Save Energy in the Hall / Porch

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The hallway or porch is where the inside meets the outside. Chances are it’s colder and draughtier than most other places in the house.

Opportunities here mostly centre around keeping the draughts down.

For some reason many houses seem to have their thermostats in the hallway, which has always struck me as a little odd. If a cold draught comes in it will immediately trigger the thermostat and get the heating running. If you leave the front door ajar or it’s really draughty, it’s perfectly possible for the thermostat to be telling the boiler to run constantly… guzzling up masses of fuel and making the rest of the house cook so much you have to open the windows.
 

 

POSITIVE STEPS:

Anyway, if that is the case things to remember are:

Keep the door shut as much as possible. The precious hot air will leak out faster than you can say Brrrr, and then the boiler will only have to burn more fuel to heat up the newly arrived cold stuff.

 

Have a feel around the edges of the door, including the top and bottom. If you can feel a draught you are leaking heat. Draught-proofing is one of best pay-back activities you can do, as just a few pounds spent on stuff from a DIY store will soon have saved its worth.

 

You don’t have to have a gale blowing through to constitute a draught – even though it might just be a little trickle of cold air, the problem is that it is always there, insidiously sapping away your heat.

 

As well as the products sold in DIY stores, other more traditional ways of draught-proofing include a heavy curtain over the door at night. Or of course one of those old bean-bag sausage dogs for that 70’s retro look !