Heating season: how to save heat by simple ways

Heating season: how to save heat by simple ways

As the heating season accelerates, the specialists of Civinity Namai, a company providing administration and maintenance services for apartment buildings, are noticing the growing interest of the population as a simple means of saving heat in apartments.

Even before the start of the heating season, Civinity Namai specialists thoroughly checked the operation of the heating and hot water systems in all the administered buildings so that the residents of the apartment buildings could enjoy the warmth of their home. And when the radiators start to heat up, Civinity representative Ignas Daunys shares tips on how residents can keep the heat in the house longer.

Release the air from radiator. At the start of the heating season, inconveniences often occur due to unevenly heated radiators. We recommend the upper floor residents to arrange a radiator air releasing procedure. During this procedure, accumulated air is released in the radiators, which prevents the water from fully heating the radiator.

Air releasinf of radiators may require a special radiator key. There is a valve on the side of the radiator, insert the radiator key into its groove. We recommend holding the key with a cloth to prevent water droplets from burning your hands. Turn the key counterclockwise. After a while, the accumulated air should come out. When you release all the air, the water will start to flow, then you need to close the valve quickly.

If you need help with the air releasing from radiator procedure, please contact the administrator of the apartment building.

Ventilate the premises regularly. In an unventilated room, the oxygen level decreases, people get tired faster or even get sick, while ventilating the room not only removes excess moisture, but also oxygen enters the room. It is especially important to ventilate the room if the house has plastic or double glazed windows, as they seal the room, blocking the natural flow of air and its exchange. As a result, the humidity in the house increases and condensation forms on the windows. Over time, a poor microclimate develops in unventilated rooms, which is detrimental to both human health and housing and the furniture in it. It is recommended to devote a few minutes per hour to the ventilation of the premises.

If you like to ventilate the premises and leave the window in the ventilation mode for a longer period of time – you lose a lot of heat in the room. After closing the window for a long time, the extra heat will be used to heat both the room air and the items in it. In this way, ventilating the room will reduce the energy efficiency of home insulation.

Install heat-reflecting screens behind the radiator. This heat-saving method will cost just a few euros, but the room temperature will increase by as much as 1-2 degrees. Heat reflective screens are sheets made of foil that can be purchased at any hardware store. The screens are mounted on the wall directly behind the radiator. When using a screen, the heat entering the room from the radiator will dissipate better.

Do not cover the heating appliances. There are situations when residents decide to place a bed, cabinets, cupboards or other furniture next to the radiators in the apartment. If you want to reduce heat loss and raise the room temperature by at least 2 degrees – release the heating appliances. Also, take care of the cleanliness of the radiators, we advise you to clean the accumulated dust more often, occasionally to take care of dust removal from the inside of the radiator using a vacuum cleaner. Dust – reduces heat transfer to the room.

Save heat with the help of the sun. On sunny days, we recommend using the extra and free heat. All you have to do is pull back the curtains or blinds and let the sun do its job and heat your home. At night, we recommend covering the curtains. Choose curtains that do not cover the radiator, otherwise the heat will be harder to spread around the premises. Do not cover the radiator with curtains to the ground – this can reduce heat input to the apartment by up to 40%. To improve air circulation in the room, the length of the curtains should be up to the windowsill.

Do not cover the radiator with “shield”. During the repair work in the apartment, part of the population decides to cover the radiator with an additional, new layer of paint to make the latter suitable for the new interior. Such a solution will certainly provide an aesthetic appearance, but the ingress of heat into the premises may be reduced. If the radiator is already painted, but the paint layer is old, damaged, etc., it must be removed and prepared for the radiator painting process, and only then painted with special paints designed for them, which have heat permeability. If you plan to carry out repair work in winter, when the central heating system is switched on, when choosing paint, pay attention to the temperature at which the surface can be painted.

Please note that heat consumption for heating apartment buildings and other premises depends on their condition. The best solution to use heat efficiently and enjoy lower heating bills is to renovate apartment buildings.