All language subtitles for how.to.heat.your.home.for.less.this.winter.2024.1080p.web.h264-cbfm

Last year was one of the most
brutally expensive winters on record.

Nearly half of all households across
Britain struggled

to pay their energy bills.

So, with energy prices high,

and pensioner Winter Fuel Payments
cut for many,

I'm on a mission to see how we can
heat our homes for less this winter.

This programme will reveal the
simple changes you can make

right now that could save you
hundreds on your energy bills.

From the savviest ways
to heat your home...

Do it like this.

..to inspiration from around the
world.

Cos this is the first I've heard
of it here in the UK.

We reveal the surprising truth about
hot water bottles.

Might cost a little bit more.

What?

And how bubble bath could
save you money.

We've got all the gadgets you'll
need to stay warm this winter.

Oh, wow!

We use thermal technology
to discover just how much energy

is slipping through our fingers.

We're actually losing the heat.

And meet the families joining
our bill-busting challenge

to see how much they can save using
our tips and tricks.

Kind of like halved the bills.

Halved the bills, yeah. Which is...
That's a trip to Spain.

From your home to
the Houses of Parliament,

energy prices are a hot topic.

Here in Britain, we pay some of
the highest prices for electricity

in the whole world, with our bills
nearly 40% more than Spain,

over 60% more than Norway

and over 80% more than
the United States.

And our reliance on imported gas
means we are hit hard by price hikes

when the market changes.

Building up more of our own
renewable energy sources in Britain

could be a real game-changer.

But until that happens, it's us, the
general public, who pay the price.

Cost of bills, everything is just
increasing every single day.

But it's still a lot more than
what...

But it's still a lot more.
Doubled, hasn't it?

In the last couple of years.
And now we're not getting

the fuel allowance, are we?
No, we're not.

Well, just have to save on
other things like food bills,

clothing, go out less.

So we're feeling the pinch.

But just how savvy are we about the
energy we're using in our homes?

Don't put the heating on as much,
you have to put on an extra layer.

We go out, don't we? We go out.
Yeah, we go out.

I don't have a tumble dryer

and I do things like a short wash
on my washing machine.

We'll go and have a coffee
in Marks and a walk round

and you're saving the heating.
Yeah, we go out.

And buy blankets.
Have you got... Have you...?

And get... And get a dog
to keep me warm. Yes. Aw.

Cos we need to keep you warm
this winter, don't we?

What I want to know is which
tips and hacks are really

going to save me cash in my
home as I get winter ready.

With so much information out there,

it's hard to know what's fact
and what's not.

But, listen up because there are
some little things that -

I've been told by the experts -
can make a big difference.

For a start, I'm bleeding my
radiators using this little tool.

You can pick up a valve key
like this from most DIY shops.

Bleeding your radiators can make
them heat up more efficiently,

which will help bring down
your bills.

I'm turning my heating down on
the thermostat by one degree.

Just one degree can save you
up to a massive 10%.

And there's plenty more
where that came from.

I'm on a mission to find out
every hack, tip and trick

there is to know about heating
our homes for less.

For ten days, families across Britain
will be putting our advice

and hacks into practice

to see if they can save
on their energy bills.

Hi, we're Sam and Louise.

Heya. My name's Shemari.
My name is Luke.

We are the Timms from Manchester.

Hi, I'm Sarah. And I'm Andrew.

And this is our igloo house.
Single glazed.

The heating's on all the time.

We can do three or four loads
of washing a day.

Our energy bills are sky-high.

My wife takes around
45-minute showers.

Like every woman. I don't get it.

Help us save money, please. Please.

Well, Sarah, I'm not one
to disappoint.

Help is on the way.

A good place for us all to start
to bring down our bills

is to make sure we're on the
best energy deal on the market.

But with around 20 companies out
there offering different tariffs,

it can be confusing.

And that's stopping around 20%
of us from making the switch.

So, I'm meeting an expert
who's spent 15 years

advising people on all
things financial.

He's written books, he's a
regular on TV and radio

and he's helped thousands of people
to take control of their money

and find ways to save,
Emmanuel Asuquo.

Emmanuel, I feel like we all
need your help right now.

How can we save?

You have to compare.
And that's the thing,

your energy provider can only
give you the best deal

that they have and they're gonna
tell you, you know,

"This is the best deal that we can
give you." But that doesn't mean

that's the best deal in the market.

So, it's really important for you
to get the best deal

from your energy provider and
get what they can give you

and then see what else is out there
and see if you can beat it.

You know, doing the
comparisons, for me,

I just feel like I'm that typical
person that thinks,

it just sounds like a
lot of admin. Is it?

You know what?
It's actually so simple.

I mean, you can compare within
under ten minutes.

Really? And...and you can save
hundreds of pounds, potentially.

And any saving's good, right?

Oh, any saving is wonderful.
I'm the type of person,

I'll save £5 and be over the moon.
Me too.

Let alone 50, like.
All right. So let's go.

Emmanuel is using his
own house details

to show me how it's done.
Come on, clock's ticking.

