Around one third of people do not switch off their boilers during the summer months and thereby deprive themselves of hundreds of kroner in savings, the Danish Energy Agency (Energistyrelsen) said in a statement.
Switching boilers from summer to winter settings can give savings of between 600 and 1,000 kroner per household, according to the agency. That could amount to as much as 300 million kroner nationally.
Most people turn their radiator dials to 0 when spring arrives and outside temperatures are warmer. But boilers still work and use energy in the background when radiators are turned off.
It is this step that many people living in Denmark skip, inadvertently consuming unneeded power, the Danish Energy Agency says.
Up to one in three people in Denmark fail to take advantage of potential savings this way according to survey data from the agency.
“It’s a very good idea to let your boiler take a summer holiday when we get into the warm months,” Matilde Grøn Bjørneboe, energy savings and habits expert with the Danish Energy Agency, said in the statement.
“When the boiler is in summer mode it can only heat water. If you don’t have it in summer mode, it still has an idling consumption for heating even though the radiators are off,” she explained.
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“That’s why there’s something to gain both for your own wallet and for the climate,” she said.
Some models of boiler switch to summer mode automatically while older version must be changed manually. A common reason for people not to change their boiler to summer mode is that they simply forget to do it, according to the Energy Agency.
“It doesn’t take many minutes to set the system [to summer mode] and switch off the circulation pump,” Bjørneboe said.
How much you stand to save by making the summer adjustment depends on the type of boiler. For diesel-fuelled boilers, up to 1,700 kroner can be saved. Gas boilers can give 1,300 kroner off bills. Boiler connected to district heating can also give savings when switched to summer mode of up to 700 kroner.
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