AN energy expert has revealed how one simple hack can save you money on your energy bills.
Yet, lots of the appliances people use in warmer weather can cost you a pretty penny.
You don’t need to spend money by using a fan or air-con unit with this clever hack
There is one simple hack you can employ to save money on your energy bills, and it can cost as little as £1.50.
Using tin foil to shield your home from the sun’s rays can help to keep your home cool and stop you from having to use a fan or air-con inside.
All you need to do is cover your windows with the shiny material – especially those that are hit with direct sunlight.
You can do this by wetting the shiny side of the foil and sticking it to your windows.
Archie Lasseter, energy expert at Utilita, said employing the trick could save households a few pounds a year.
However, he added that if you have the money, it might be better to invest in a proper radiator reflector, which could save you more in the long run.
He said: “If a £1.50 roll of tinfoil only saves you a few pounds a year but a £7.99 radiator reflector saves you tens or perhaps hundreds of pounds, then it’s sensible to go with the higher savings.”
To be able to get the tin foil to stick properly to a window, you have to cut out pieces of cardboard that will fit to the size of your window and then cover them with a reflective tin foil layer.
You could use sticky tape to do this.
One woman from Seattle previously championed the hack – saying it really does work.
The NHS also recommends keeping rooms cool by using shades or reflective material outside the windows.
Using tin foil on the outside of your windows would mean that you’ll end up spending less on fans inside.
And having one of these appliances on can cost you in the long run.
HOAR previously worked out how much it costs to leave a fan on at night.
You can use this equation to calculate the cost of a fan: cost = power (kilowatt) × time (hour) × cost of 1 kWh (pence).
So if your fan costs 25.2p to have on for that long, and you have it on for a full week, that adds up to £1.76.
If you repeated that across a month of 4.5 weeks, the cost would be £7.92.
Air conditioning units will likely cost even more.
By comparison, buying a pack of tin foil to put on your windows could be a great way to save.
How much will the hack cost?
We looked at shopping price comparison checker Trolley.co.uk to find out where you can buy a cheap roll of tin foil.
Sainsbury’s sell 10 metres of wrapping foil which is 30cm wide for £1.50p.
Tesco sells a 10 metre pack of kitchen foil for £1.55 as well.
And Asda’s kitchen foil costs £1.80 for a 10 metre roll.
These prices are what is shown available online and may not reflect in store prices.
And of course, you should always look around to see if you can find a better price at a different shop.
Obviously how much foil you need will depend on the size of your home.
But 20 metres of tin foil should be plenty to cover the windows of n average-sized most homes.
How much do radiator reflectors cost?
If you’ve got the budget and want to make bigger savings, you can buy a proper radiator reflector.
We had a look online to see how much some of them will cost you.
Screwfix is selling one for £7.99 and it comes in just under four metres long.
Meanwhile, B&Q is selling one for £14.08. And it’s 10 metres long.
Other tips to keep cool
If you do decide to use a fan make sure you think about where it is positioned.
You could try putting a fan open in front of an open window.
That might seem counter-intuitive, but it works by pulling cooler air in from outside, and pushing the warmer air out.
You can place a tray of ice in front of your fan on the floor for that extra chill.
The air will be cooled by the ice to create an air-con feeling in any room.
You can read more on HOAR about how to keep cool without any air conditioning.