Put your address in,
it finds your address

and then we just click continue.

We're using Uswitch but
there are a number of other

comparison websites
you can use.

For the websites to work their magic,

all you need is your address
and your electricity and gas usage.

As long as you've got your bill,

all of the information
will be there.

And look, so that was that quick.
So I literally put in...

Yeah. That was so quick.

Based on...on my information it says
that I can save £75 for the year.

That's an outfit, for going out.

And it took less than, what,
four minutes, five minutes?

Yeah. And how much can you save if
you do make that change?

Depending on how much you
spend in households,

anywhere from, you know,
£50 all the way up to £300.

So they could...it could be a lot,

depending on what your
household use,

how many people are using it,
how big your house is.

You only need a few. So what are
you gonna do with your £75 saving?

Good question.
It's...it's nothing to do with me,

it's what my wife's gonna do with
the £75. You're gonna treat her?

Yeah. Top tip.

So it's quick and easy

and there are great savings
to be made.

Some suppliers even offer
smart tariffs, rewarding you

for using energy during off-peak
hours like overnight or at weekends,

so you can save even more cash.

But, no matter how good a
deal you're on,

to be really savvy you need to keep

a close eye on just how much
energy you're using.

These little gadgets have become
all the rage.

Nearly two thirds of us
have now switched from

an old meter to a smart meter

but do they actually help bring your
bills down or do they just make you

tense when you hear someone
turning on the tumble dryer?

I've invited round consumer expert
Harry Kind from Which?

to help unravel the mystery
of smart meters

and how to get them working
best for you.

Right, I've got one of
these in my house. Yes.

Hidden in a corner cos I don't
like to look at it.

What does it actually do?

That is just the display
for your smart meter.

How should I use this to
save myself money?

You can see on there how much
you're using right now.

What it has is the price, how
much it's costing you per hour.

And then it will also see how much
it's added up over

the day and over a week
to allow you

to make a nice comparison
day-to-day, week-to-week.

I do think it's useful
because you can work out

what in your house is costing
you a lot to run.

You can experiment for yourself.

One day, have the heating on
low and slow constantly,

see how much it costs.
The next day,

you put it on when you're in
and off when you're out,

see how much it costs.
And if you're trying to save,

you will see that number
creep down over time.

Sounds good to me.

So, smart meters are a game-changer

for monitoring how much we're
spending each day on our energy

and they're totally free.

Just contact your energy supplier

and they will arrange for someone
to come round and fit one.

But if you're not ready to join

the smart meter revolution,
there's another way.

Denise, I've got a...a new
gadget for you here.

This is basically an energy
monitor.

These cost £10, £12.

And they plug in where you
plug any gadget in.

You turn it on

and then you can plug in
whatever you want

and see how much energy
it's using in real time.

Right, I tong my hair pretty much
every day. Yeah.

So I'd love to know how much
my tongs are costing me.

Plug 'em in.

So those will be heating up.

And immediately you can see
that's gone up to what,

340 watts, 330, it's kind
of dancing around that.

Is that a lot?

Not a huge amount, really.

You know, it's costing you
less than 10p per hour.

Great news for my hair and my bills.

So, which appliances are
really eating up

the electricity in your home?

The biggest culprits are
washing machines,

tumble driers and dishwashers,

which together account for
around 14% of a typical energy bill.

But washing your clothes at
30 degrees instead

of 40 will save you around 40% of
the energy used each year.

Next up, fridges and freezers.

They're continuously on

and they're responsible
for around 13% of your bill.

But if you fill your freezer
to capacity,

it will run more efficiently.

TVs, game consoles and laptops
all together take up about 6%,

not a huge chunk but
switching them off standby

could save you around £45 a year.

And lighting adds around
5% to the total.

But replace all the bulbs
in your house with LED lights

and you could save £40
a year on your electricity bills.

And now, it's time for some serious
hacks. It's time to meet Adam,

our heating hack geek,

with some tips that won't
cost you a thing

and you could do them right now.

Adam Chapman has been
a heating engineer for 20 years.

And for the past ten years has been
sharing his advice online and top

of his tips to save big on
our energy bills,

is to get to grips
with our heating systems.

The cost of energy is
constantly increasing

but there are things you can
personally do

at home to save money.

Over to you, Adam.

If there is one thing you
can do today, right now,

it would be to turn down your
boiler's flow temperature.

If you have a modern boiler,

that's any boiler under 20
years old,

look for the little radiator symbol

and there should be a dial there.

These are often set up
to 70 or 80 degrees,

which is very inefficient for
a modern boiler.

These want to be turned down
to around 60% centigrade.

That will save you up to £200
a year.

On top of that,
prolong the life of your boiler.

Well done, Denise,
I know you've bled your radiators.

But how do you know if you
need to bleed your radiators?

Just feel your radiator while
it's switched on

and at the top here,
you'll feel it's cold.

That means it's full of air

and the air needs
to be bled out of the radiator.

It's important to do,

cos just that tiny bit

of air will lower
the radiator output by 30%.

Every single degree you turn down

your room thermostat will save you
on your heating bill.

