A plumber has urged cash-strapped Brits to install a simple £15 device from B&Q in their homes to save money on their heating bills. While the likes of Edwina Currie and Boris Johnson have made money-saving suggestions that went down like a lead balloon (looking at you, Martin Lewis), one plumber's advice has proven so popular, it's gone viral.
TikTok user djmatrix101, a plumbing and heating engineer, recommended using a thermostatic radiator valve to lower your bill. Speaking to his thousands of followers, the engineer said: "This device will save you money, if you know how to use it properly.
"Effectively a lot of people, when the switch the central heating on, they heat the entire house - so that's every room in the house that has a radiator they are heating using their boiler. The vast majority of people don't spend all day in bed, or in the bedroom.
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"They get up, they go downstairs, they spend the day downstairs then they go upstairs, but the heating's on all day. My advice is to go around every single room and [after installing thermostatic radiator valves] to switch them off if you're not using the radiator.
"If you can turn of 50% of your volume of radiators, you will save 50% on your gas bill - it is that straight forward. If you're not using your bedroom radiator, turn it off."
He then spoke about one common problem with the valves, which means they will still allow gas to pass through. He said: "[They have a] metal ring at the bottom. Turn the radiator valve to fully open then hand tighten the metal rings down. They come loose and if you don't tighten them down when you switch the valve off the gas will still pass.
"They come loose and if you don't tighten them down when you switch the valve off the gas will still pass. Switch it on about an hour before you want to use the room. A bit of forward planning, a bit of thinking about it, and you will save yourself a fortune in gas.
"A lot of people make this mistake [but] these things are regulation to be fitted on any new central heating system and we have to advise when we're changing boilers now that these be fitted, if they're not there. If you don't have them, they're a good investment. Get them fitted."
You can buy a thermostatic radiator valve for £15 on the B&Q website now.
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