Getting the heating right in your home is essential for relaxed and comfortable living.

When most of us move into a new home we simply settle for the type of heating that is already there, without giving it another thought. Installing a new heating system can be costly, yes, but if you are planning to stay in your home for a long period of time, then it is likely you will save money on your energy bills if you do splash out on a new system. Not only that, but you will be cutting down on carbon emissions, too, upping your eco credentials.

There are several options when it comes to heating – including standard central heating which heats your home via radiators and is fuelled by gas or oil and underfloor heating, which can be used to heat your whole house or as a touch of luxury in single rooms like the bathroom or kitchen. A third option is electric heating, which includes warm air and convection heating.

You old boiler
With central heating, water is heated in a boiler and pumped around the house through a network of pipes to your radiators. If your system is > efficient (not full of air) and the pump is working well then the same hot water goes round for hours with just a tiny boost from the boiler every now and again.

With central heating you control the temperature by using either a centrally placed thermostat in one of the warmer areas of your home, or with individual thermostats on all but one of the radiators. Radiator thermostats are not especially pretty but they allow you the opportunity to lower the amount of heat used in rooms you don’t use much, saving you pounds.

There are several different types of boilers on the market

• Conventional boilers: these burn fuel in a combustion chamber surrounded by a water jacket. This heats the water, which is then circulated round the heating system. The downside is that not all the heat is used to heat the water, as much is lost to the surrounding air and up the flue, hence the inefficiency.
• Condensing boilers: these are much more efficient as they don’t waste any energy out of the flue. The downside is that they have a shorter lifespan and can be expensive.
• Combination: provide heat for instant hot water and the central heating system, but not at the same time. They give priority to the hot water system, so if you switch on the heating and then run the hot water tap, your radiators won’t heat up straight away. These can be expensive to repair and often it is cheaper to replace them when they go wrong.

A well-serviced boiler should last you for 10-15 years, but as of April 2005, all new boilers must have an A or B efficiency rating. To encourage people to buy new energy efficient boilers, the government has introduced a boiler scrappage scheme, in place now, to persuade householders with the least energy efficient boilers to upgrade. The incentive is £400 off a new installation.

According to the Energy Saving Trust, there are about 3.5 million homes with the least efficient type of boiler (G-Rated) and upgrading these will help reduce carbon emissions. Installing a new boiler costs around £2,500 on average, but some energy companies are now matching this £400, which would give you £800 off the cost in total. It is well worth doing as long-term this will save you money off your energy bills and cut your carbon footprint.

She’s electric
Convection heating is the type of heat that comes from a heating element (like that on a two-bar heater or inside your hairdryer). But they’re very expensive to run. A two-bar heater can use around two units of electricity an hour. Warm air heating, in the form of fan heaters is also quite expensive to run, but the warmed air is pushed around the room by the fan so the heat is more even.

You can get a good combination of central heating and warm air heating by placing fans near hot pipes, which push some of the incidental heat out. These are usually placed under the cupboards in kitchens. Known as kickspace or plinth heaters they’re inserted into the route of the central heating pipes. They can get quite clogged up with dust, but they’re brilliant boosters on a chilly evening. One kickspace heater uses about half a unit of electricity an hour. But it needs a hot pipe to connect to, so there’s the added cost of heating the pipe. It’s worth considering if you’re redesigning your kitchen.

Going underground
Underfloor heating gently warms the air, eliminating cold spots, and can be used throughout the house. It is particularly suitable for stone and marble floors and can be the main source of heating in a house. The traditional kind, called a wet system, works just like a regular radiator system, but the hot water is pumped around a network of pipes under the floor, to distribute theromostat-controlled hot water, so it warms up the floor instead of radiators.

Alternatively, you can get electric underfloor heating, known as a ‘dry system’. The heat comes from woven mats, heating cables, ribbon cables or aluminium or carbon heating films. These are connected together and linked to a thermostat and a standard mains power supply.

‘Underfloor heating is just so cozy’ Puneet and Jaz from Hayes chose underfloor heating for their children ‘The last house we lived in was great but the extended kitchen was always freezing. And our two young children, Roma, five, and Arjun, three, were always running around barefoot and catching colds from the freezing tiles.

‘When we moved, we decided to get underfloor heating. We installed an electric system. It is brilliant, we keep it on virtually all the time during the winter and find we are no longer screaming at the kids to put their socks and slippers on. We all love the feeling of heat coming from our marble floors in the kitchen and bathroom areas. ‘It cost us around £1,000 to install in the kitchen, downstairs cloakroom and bathroom, but it is a great investment as we can turn the central heating down, so I don’t think it costs much at all.’

Pictures: getty images