One of the most missed things by
homeowners is forgetting

to service their boiler.

That can save you an
additional 10% on your gas bill.

So, just a little tweak
of your boiler settings in

the commercial break could
save you cash.

But don't be long because
when you come back,

I'll be revealing the energy
efficiency of my house.

Oh. Put my postcode in. Don't look.

And we're in hot pursuit of where
the cold gets in.

Oh, wow. That's so clear.
I'm hot stuff.

You're hot stuff Denise, confirmed.

When winter weather strikes,

heating costs can go through
the roof.

That's why I'm on a mission
to discover how

to heat your home
for less this winter.

So far, we've looked at how we can
switch and save on our energy bills.

I'm the type of person,
I'll save £5 and be over the moon.

Me too! Let alone 50.

And we've tackled some
simple heating hacks that

could save you big in moments.

Our families across
the UK have been putting

the tips into practice,
starting with the old favourite,

turning down their thermostats
by one degree.

Not happy about doing this.
Right, it can go to 20.

Get this guy down to 18.
Put him in the living room,

where we actually live,
and see what he does.

For some, one degree colder
has been a breeze.

I've got to say, I've not noticed
it being any colder at all.

For others, the change has
been more noticeable.

You can really feel the difference.
The house is so cold.

Um, I think we
need to review this.

Maybe turn it up a little bit.

And how are they getting on
with their energy suppliers?

Currently, we're on a pay-as-you-go
for gas and electric,

which is costing us a lot of money.

The good news is that they're
coming out this week

to change to a smart meter
and we're going to be on a tariff

which is one of the
cheapest options.

So that's good and we'll be
saving money.

They did suggest a slightly
cheaper tariff was

going to be £11 a month cheaper,

which she said was about
£139 a year saving.

That's more cash in the bank for just
a few minutes' work.

Once you're heating
your home efficiently,

how do you stop
the heat from leaking out?

On average, our UK homes are
leaking heat at around three times

the rate of our European neighbours
in countries including

Germany, Austria and Sweden.

In the UK, latest data shows
that homes in Northern Ireland

come out on top for
keeping the warmth in,

followed by Scotland and England,

with the leakiest homes in Wales.

Topping the table with the most
energy-efficient housing in England

is Tower Hamlets and
the City of London.

In Wales, it's Glamorgan,
Cardiff, Newport and Torfaen.

And in Scotland, Glasgow City
and Renfrewshire come out top.

Leaking the most heat, homes
in the Isles of Scilly in England,

Gwynedd and Ceredigion in Wales,
and the Outer Hebrides

and the Orkney Islands in Scotland.

But there's one
street that we think is

the most energy efficient in Britian.

Howgate Close in Nottinghamshire
has nine home specially built

to be super-smart with energy,

and Andrew is one of
15 people who live there.

In this year, I've not paid anything
towards my energy bill.

My heating hasn't been on
since last November

and it's never dropped below
19 and a half degrees.

What is this wizardry?

Simon is one of the people behind
the design of these modern marvels.

We've got solar power.

We've got very low energy
underfloor heating.

We've got big,
triple-glazing glass,

which is taking all that free
energy from the sun

and it's that well-insulated that
there are people living in it and

the appliances they switch on
and off during the day,

they're actually heating
their own homes.

But here's the most brilliant part,

with a house this efficient,

residents like Andrew are
even able to make money.

Any excess power the
house isn't using

gets exported back to the grid.

I've been paid for my energy.

Andrew has pocketed over £800
since May this year.

We wanted to prove that
energy-affordable homes

are achievable with methods
that exist in the here and now.

This is a real opportunity

to put money back in
homeowners' pockets.

Not many of us live in houses as
energy-efficient as this.

But we can find out how we compare.

I've been told that if you go onto

the government website,
it's really easy.

And I need to get an EPC,

which is an energy
performance certificate.

Right, let's see if it is easy.
So I'm on there now.

Click on start, continue. Oh,
put my postcode in.

Don't look.

Ooh, the moment of truth.
Here is my EPC.

Let's have a look at
my energy rating.

I'm a 'C' in this house.
Is that a good or a bad thing?

Rating and score. OK,
so it goes from A to G.

So actually, C is pretty good.

Wherever your home ranks,

there are ways you can
try to improve your score.

Not only could this slash your
energy bills,

it might also add value when
you come to sell.

First, it's useful to figure out
where the heat is escaping.

Usually, if you see someone
lurking outside a house at night,

it's a cause for concern.

But this is thermal imaging expert
Ray Langford from

Visual Perspectives,
whose job is to find out

where heat is escaping
from in our homes.

And the best time to do a survey of
the exterior is at night.

But luckily for me, surveying the
interior is done in daylight.

So you must be Ray.

I am Ray. Nice to meet you, Denise.

I'm joining Ray for his survey of
this Victorian terrace in Manchester.

His findings will show the
homeowners where

the heat is escaping and
improvements they can make.

The property currently has a low
energy performance rating of 'E'

so it could definitely do
with some help.

Ray, what exactly are you doing in
here with this contraption?

