Glow-worm blog

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone at Glow-worm!

Wishing all our customers, visitors to the blog and staff a prosperous 2009 - see you on the other side!

Seasons greetings,

Sally and the needanewboiler.com team

Reports from the Met office this week have confirmed that the first third of December has been the coldest start to winter in more than 30 years.

The average temperature was just 1.7C compared to the long-term average 4.7C suggesting that the season could buck the trend for very mild winters.

Cold weather can cause all sorts of problems from common colds to serious health problems like pneumonia.  The Government’s Keep Warm Keep Well campaign offers some great advice on staying warm this winter with the overall aim to reduce cold related illnesses and deaths during winter.

Here are some top tips for keeping warm and well:

 1. Insulate your home
Fit draught proof insulation in your walls and attic space. Grants are available from your energy supplier – check whether you are eligible.

2. Update and improve your heating system
It may seem like a big initial investment, but a new heating system could save you up to £210 off your energy bills a year!

3. Get financial support
The Pension Service, the Warm Front Scheme and the Home Heat Helpline offer advice to increase energy efficiency and reduce fuel bills. You should make sure you claim all the benefits you are entitled to.

4. Heat well
Try to keep a temperature of 21ºC (70ºF) in the main rooms you use during the day; your bedroom should be kept above 18 degrees.  Use a hot water bottle or electric blanket (not both for safety reasons) if your bedroom is cold at night.

5. Dress well
Wear plenty of layers and put on a good coat, hat, scarf and gloves when you go outside to help you keep warm.

6. Eat well
Food is a vital source of warmth, so try to have regular hot meals and drinks throughout the day.

7. Keep moving
Moving around is good for your health and generates extra body heat, so any exercise or activity will help keep you warm. If possible, try and move around at least once an hour.

8. Stop smoking
Stopping smoking will boost your health for the winter, reduce your chances of a heart attack and improve your body’s circulation.

9. Get a flu jab
This is available free from your GP if you are 65 or over, or if you have a serious respiratory condition, heart, kidney or liver disease, diabetes or lowered immunity, or if you have had a stroke.

10. Stay safe, look out for neighbours
Get your heating system serviced and your chimney swept every year – be aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning and protect yourself against them. If you have an older neighbour or relative, keep an eye out for them in the winter months and make sure they are safe and well.

Check www.campaigns.direct.gov.uk/keepwarmkeepwell for further information on the campaign.

A quarter of Britain’s households plan to turn down the heating or even stop using it this winter to save on energy bills, according to a recent survey by moneysupermarket.com.

The survey showed that almost 90 percent of about 25 million households planned cost-cutting measures to tackle high energy bills, including more than 750,000 who intended not to switch on the heating at all.

But homes needn’t be left out in the cold this winter as the latest heating controls can help to maintain a constant temperature when you need it most.  Coupled with the latest high efficiency boilers from Glow-worm, homes across the UK can significantly reduce the energy consumed by many older, gas guzzling models.

It’s also important to remember that there are other ways to reduce your heating bills such as investing in thick lined curtains and improving your loft insulation.  Check out the Energy Saving Trust website for ideas and inspiration.

Cost cutting measures don’t have to be expensive or inconvenient – simple steps like wearing an extra layer in bed and not relying on the heating to dry your laundry can really make a difference.

We’re delighted to announce that the Glow-worm blog and unique online boiler calculator have been recognised at the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) awards.

With the help of our PR agency at Dig For Fire in Sheffield we beat off stiff competition at the regional awards ceremony in Leeds to win gold in the much coveted Best Use of New Media category.

Praised by the judges for its links to wider communications with customers, the blog is being admired far and wide.

Congratulations to everyone at Glow-worm, Dig For Fire, customers and visitors to the blog of course!

The 20th to 26th October is National Energy Saving Week – are you doing your bit? Glow-worm is encouraging customers, staff and anyone visiting needanewboiler.com to get on board with national energy saving week to save energy.

The aim of the week, which is organised by the Energy Saving Trust, is to help consumers learn how they can reduce their carbon footprint.  It will also demonstrate how significant savings can be made in money, energy and time.

As Karen Lawrence, head of advice, at the Energy Saving Trust explains:
“Climate change is arguably one of the most important global issues now affecting millions of UK households.  It is no longer just a Government problem to be tackled on a policy level, but something everyone is thinking about on a daily basis.  We’ve all been asked to change certain daily habits: dustbin-days have gone topsy-turvy as councils re-think their recycling programmes, major supermarkets now charge shoppers for carrier bags forcing us to think twice before using plastic bags.

“We’re constantly being shown targets and timelines – telling us what the nation has to achieve and by when – to help fight climate change.  But how on earth are we expected to fit an eco-rich lifestyle into our time-poor lives?  Energy Saving Week is the perfect opportunity to discover your green/life balance.  We’re urging people to take time to make time to change their household habits to help fight climate change.”

If your boiler was installed before April 2005 it is worth checking to see if it is high efficiency.  All Glow-worm boilers are high efficiency which means that as well as being kinder to the environment they could also save you money.

Get in touch with an installer in your area to find out if your boiler is a high efficiency boiler – if it isn’t, they can help you to find the right boiler and help you reduce your gas bills

According to a recent survey commissioned by the Energy Saving Trust, 60% of people believe that in light of the current economic climate, homebuyers are more likely to consider the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) to get a property with lower running costs.

