Small habits that keep the bill down.

Book a boiler service before the cold sets in — it is the cheapest way to catch small faults before they become a mid-winter breakdown, and it keeps a Vaillant, Glow-worm or Worcester running efficiently.

Bleed your radiators. Cold patches at the top usually mean trapped air, which wastes gas and leaves rooms slow to warm.

Run the heating through a full cycle now, while an engineer can still reach you without a queue, so you find any problem on your terms rather than on the first freezing night.

Lag exposed pipes in lofts, garages and outbuildings. A frozen pipe that bursts is one of the most common — and most damaging — winter call-outs.

Find your internal stopcock and check it turns, so you can shut the water off fast if a pipe does let go.

If your boiler loses pressure, the gauge dropping below the marked band is often the cause of no heat. Many combi boilers can be safely re-pressurised at home — Phil has talked customers through it over WhatsApp with no call-out at all.

Look under sinks and around the boiler for signs of a slow leak or corrosion that built up over the cold months.

Reseal around baths and showers where old silicone has cracked, before water gets behind the tiles and does hidden damage.

Check any outside tap and its pipework for splits — winter frost can crack it, and you often only notice when you first turn it on.

Planning a new bathroom or a boiler swap? The warmer months are the most comfortable time to be without heating or hot water while the work is done.

Descale showerheads and clean tap aerators to bring flow and pressure back to where they should be.

Run the heating for ten minutes even in July — it stops the pump and valves seizing while they sit idle, so the system fires cleanly when you first need it in October.