Mum Shares Little-Known Boiler Hack To Cut Bills

With energy prices set to soar, one mum has shared a boiler hack that could save you almost £100 a year.

Writing on Mumsnet, the woman explained she had saved £95 with the trick, which was sent to her by Octopus Energy.

All you have to do is turn your boiler's water temperature down - and it's so easy.

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The woman wrote: "You can use less gas by checking your flow settings on your boiler. Mine was set to 80 degrees by default which meant I was spending huge amounts on heating up water that then has to be cooled down with cold water.

"I'm taking part in the Octopus Winter Workout and according to them I have saved £95 since the beginning of December and this is the only substantial change I have made.

"I assumed everyone knew about this except me but my sister hadn't heard of it and she's very hot on money saving so I thought there must be others out there."

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Octopus Energy explain it's all to do with the 'flow temperature' - which is the temperature the water leaves the boiler to heat your home or provide hot water.

Octopus explain: "At their default setting, these temperatures are usually too high. This doesn’t make your home warmer, but it can add massively to your bills and emissions. It’s like putting your foot flat to the floor when driving – it’s hugely wasteful but doesn’t really affect your journey time."

Octopus explain if you have a combi boiler, they would recommend setting the flow temp to 50°C for heating and 55°C for hot water.

"It’ll take a little longer to heat up, but the gas and CO2 savings make it more than worthwhile!" They explain.

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Meanwhile, if you have a boiler and a hot water cylinder, they recommend setting the flow temperature on your boiler to a few degrees over 60°C for heating and hot water, and setting your hot water cylinder to 60°C also.

"Hot water should be stored at a high enough temperature to stop bacteria like legionella from multiplying. Risk of illness is low, especially in residential settings, and there are only a few hundred cases in total in the UK each year, with elderly people most at risk," they added.

Topics: Life, Money

Lucy Devine

Lucy is a journalist working for Tyla. After graduating with a master's degree in journalism, she has worked in both print and online and is particularly interested in fashion, food, health and women's issues. Northerner, coffee addict, says hun a lot.

@lucedevine