Determining how much electricity your home needs can help you understand why your bills are so high and in doing so you can decide on ways to save money and energy. Energy prices have not fallen despite generally lower wholesale costs from autumn 2023. The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) was to reduce the extent of price increases for domestic customers and implement an energy price cap. Regardless of whether this happens or not, average energy bills per month is still high so there is a definite need to save on fuel.
By estimating your heating needs using a heat energy calculator you can make efforts to cut down on energy usage.
Factors to Consider When Estimating Heating Needs
Estimating your heating needs is imperative for several reasons – from saving costs, comfort and safety to environmental impact. There are various factors that you can consider when concluding how much heat you require:
Climate and weather patterns
The local climate is a crucial factor in determining heating needs. The colder the climate, the higher the heating needs. Your location’s average temperature, humidity and wind patterns should be taken into account.
Building construction and insulation
The size of the building and its insulation level are important factors in determining heating needs. A larger building or one with poorer insulation will need more heat to maintain a comfortable temperature.
Room size and layout
Larger rooms and ones with more windows or gaps for cold air will require a higher amount of heat compared to smaller spaces which heat up faster and use less energy.
Ceiling height
Hot air rises so rooms with higher ceilings will require more heat and a longer time to get warm. High-ceilinged spaces often have a higher environmental impact due to their high energy consumption.
Building orientation
The orientation of the building can determine where more heat is required. For instance, a room that receives ample sunlight will often need less heat than one that’s more shaded.
Lifestyle factors
The amount of time spent at your house will impact how much energy is utilised. For example, if you are working from home, you may want to turn off radiators in rooms you do not use.
How to Use an Energy Bill Calculator
We offer our own heating calculator that can assist you to estimate how much energy you need for each room. A heat energy calculator takes into account elements of the room that will influence how much heat is required before it gets warm.
Step 1 – Room details
Select whether your room is on the basement, ground floor, middle floor or top floor. Include the room height in metres and finally, add the floor area in square metres. As we know from the above factors, room size and ceiling height are key indicators of how much energy a room utilises.
Step 2 – External Walls & Windows
This section is optional and requires information about outside walls and windows including the type of outside wall (solid, cavity or insulated), length in metres, window type (single or double glass) and the area of the window in square metres.
Step 3 – Variations
This section is also optional and allows you to tick off other variations to your room from exposed situations, floor with insulation to skylights and window walls.
Your result will be calculated based on the above factors and is only a rough estimate of how much energy each room would require. You may calculate the heating needs for more than one room by clicking “save room details” and add another room to get the total amount in watts for your home. We recommend that you print these results and get a second opinion from a professional.
Alternative Ways to Estimate Heating Needs
Besides using a heating calculator, there are other ways to estimate your heating needs such as energy audits and historical energy usage data. There are also DIY methods of checking your heating needs such as using a thermometer, conducting a visual inspection, monitoring your energy usage and estimating heating needs based on square footage.
Bear in mind that DIY methods may not be the most accurate and we advise that you confirm any results with a heating engineer as calculations may differ in certain situations.
Energy-Saving Tips for Heating
Saving money on your heating bill can be tough, especially during the colder months, however, we have some energy-saving tips that you can use all year round.
- Adjusting the thermostat settings
- Sealing air leaks
- Insulating walls, floors, and ceilings
- Using energy-efficient windows and doors
- Properly maintaining heating equipment
- Using alternative heating sources
- Energy efficient radiators
By estimating your heating needs, you’ll be able to better save on energy consumption, thus lessening your impact on the environment and your bank account!
We encourage you to make use of our heating calculator to calculate energy usage and put measures into place to cut your energy bills.
Visit your nearest radiator showroom to check out our designer radiators that keep your home warm while being energy efficient.