The money saving expert said turning down your boiler’s flow temperature (Picture: Getty/REX)
Martin Lewis revealed a little-known boiler hack which can help households save more than £100 this winter.
As the cost of living crisis continues to grip the country, people have been looking to the money saving expert to help manage soaring bills.
During his segment on ITV last night, Mr Lewis highlighted the Moneysavingboilerchallenge.com, telling viewers it was a simple way to help bring down costs.
It relates to the flow temperature of your boiler, which regulates how high water is heated before it goes around your radiators.
Many condensing combi boilers are still set to their factory setting, which usually sits around 70°C to 80°C.
This setting can let heat escape out of the flue and into the street, thereby wasting energy.
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Households can save up to £112 a year by just turning the flow temperature down to 60C (Picture: Getty Images)
But turning it down to 60°C could help households save up to 9% of their gas usage – without the temperature or pressure of water coming out of your taps being any different.
Doing this could save the average household up to £112 per year.
Mr Lewis said following the advice would make boilers more efficient as ‘a flow temperature of 60°C means your combi boiler will be in condensing mode. When your combi boiler is in condensing mode it will recover heat that would otherwise be lost so that it runs more efficiently’.
The money-saving guru said people could ‘get their house in order’ by ‘focusing on energy efficiency’ in time for Christmas.
Other hacks he spoke of includes fitting a free water savings shower head, and installing tactical curtains.
The boiler challenge website, run by Nesta charity, said: ‘If 10 million households turned down the flow temperature on their combi boilers to 60°C or below this could wipe £1billion off UK energy bills and save 1.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions – the equivalent of nearly six million transatlantic flights.’
But they warned that the hack may not be suitable for everyone, especially if people at home are especially vulnerable to cool temperatures.
This is because a lower flow temperature may cause rooms to heat up a little more slowly, even though they do still heat up.
For those who don’t find it a problem, some boilers can be set as low as 55°C, or even 50°C when it’s not the middle of winter.
How to turn down your boiler flow temperature
The process is different for every boiler, but it is always simple to do.
First of all, it is important to only do this if you have a condensing combi boiler that is connected to a hot water cylinder.
Each boiler comes with specific instructions on how to turn down the flow temperature in the manual.
There are also plenty of guides online on how to turn down the temperature.
Nesta recommend people try reducing the temperature further than 60°C in 5°C increments.
In Spring and Autumn, people may be able to manage a lower temperature (eg, to 50°C) and increase it over the colder months such as January.
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This simple hack could help save up to £112.