Well, this is a thermal
imaging camera.

We use it for analysing properties
for defects.

Looking for damp and cold
and areas of heat loss.

This is a Victorian property,
so the external walls are solid,

so there's no insulation.
This is the external wall.

This is the party wall to
the heated property next door.

So we can see there's no heat
loss here.

But on the external wall,
it's extremely cold.

If you want to put your hand just
below where the mask is.

OK.

It doesn't take long.
And there you go.

What? Can you see? There's
a handprint of your hand.

Is there really?
On the wall already, yeah.

Wow. That's all down to
the sensitivity of the camera.

Your body temperature has
immediately affected

the surface of the property.

I'm hot stuff.

You're hot stuff, Denise, confirmed.

Insulating single brick walls is
a big job costing

a few thousand pounds

but it could save you hundreds
of pounds each year

on your energy bills.

Roughly 35% of heat loss is through
walls and gaps in

and around windows
and draughty doors.

If you look into the camera,
we can see that

the areas that are in black
and dark purples,

this is the cold coming in from
underneath the door.

And in areas around the frame.

Even though there is
a draught excluder there,

that's not really doing anything.

Not effectively, no.

And...and it's not working
because we can see the spikes.

So there's actually...that's,
the spikes is actually the air,

the cold air coming in.

And that means it's an actual
draught, not just heat loss.

So would it help if you
get...you know,

one of those like big sausage
draught excluders,

they're like pillows, aren't they?

You just shove 'em at the bottom
of the door. Does that help?

Absolutely. That's...that's probably
the best thing that you can do.

Yeah. And they're not too expensive.

Yeah. Exactly.
That's...that's a good way to start.

So you don't really have
to spend a great amount

to make some improvements?

Not for draughtproofing.
Not at all.

Lined curtains are also
a great way to block draughts.

And carpet with good underlay keeps

the heat in much better than exposed
wooden floors like this house.

And Ray has spotted something
beneath the floorboards too.

Quite interestingly,

we can now see the heating pipes
below the timber floor.

If you want to improve
the overall energy efficiency

of the heating system,

I would recommend that
you...you insulate the pipework.

And it's a similar story when
you look up.

So a lot of heat loss is actually
lost through

the ceiling itself. If the...the
joists aren't insulated,

heat will escape into the loft.

So very important,
if you're having

a loft conversion is that it's
insulated properly

and done to building regulations.

I'd highly recommend that you
insulate the ceiling.

But it could be costly,
couldn't it?

It can be but it's more
comfortable in the house

and over time your
heating bills will be less.

Potentially a lot less.

Adding loft insulation can reduce
bills by up to £340 per year.

Getting a professional thermal
imaging survey like this costs from

around £250, depending on
the size of your home.

But you can also do it yourself.

Some local councils and
energy companies

are loaning them out for free,
or like our families,

you can go online and you'll
find plenty of rental companies

who hire them
out from £95 a week.

Hello. It looks like a speed gun.

So it looks like we've found

a draughty spot here
underneath the basement door.

Definitely a bit in that same sort
of corner there.

I'm going to make
a home-made draught excluder

and see if that makes any
difference whatsoever.

Push it up close, Sarah.

That all looks toasty hot
down there.

This is the hallway, the porch. Oh,
we can feel the cold air,

we don't need a camera to work...

Yeah. You can see
the temperature drop off.

Um, after putting the sock down
on the...the door at

the basement, I am
really surprised at

the temperature difference from
yesterday morning until today.

And it costs nothing.

Right, get yourself
a pen and paper

because here's some more
hacks that you can do at home

to stop it from leaking heat
and save you money.

Over to you, Adam.

There is no point in paying
to heat up your home,

only to let all the heat out by
a big hole in the roof.

If you do have a chimney,

and specifically you aren't
using the fireplace,

make sure you plug that
chimney gap with either

an old duvet or a purpose-made
chimney balloon.

I often sometimes use
a chimney umbrella.

A chimney umbrella will also catch
all the dirt

so if you want to use
the fireplace again,

you just collect it up,

shake it outside and you
can use your fireplace.

Just by plugging your chimney could
save you 10% off your heating bill.

Of course, the other big hole
in your home is the front door.

And if your letterbox is
letting through a draught,

you can pick up one
of these quite cheaply.

It's a letterbox draught excluder
with brushes in.

And just fix this to
the front of the door

to stop any air coming through.

Draughtproofing old doors and
windows in your home

can save you up to £50
a year on your heating bills.

A roll of draught-excluding strip,

such as this stuff here,
is under £10.

You can put this around your doors

and windows to plug any gaps
and stop the draughts.

Or you can use a brush seal such as
this one

to put along the bottom of doors.

And while we're keeping all
the heat in the house,

make sure that any internal doors
you have are fully closed.

This will prevent any
draughts you do have

spreading throughout
the rest of the house.

Great tips, Adam.

So now we know how to
keep the heat in

but where's the warmth going
to come from in the first place?

Let's see what consumer
expert Harry has

to say about my heating habits.

I always wanted one of these.
Yeah.

