If your boiler is less than 10 years old then it may be more economical to upgrade your heating controls – for an outlay of £100-£200 you could save around the same amount in heating bills every year.

Wall Thermostat

You should have a single wall thermostat, positioned somewhere in the house where there is free flowing air, but not a draught. The thermostat measures the air temperature. You set the control for a particular temperature, and the device switches the boiler on and off when the air temperature falls below, or rises above, that temperature.

Most wall thermostats are fairly inaccurate, and have no built-in intelligence (they don’t react to conditions such as differences between winter and summer, the speed the house temperature typically rises, etc).

Another thing which has no intelligence when it comes to thermostats is the human brain. Remember: if you turn the thermostat UP, the boiler will try to keep the temperature HIGHER, and so will use more energy. The house will not warm up faster if you turn the thermostat up.

If you are going away for a while, turn the thermostat down a few degrees: you don’t need the house kept at a temperature to suit you when you are not there.

And just turn it down a degree or two anyway. You will save £20-£50 a year. If you need extra warmth in one room just heat that room, or put on a jumper.

Thermostatic Radiator Valves

These allow you to regulate the temperature of a particular room or area, so whatever your boiler or wall thermostat is set to, you can adjust individual radiators: you may want your bedrooms a few degrees cooler than your living rooms. Don’t just use them to turn radiators on or off – that is a waste of your money.

A note of caution: if you have a radiator thermostat turned low in the room where your wall thermostat is, your boiler will be furiously pumping out heat trying to raise the temperature, while your radiator stat is keeping the temperature in that room down.

Thermostatic valves cost from £10, and are relatively cheap to fit.

Hot Water Tank Thermostat

This thermostat controls the temperature of the water stored in your hot water tank. If you have steam, or very hot water, coming out of your taps, turn down this thermostat. For most people 60 degrees C is adequate.

Heating Controller

The central heating controller is the device which typically lives on the wall near your boiler and allow you to programme when the heating and hot water functions operate.

Technophobes may want to skip this section, but if you can face learning how to programme a more complex controller you can save money. The more complex the controller the better control you have over your boiler.

More complex controllers allow you to set the timings for individual days – so your heating doesn’t come on a 6am on a Saturday.