In fact 68% of those people surveyed don’t want a highly energy inefficient F or G rated home so you could actually be putting buyers off if you don’t invest in reducing your home’s carbon footprint whether you are selling your house now or in the near future.

Added to that, with fuel costs still rising and the spotlight on all things ‘eco’, a good EPC rating could actually make your home more valuable.

With 90% of us believing that feeling warm is key to having a nice home, purchasing a new high efficiency boiler from Glow-worm is not only a great way to keep cosy it is also a sound investment.

Saving money, attracting buyers or just enjoying feeling comfortable in your new your home – why not take a look at the Energy Saving Trust website to check you are doing all you can to reduce the energy wasted in your home.

We never tire of money saving advice here at Glow-worm and we’re sure that you don’t either.  We’ve written a fair amount here on needanewboiler.com about how to save money. Now our friends at the Energy Saving Trust have come up with some more great advice to help you save even more at home.Follow these tips to help cope with rising energy prices:

* Look for cavities - around 33% of the heat lost in an uninsulated home is through the walls, so insulating them can be one of the most cost-effective ways to save energy in the home. Not all buildings are suitable, but if your house was built between the 1920s and 1980s it could be a candidate for cavity wall insulation, saving up to £120 on annual heating bills.

* Fridge freezers are the most hardworking appliances in kitchens - UK households use £1.8 billion worth of electricity on refrigeration and freezing alone every year. To help cut costs, do not leave the door open longer than necessary, as cold air will escape. Avoid putting hot food into the fridge, defrost the freezer regularly and check the door seals are working properly.

* Look out for the energy saving recommended logo when buying new electrical appliances. The logo appears on a growing range of products - from light bulbs to laundry appliances, indicating the most energy efficient appliances which are also cheaper to run. Replacing an old, energy inefficient fridge-freezer with a new energy saving recommended you could save up to £34 a year.

* An insulating jacket for hot water tanks costs only a few pounds and pays for itself within months. Fit one that is at least 75mm (3″) thick to save around £30 a year. If every UK household fitted a jacket on their tank tomorrow, that would save around £130 million of energy every year.

* Loft insulation keeps the heat in a house. If a loft is uninsulated, about 15% of what a household is paying for heating could be escaping through the roof.

As the nights draw ever closer, households across the UK are beginning to enter the great heating debate – ‘When can we put the heating on?!’

It’s a physiological fact that men have higher body temperatures than women which often means women will feel the cold first and be more inclined to put the heating on before their male housemates.  

From a more practical point of view adequate boiler controls could really make a difference.  

Intelligent Glow-worm controls such as Climastat, a room stat that controls room temperature and Climapro and Climapro RF, programmable room thermostats that have two channels, enable you to set the heating and hot water to come on together or at totally different times of the day.

The seven day programmable function allows you to set a different programme for every day of the week if you need this. These controls also ‘talk’ to the boiler to maintain a constant room temperature, in other words keep it at a continuous level, rather than switching the heating on and off to try and achieve the desired temperature.

And, the easy push buttons on boilers, such as the Ultracom 24hxi, ensure that you can change your heating easily and at whim, eradicating all those arguments whereby you put up with temperature because the setting is just too difficult to alter!

Put your personal insulation jacket on

Next time you feel the chill ask yourself if you need to turn the thermostat up or could you simply put on a jumper?
Research from the Energy Saving Trust, has shown that around a third of UK households are overheating their homes. This means that they are collectively squandering up to £332 million a year as well as wasting 2.8m tonnes of CO2 a year.  That’s bad for the environment and for your bank balance!

Consumer body Which? has voted the Glow-worm Ultracom 24hxi ‘Best Buy’ in its  latest boiler report.

Commended for exceptional levels of efficiency, low emissions and ease of installation, servicing and use, the heat-only boiler scored an impressive 78% in this most recent round of tests.

Not just a great option for the installer, the boiler was also praised for being incredibly easy to use, with the simple + and – panel buttons making operation a doddle for homeowners too.

The Which? ‘Best Buy’ status is awarded to the very best products and services tested by Which? This well regarded accolade is only awarded to products or services which achieve the highest results after rigorous comparative testing and analysis, so you can be confident that the Ultracom 24hxi (like all our boilers!) will live up to your high expectations.

With other tips for homeowners to help fight the price rises for gas and oil, the September issue of Which? is sure to provide an interesting read for those of you keen to watch the pennies and buy the most energy efficient products to help the environment.

When we launched the industry’s first boiler calculator in August last year we had no idea just how popular it would be.

After being online for less than a year we are pleased to report that results have far surpassed our expectation with the 100,000th user having recently completed their own calculation. 

The calculator helps people find the right boiler for their home and situation with questions on the house type, number of baths and sinks helping to find the best match for each home.

Upon completing the boiler calculator you will be supplied with a recommendation which can be emailed and sent onto family or friends who may also be interested in seeing the results.

As well as listing all the product features and technical bits, the boiler calculator result will also allow you to input your postcode in order to find a number of local installers.

It’s a unique facility and it will help to find the best boiler for you.  What’s more it’ll help put you in touch with recommended installers, so you can be confident that you’ll get a great product and a great service.

Confused about what boiler to get?  Want to know the facts?  Click here to try the boiler calculator out for yourself.