spell to slam into the country. Potential flooding is also looking likely in the south due to rain warnings also set for Thursday (January 15).
In an effort to help households stay warm, Joanna O’Loan, knowledge manager at the Energy Saving Trust, has provided some useful advice. As well as this, Sam Jump, head of business development at underfloor heating specialist the Wunda Group, gave some vital tips on what to do when temperatures begin to drop.
“During a cold snap, there are several simple ways that homeowners can cut down energy usage to save money on their heating bills without switching the heating off,” Jump explained. “The single most effective way of making your heating work more efficiently is to identify and address areas of heat loss.”
Jump warns households to be vigilant of draughts, as homes can lose up to 20 per cent of their warmth through windows and external doors, according to Birmingham Live. As a result, looking at any potential areas where colder air could seep into the house is vital to try and stop the loss of heat.
“Audit and seal any gaps where even the slightest draught could be creeping through, and keep both internal and external doors closed, or better yet, invest in an external letterbox and some draught excluders,” Sam suggested. “Investing in heavy or thermal-lined curtains will yield the best results,” he advises.
Sam also recommended blocking keyholes as well as letterboxes. Meanwhile, O’Loan urged that homeowners should not leave the heating on all day, as it will bring high costs, reports the Mirror.
“There isn’t a set number of hours your heating should be on each day, because the most efficient way to heat your home depends on your heating, home and your routine,” she admitted. However, she advised to tune the heating to come on for 30 minutes before you wake up and 30 minutes before you go to bed.
James Madden from Exacta Weather stated: “The most recent and latest GFS (Global Forecast System) and ECM (European Model) runs continue as before and will now bring and see temperatures dropping to something significantly colder across our shores during next week (strong pattern recognition and good cross-model agreement on something COLD). Additionally, the overall prospects will vary in arrival and timings and cold/snow prospects from run to run for much of this week.”
Mr Madden added: “And it is more likely to be later in the week or towards the upcoming weekend before we can use these with confidence to help judge the overall scale for cold and snow severity from the incoming cold and expected widespread snow events on our part.” However, this is the perfect opportunity to be smart with heating the home and to ensure that savings can be made on bills.
Joanna’s main advice for helping to bring down the bills is to get an efficient boiler, adding that while it might be expensive to buy one, the savings do eventually help pay itself off. She added there are grants available for people to avail of to help reduce the cost to the pocket.
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