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How to Make Holiday Home Expenses Lower

If you are buying a holiday home consider on generating income by letting your the property for a few weeks or even months in each year.

It would be also very practical to make some changes in your holiday home that will help you to decrease its cost.

Thermal Insulation

Proper insulation is a basic requirement for the protection of a house from cold or heat.
In order to reduce thermal losses you can:
- Close any gaps around the doors or windows using special materials, foam or silicon rubber;
- Prevent excessive heating of air spaces;
- Close the window shutters and curtains in order to conserve temperature inside your house;
- Make thermal insulation of the roof and the walls of the building:
- Replace your windows with new double glazed windows, which are thermally insulated;

Space Heating

- Use solar energy for space heating.  Allow the sun light to enter through the southern windows in the winter days.
- Adjust your thermostat; it should not be over the 20oC mark.  For every additional degree you will spend up to 7% more energy.  If your house is too hot, check your thermostat and make sure that the system is switched off, before you will open any windows.
- Do not cover the heating panels because this will reduce their efficiency.
- Make sure that the burner is set correctly and the boiler is cleaned every year by a competent person.

Space Cooling

Before you consider on buying an air conditioner you should investigate alternative ways of cooling, due to their large consumption of electricity and pollution.
-    Choose proper shading system depending on the orientation of the window;
-    Shade your building by planting trees;
-    Choose light colours for exterior walls, roofs and tents;
-    Install low consumption lamps and other appliances;
-    When it is hot ventilate your building only at night;
-    Install fans for the induction and the ejection of the air from the building;

Air conditioning

If you decide to buy an air conditioner you have to ensure its power input given because this will significantly raise your electricity bill especially during the summer months. 
-    Do not set temperatures lower than 26oC in the summer and ensure that the windows are closed during operation of the air conditioning;
-    Make sure that filters of your air condition are frequently cleaned;

Lighting

- Prefer natural lighting in your house; 
- Select blinds as they control natural light better;
- Make your internal environment brighter by painting the wall of the house in light colours;
- Always check the light in the rooms and do not let it switched on if it is not longer needed;
- It is more practical to select a low general lighting and supplementary lights at the points required;
- Prefer using lamps with low energy consumption;
- Do not forget of regular cleaning of the lighting fittings and the lamps;

Water Heating Siphons

- Switch on your water heater only when it is necessary and as long as to cover your needs only;
- Remember that having a bath we spend thee times more electricity and water that having a shower;
- Avoid needless run of water; 
- A solar water heater will significantly reduce your electricity consumption;

Energy Marking

Use energy saving appliances. All the appliances have classification (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) that depends on their energy consumption. The most efficient models have category A and models with the worst efficiency have the category G.

Electric Cooker

- Make sure that all your cooking utensils (such as saucepans, pans and etc) fit on the cooker rings properly and you will save up to 60% electricity and 80% on time.
- You should always cover the saucepan with its lid while boiling water, as it will boil faster and will consume less energy;
- Try not to open the door of the oven frequently, as you loose up to 20% of the internal heat every time you open the oven.
- It is more convenient to use microwave oven for heating up of small quantities of food;

Refrigerator - Freezer

- Refrigerators have high consumption of energy as they work 24 hours a day. Choose the model category A for low energy consumption;
- Do not place your refrigerator next to the cooker, the radiators and places under direct sunlight or its consumption may increase up to 30%;
- Defrost your refrigerator regularly as a layer of ice 5mm thick will increase the consumption of the electricity by 30%;
- Adjust the thermostat of your refrigerator in such a way that the temperature of the conservation area should be 7oC and -18 oC  in the freezer.  By doing that you may save up to 15% electricity;
- Avoid opening the refrigerator door often and keeping it open for a long period.  Unsure that the rubber seal of the door is in good condition, clean and closes very well;
- Keep the ventilation openings of your refrigerator open, Make sure that the radiator at the rear of the refrigerator is clean and has a space of at least 5cm from the wall;
- If you are not home do not forget to empty the contents of the refrigerator, remove it from the supply socket and leave its door open;
- Never place warm food in the refrigerator.  You would let the food to cool dawn first and then to place it in refrigerator. It is more practical and healthy;

Washing Machine and Dishwasher

- Use a washing machine or dishwasher with low consumption of water and electricity. 
- It is confirmed that clothes are washed as clean at 60oC as at 90oC and the new programmes and detergents allow doing it even at 40oC.  Select the operation at the lower temperatures;
- Make sure that the washing machine or the dishwasher is loaded homogeneously and prefers its full capacity loading;
- Read the instructions of the manufacturer as they will help you to save electricity, water, detergent and will keep your appliance in good condition;
- Enensuresure that your washing machine and dishwasher are connected to the solar water heater for hot water supply;
- When you are not home it is recommended to shut the supply of water;

Small appliances

-Select appliances with low electricity consumption;
- Generally small appliances consume less electricity than larger ones, so if it is possible prefer using small appliances;
- Switch off all the appliances when they are not needed;
- Always use the switch of the appliance and not the remote control as these appliances remain on stand-by mode and continue electricity consumption;

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