The aga cooker, cos
they look great.

But is this costing me
a lot of money?

I mean, what do you think?

It's a great big old, kind of,
massive pile of metal.

It's on all day. So, yeah,
it uses quite a bit.

What about log fires?

Are they good for keeping
your house warm?

They're really controversial.

The main thing is that they put
out a load of particulates,

not good for air quality.

In terms of price, if you're
using the proper seasoned,

kiln-dried logs that you
should be using,

it can be expensive,
it's not gonna be cheaper

than...than central
heating most of the time.

So, when it comes to
saving money, agas,

open fires and log burners are
not your best friends.

But what about electric heaters?

There's all sorts of types
of electric heaters.

We've got two types here
of fan heaters,

and they're effectively
a hairdryer or

the heater that you've got in
your car.

They heat up air and
they blow it at you with a fan.

This is a convection radiator

and instead of having
a fan blowing the air out,

the air just warms up,
rises through

and cycles round like it
would in a radiator in

the rest of your house.

This then is an oil-filled
radiator.

They look a lot more like
a kind of...a standard radiator.

And what they do is that they
heat up oil within here

and that stays hot for longer.

So these are instant,
that's a bit of a...

It's a slow burner.
Exactly right. Right.

The big question is fan versus oil,
which is better?

Well, it could well cost you more
to run a fan heater

because you open a
window or a door,

suddenly all of that
hot air will go.

With an oil-filled radiator,

that heat stays in the...
In the radiator.

So, fan heaters are fast and furious
and oil heaters are slow and steady.

Running any of these heaters costs
around 55p per hour.

So if I've got a room that
I use say as a little office,

is it worth using an electric
heater rather than

putting on the heating
on continuous?

It may well be. You know,
if you're having to

heat up one small room an
electric heater might be cheaper.

The problem is, electricity costs
four times as much as gas,

and so all of these,

they're costing you more than
central heating, generally.

So if you're looking to heat
just one small room,

an electric heater could
save you money.

But central heating
definitely wins as

the most cost-effective way
to heat your whole home.

Coming up, could it be time to say
goodbye to your hot water bottle?

What? I know, it's... It...

Do you know that's blown my mind.

I do it like this.

And a German heating hack
that I was not expecting.

Cause this is the first I've heard
of it here in the UK.

I am gonna give it a try.

With winter on its way,

the decorations aren't
the only thing going up.

So too are our energy bills.

So far, we've tracked down
those sneaky spots

where the cold creeps in.

Can I have a look?
Oh, wow, that's so clear.

And sussed out the best solutions
to stop it in its tracks.

Draughtproofing old doors
and windows in your home

can save you up to £50
a year on your heating bill.

One thing that will send your
smart meter into overdrive

is washing and drying clothes
throughout the winter months.

I'm guilty of some of this,
putting wet clothes on a radiator,

drying your clothes on a
clothes horse indoors or

using a tumble dryer.

So what is the cheapest
and best way to dry clothes?

I've come along to the
Good Housekeeping Institute,

where they've been finding out.

Katie Mortram is the
household advice editor

and knows a thing or two about
drying our smalls indoors.

So, I always use my tumble dryer.
Are they really expensive to run?

So there are pros and cons
to using a tumble dryer.

Um, on the one hand
it's quick to use

but it does cost a lot
more energy to run.

And just how much depends on
the type of drier you have.

There's actually three types
of tumble dryer.

You've got vented, which,
as the name suggests,

is literally venting the moisture

and the hot air to the outside.

Then you've got condenser models,

which probably you will have
seen before.

That's when you just
slide out the drawer

and it's got a tank of water
that it's actually separated.

Um and then you've got heat
pump models.

And what those do is they're
actually recycling

the hot air that they use
rather than venting it,

so much less energy,
cheaper to run.

Vented and condenser tumble
driers are the cheapest

to buy at around £250.

But they are the most
expensive to run.

Vented cost around 90p
per load in energy whilst

the condenser is a bit cheaper

at around 80p per load.

But winning the battle
for efficiency is

the heat pump tumble dryer.

They're the most expensive to buy,

starting at around £350

but they typically cost just 32p per
load in energy.

And Katie has some tips that can
make any tumble dryer

even more efficient.

One of my favourite ones
would actually be

to use these little wool
drier balls.

So they...they normally...
Oh, what's that?

Yeah, they normally come in
packs of three or four.

It's literally just a little
bit of wool.

Um and you pop that in
with your laundry

and essentially it bounces around
as the drum rotates.

And that essentially helps...it
speeds up the drying process.

I've never seen these before.
Yeah, they're brilliant.

And what about alternative ways
to dry our clothes in winter?

This is a heated airer.

So this will use up less energy
compared to the tumble dryer.

So let's weigh this up, though.

Because if it's gonna be on for
longer and everything's

gonna take longer to dry then
surely you're gonna be using

more energy than the tumble dryer?

No, so the tumble dryer
is taking up more energy

to basically heat itself
whereas this,

the heating is minimal.

Another benefit is you've got these
covers which go over

the top and then that can
trap the heat

and help the clothes dry faster.

