Looking for a simple, low-cost way to cut your energy bills and carbon emissions? Insulating your hot water system, including your cylinder, pipes, and even the back of your radiators, is one of the easiest and most effective things you can do! So let’s wrap up and save!

Hot Water Cylinder Jackets

If your hot water tank isn’t insulated, it’s losing heat fast, and that means wasted energy and money. A good-quality 80mm cylinder jacket costs around £26 and can save you £185 a year on heating bills. That’s also a carbon saving of 720kg CO2/year. A big win for the planet and your wallet!

Even upgrading an existing thin 25mm jacket to 80mm can save you £45 a year and 180kg CO2/year.

Pipe Insulation

Insulating the first metre of exposed hot water pipe coming from your tank (and any others you can access) helps reduce heat loss and keeps your water warmer for longer. Pipe insulation is cheap and easy to install, costing as little as £1 per metre, with annual savings of around £6 and 10kg CO2. It might seem small, but every bit adds up!

Radiator Reflectors

For radiators on external walls, adding foil reflectors behind them helps bounce heat back into the room rather than losing it through the wall. A roll of radiator foil costs about £10–£15 and can save around £20–£30 a year depending on your home’s layout. Calculating the carbon savings for radiators is slightly more complex however you could save between 30-90kg CO2/year. Again, another small savings win!

Small changes, big impact

In Arran’s colder climate, these improvements are especially worthwhile, keeping your home warmer, lowering energy use, and reducing your carbon footprint. And most importantly helping towards making your money stretch that little bit longer.

So if your system isn’t looking cosy, now’s the perfect time to get wrapping before the temperature drops in Autumn! For more tips and tricks on saving energy, money and carbon emissions check out our Sustainable Directory!

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