So actually, it is cost-effective
to have one of these.

This heated airer dries clothes
in around three hours at

a cost of around 24p in energy.

That's cheaper than most energy
efficient tumble driers.

While this model is top of the range,

costing £350 to buy,
you can get smaller,

cheaper options for less
than 100 quid.

But one thing to bear in mind with,
well, any kind of airer,

whether heated or...or manual is
obviously there's gonna be a lot

of moisture coming from your
clothes as they dry,

which does increase the
humidity in your home.

Oh, I knew there'd be a snag.

Condensation or damp in
the home can be

a big issue in winter. Not only
can it lead to mould,

it also causes your
energy bills to soar

because moist air requires
more energy to heat.

So, what are the best hacks

for dealing with condensation
in your home?

Over to you, Adam.

The bathroom is one of
the biggest generators

of moisture in your home but there
are quite a few little tricks

we can show you to reduce
that amount of moisture

and save you some money
while doing it.

Whilst having a shower or bath,

make sure that your extractor is
turned on or your window is open

to make sure humidity
levels are kept low.

The cheapest option here is
to have a cold shower.

If you can't quite stomach that,

I would suggest just running

a quick blast of cold water at
the end of your shower

for about two minutes.

And what will happen there is
the steam in

the air will condense against
the cold water

and just be poured down the drain.

If you prefer a nice long,
hot bath to a shower,

a couple of things you can do.

Don't fill with hot water only

to cool it back down afterwards,
fill it with warm water,

then warm it if needed.
But more importantly,

if you put in bubble bath
nice and early, this creates

a nice insulative layer on top which
means it retains heat for longer

and prevents steam
leaving the bath,

which causes condensation.
But also,

because it retains that heat,
you don't have

to keep on burning gas,
topping it up,

making your bath hot while
you're lying in it,

so it saves you money too.

Now, I've heard that in
Germany they tackle

the damp air in their homes by
opening their windows. Why?

They commonly call it
'shock ventilation' which means

opening all the windows in a
home for three minutes to let

the humid air escape quickly.

Simon Muller is a scientist at
the University at Munich

and researches how this can
actually make it easier

and cheaper to heat a house.

And I leave it like this just
for three minutes.

This is actually quite popular in
Germany I would say, yeah.

Do you do this every day?

Yeah, you do that every day.

You're taking the moisture out?
Yes.

Right, I can understand that part but
then how is it saving us money?

When you have less humidity in
a room in the air,

it warms up faster.

And then you close the windows
and the...the room temperature

will rise instantly again because
air doesn't contain that much heat.

The most heat in the building
is basically in the walls.

So if you just open
the windows shortly

and just let the air exchange,
you don't lose much heat, so...

I think I am gonna give it a try.
Yeah. I just won't...

I'll forget to close the window.
I get very distracted.

So cracking open a window

can actually bring your
heating bills down.

I've also heard that in Japan,

they like to sit around a
kotatsu table to stay warm

and keep their bills down.

It has an electric heater
attached underneath

and a heavy blanket on top
to trap in the warm heat. Clever.

Gadgets designed to
keep you cosy seem

to be everywhere at the moment.

It's a multi-million pound industry.

Back at the
Good Housekeeping Institute,

head of testing Angela Trofymova
has been putting

the latest technology
through its paces

to find out which items really give
you bang for your buck.

I love to be nice and toasty. OK.

And I've read online that
a lot of people are saying

that if you just heat yourself,
don't worry about heating a room,

it's more cost-effective.
Is it true?

It is sort of true, to be honest.

So I've got a couple
of examples here.

They're very kind of comparable
kind of options

but they target different areas.

This is a blanket
and it's dual heat.

So basically if you and your
partner like different temperatures,

you can actually kind
of customise it.

That's actually brilliant.

It's almost genius.
Why haven't I got one?

I don't know.
We're gonna sort you out.

This one next to you is actually
battery charged.

It has infrared technology
so it heats you up

and it also heats
the object that it lies on.

This I'm guessing must be...you've
either got one massive foot.

Or for... Or for two feet to go into.

So... But it looks really cosy.

This is very cosy

but it is kind of...you've got
to be stationary.

You're working from home,
you're feeling a little bit chilly.

This will heat you up nicely
and keep you toasty.

You would have to remember though,
wouldn't you,

you've got your feet in there,
if you stand up you'd go flying.

Yeah, you do.

So there are a lot
of options out there

but what about saving money?

The chair warmer is the
most expensive item here,

costing around £140.

For the footwarmer and
the dual-heated blanket,

you're looking at around
£50 up front.

But all of them typically cost
less than a penny per hour to run.

It's actually really economical.

So you can have a
cost-effective duvet day?

Indeed.

But what I want to know is how
an old-time classic stacks up.

The humble hot water bottle which
you can buy for just a fiver.

So these are really lovely
and a kind of,

a more old-fashioned way
to be able to heat yourself up.

But this option might cost
a little bit more.

What? I know, it's...
It's a little bit...

But hang on a minute.

So you can have an
electric blanket on

but a hot water bottle is gonna
cost you more? Why?

Depends what your tariff is at home
and depends what your...

Who your energy provider is.

But it's between four and 6p for
you to heat up

a...a full kettle.

So that works out a little bit more
expensive than the other options.

I don't know, that's blown my mind.

So hot water bottles are slightly
more expensive to use

but still way cheaper to buy.

And any of these items will cost you
less than turning on your gas

central heating which costs well
over £1 an hour for a typical boiler.

But remember, it's recommended
that you have your heating on

to some degree during the
winter to avoid damp

and condensation.

And don't forget to keep
yourself nice and warm in bed.

Make sure you've got the
right tog duvet. Goodnight.

A tog rating between 13
to 15 is best for winter.

While I get a bit of shut-eye,

how are our families getting on
with changing their energy habits?

There.

Draughtproofing is an up-chimney
challenge for Sam and Louise.

It's not wide enough.

And what about that draughty porch?

Definitely not cold.
Definitely not cold.

A result.

Sarah and Andrew are hoping
thermal insulating film

will warm up their bedroom...

So you put your tape on around here

and then you put the plastic
on the top.

..which you can buy from a DIY store
for less than £10.

Every other window this morning,

cos it was a cold night,
was soaking wet, pretty much.

But that one, the one with film on,
had nothing on it.

Luke and Shamari are trying out
heating themselves

with a £90 heated throw.

So this is the day after
using the heated throw

and honestly, in my opinion,

that was one of the best night's
sleeps I've ever had.

And the best thing is,
we saved money

because we didn't have our heating
out throughout the whole night.

And Solange and Dan are hoping their
new heat pump drier will bring down

their hefty electricity bill.

That's our new drier.

So we've been able to use it
for a few days.

We think that it's a 39% reduction
in our electricity costs

for the next 12 months.

Kerching!

After the break,
my money-saving mission continues

as I find out how you
can get your hands on big bucks

to improve your home.

Where you can get up to £7,500.
That's brilliant.

I meet a man who's making money
on his energy.

Got no gas bills whatsoever.

We've in effect got
no electricity bills either.

We're like a zero bill household.

Oh, that's the dream, isn't it?

And at the end of their ten days,

we'll reveal how our families got on
with their bill-busting challenge.

Kind of like halved the bills.
Halved the bills, yeah.

Which is....
That's a trip to Spain!

With energy prices high, keeping
cosy this winter could be costly.

So I'm on a mission to discover how
you can heat your home for less.

I've been meeting the experts
to uncover

the smartest and savviest ways
to save.

I can save £75.

That's an outfit, for going out.

And inspired by their advice,

I've been getting my home
winter-ready

and I've not been doing it alone.

Bit at the end!

We're still in recovery
from the German shock method.

We've looked at how state-of-the-art
new-builds can cost next to nothing

to heat, but that's not
the reality for many of us.

In the UK, we have more old houses
than the rest of Europe,

with nearly 80% of our homes built
before the '80s.

But with the right upgrades,
can we cut down

the cost of heating
our historic homes?

The owners of THIS house
won't be worrying about

energy bills this winter. Oh, no.

Because they've been on a mission

to retrofit
their old Victorian terrace.

There's bound to be some
money-saving tips in here.

I'm going in.

DOORBELL RINGS

Hi, you must be John.
Lovely to meet you.

I am. Welcome to
the zero carbon house.

I knew it was yours
just by the look of it.

JOHN CHUCKLES

The old part of John's house
dates back to 1840

but, walking through the door,
it's not what you'd expect.

I feel like I'm in a beehive.

Well, yes. This the airlock,
like a space capsule.

Before you come in,
we close the first door

and then we open the second door,
so do come through.

In we go.

Inside,
the house may look traditional

but John's methods
are state-of-the-art.

John, I'm really excited
to be in your home

because this is the first-ever
zero carbon retrofit house

in the UK.
It is, absolutely.

And we wanted just to try and
inspire people that we can do this

with our unglamorous,
existing buildings.

John is an architect

and made these radical renovations
to his own home,

doubling it in size.

But it now uses a lot less energy.

Most houses are just like
leaky sieves.

All the heat just goes out again.

The secret of this house is,
we've trapped the heat

and we're keeping it
in the house.

The older, sort of 1840 bit of
the house used, to keep it simple,

57 units of energy per year.

The new house,
double the size and a bit taller,

is using 1.7 units of energy. Wow.

That's a mammoth 95% saving
on energy usage,

slashing his bills from before.

So how has he done it?

Er, the roofs are insulated
with this chewed-up material here.

It's like the stuffing of a down
jacket, if you like. Ooh, yeah.

It–it's actually just cellulose
from recycled paper. Oh, wow.

But it's an upcycled material.

In fact, John's house
now has 16 times more insulation

than it did before.

His windows are now triple-glazed

and he's fitted skylights
which produce five times more light

than an average vertical window,
whilst leaking less heat.

Go into the garden, Denise.

As for generating energy,

he's got a savvy system
for that too.

With solar panels on the roof,

his house generates its own
electricity all year round

and he sells his energy back
to the grid. Kerching!

So I guess the big question is,
do you get energy bills?

We took out the gas meter.

So the only energy bills
we've got are electricity.

But in fact, with the electricity,

we're generating more electricity
than we use,

so we've in effect got
no electricity bills either.

We're like a zero bill household
in terms of heating bills.

Oh, that's the dream, isn't it?

John hasn't stopped
with his own home.

He's now on a mission
to help others to join

the retrofitting revolution.

He's already inspiring people
by running a community group

and the local council
recently started

a scheme funding retrofits
for social housing.

So far, more than 550 homes
have made energy-saving upgrades

with some tenants saving around
£50 a month on their energy bills.

There's a whole movement developing,
which is so exciting.

So rather than this just being
a one-off zero carbon house,

we hope that whole
neighbourhoods across the UK

can make this happen at scale.

Well, I'm definitely inspired.

But how do you find out

which upgrades would be best
for your home?

Remember earlier I checked
my house efficiency rating

on the government website?

Well, it also gives you
a whole range of suggestions

on how to improve it.

Let's see what it says.

Right. Internal
and external wall insulation.

This is where it said
it was very poor.

It's saying to do that
it's gonna cost me

between £4,000 to £14,000.

But then I'd get
a yearly saving of £364.

Wind turbine.

Solar panels.

This is saying roughly
between £9,000 and £14,000.

The yearly saving of £253.

I mean it's a lot of money to spend,
isn't it?

I mean, is it worth it?
I don't know.

Recommendations on the government
website range from

smaller, cheaper improvements
that cost a few quid

to much bigger investments.

And it's also part of big plans
to tackle climate change

and achieve net zero by 2050.

So is there support out there
to help us

to afford these green upgrades?

Emmanuel, how on earth are people
being able to afford

to make their houses
energy efficient?

Because it's so expensive.

Even in my home,
I had a quote for solar panels

and I was like,
"Whoa. I'm not spending that."

It can be really expensive

and we're hoping that,
as time goes on,

the technology comes in
and it can become cheaper.

But there are grants available.

The main grant that's out there
is the Home Upgrade Grant

called HUG for short.

And that's basically available
to help you upgrade your home.

You can apply for it on
the government website, so .GOV.

There's also the boiler upgrade
scheme.

This scheme is available
to help you to get

a more energy-efficient boiler to
help with heating...heating pumps

and systems and so forth.

If you're in Scotland,

we have the Home Energy Scotland
grant and loan scheme,

where you can get
up to £7,500 to help you

when it comes
to being more energy-efficient

and making improvements in your
home, which is fantastic, right?

That's brilliant.

More than I'd expect, actually.

So, yeah. We need to move
to Scotland. We do!

There are calls
for all new properties

to be built without gas boilers
by the end of the decade.

And the new kid on the block
is the heat pump.

They're growing in popularity

and they're around three times
more efficient

than a gas boiler.

Right now, electricity is more
expensive than gas

so they work out similar
in cost to run.

But they could be a smart move
for the long term.

So we've figured out how
to future-proof our homes.

We've unlocked all the ways
to slash our heating bills

in the here and now

and, in ten days, our families
have become energy warriors.

So what have been their biggest
light bulb moments?

When we put that film
on the windows,

it was like a eureka moment.

We're gonna do the whole house
cos it made a difference.

Like, I might even like not
wear a jumper now.

We definitely feel more empowered.

Yeah, and I just think
we're more mindful, in general.

And it turns out smart meters
aren't so scary after all.

It's not just that flashy box
in the hallway

that has pound signs on it.
Yeah.

So now we know that what
those numbers stack up to be.

They're all on track
to make serious savings

if they keep this up.

Because we've done all the changes,

we've kind of like halved
the bills.

We're looking at about
£300 a year, erm, savings.

It could even get better

as we put more film on
and block up more draughts,

which is... That's a trip to Spain!

Shamari and Luke's smart switch
is great news

for their annual energy bill.

Well, I was shocked
because you know,

we saved more or less £100

just by swapping from
a pay-as-you-go meter

to a direct debit smart meter.

So, that's amazing news for us.

For Louise and Sam, lower thermostat
and radiator settings

are here to stay.

We feel just as warm
as we did before

and we've learned that
that could save us,

you know, £450 a year at least.

Um, and that's... That's huge.

But it's the Timms family
who have had the biggest win.

Our old, vented drier was costing us
£1.85 a load on average,

whereas the new heat pump drier

we've worked out
is gonna cost us 51p a load.

So that's a saving of £1,467 a year,
which is just unbelievable.

Hundreds of pounds of savings -
that's what we like to see.

So, there you have it.

My quest to help us all reduce
our energy bills is complete.

I've been in new houses,

I've been in old houses.

I've got to grips with boilers,
thermostats and energy suppliers.

And what have I learned?

There are things you can do
right now

to bring down your energy bill
this winter. Good luck.

And if, after all that, you're still
struggling to pay your bills,

the best thing to do is
speak to your energy provider.

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