Phil Spencer reveals 5 areas of your home leaking heat — and a £1 fix to stay warm

Phil Spencer has issued advice on insulating your home this winter (Picture: Shutterstock/Getty) Metro journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission – learn more Winter is coming, and many Brits will be thinking about switching on their central heating — if they haven’t already. But as the radiators turn on and the system boots up, property expert Phil Spencer has warned some areas of your home are probably leaking heat. A 2026 study from Citizens Advice found more than 10 million households — the equivalent of 37% of Brits — are concerned about covering their energy bills this winter. Plus, 28% of those using a prepayment meter (which necessitates payment before use, much like a pay-as-you-go phone) have run out of gas and electricity over the last year because they couldn’t afford to top up. With that in mind, Phil has a few cost-effective tricks up his sleeve for keeping your home toasty, and making sure all that heat (and your hard-earned cash) isn’t flying straight out the window. And, one of his hacks costs as little as £1 to add to your home. Ready to start your homebuying journey? You can access completely fee-free mortgage advice with London & Country (L&C) Mortgages, a partner of Metro. Customers benefit from: – Award winning service from the UK’s leading mortgage broker – Expert advisors on hand 7 days a week – Access to 1000s of mortgage deals from across the market Unlike many mortgage brokers, L&C won’t charge you a fee for their advice. Find out how much you could borrow online Mortgage service provided by London & Country Mortgages (L&C), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (registered number: 143002). The FCA does not regulate most Buy to Let mortgages. Your home or property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. Here are the five areas you need to look at ASAP — and how to make them heat proof. Unused fireplaces Sure, we’ve all waltzed into a house viewing at some point and instantly fallen in love with a gorgeous Victorian fireplace. But if this isn’t actually serviceable, you could be waving goodbye to your precious pennies spent on central heating. Ask Metro Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications. Teaming up with Wickes, Phil says when a fireplace is not being used, open chimneys ‘allow warm air to escape.’ He explains: ‘According to the Energy Saving Trust, chimney draught-proofing could save around £45 annually.’ Unused fireplaces can absolutely leak heat (Picture: Getty Images) The solution is simple: get yourself a draught excluder, and make sure it’s designed for a chimney. Phil adds that most homeowners might associate insulation-proofing a home with high costs or even a huge renovation project, but he’s keen to reassure people that isn’t always the case. ‘My advice is to start by looking at where warmth might be escaping and tackle the smaller jobs first,’ he notes. ‘Making a few practical improvements can help keep your home more comfortable during the colder months, without necessarily spending a fortune.’ Hot water tanks The key theme here is insulation, insulation, insulation. Phil says while lofts and walls might get ‘most of the attention,’ poorly insulated hot water cylinders also waste a lot of energy. ‘Homeowners could save a further £45 a year by upgrading from 25mm of insulation to an 80mm jacket,’ Phil explains. This offers a ‘simple, low-cost fix’ (they cost around £25) that he says could ‘pay for itself within the first year, while helping to keep heat where it’s needed.’ Radiators also need proper insulation behind them (Picture: Getty Images) Radiators Radiators are the very thing responsible for keeping us warm, but if you’re not careful, they’ll end up wasting the heat entirely. Phil says it’s important to make sure you’re not ‘heating walls instead of rooms,’ as ‘radiators positioned against poorly insulated external walls can lose heat through the wall behind them.’ He says: ‘Fitting reflector panels can help direct warmth back into the room, potentially saving around £18 annually.’ Every little helps, right? Loft hatch You might not go up into the loft very often, but you’ll want to make sure it’s keeping you warm (Picture: Getty Images) If you’ve got a loft, you might only end up there twice a year — once when it’s time to get the Christmas decorations down, and then again in January, when they’re shunned back into storage. But while the attic might not exactly play a starring role in your life, it holds more meaning than you think. Phil says: ‘Even a well-insulated loft can lose heat through gaps around its hatch. ‘Check that it fits securely, add suitable draught-proofing and insulate the hatch where appropriate.’ It’s possible to do this with a seal specifically designed for draughts. Pipes While exposed piping might’ve had its moment in interior design (in the 1930s, mind you), it’s not so savvy on the insulation front. ‘Exposed hot water pipes in lofts, garages and other unheated spaces can lose heat and are vulnerable to freezing during cold snaps,’ Phil says ‘Adding suitable pipe lagging can help reduce heat loss and protect pipework.’ Deals of the Day QVC shoppers can save £159 on Elemis' biggest beauty gift set of the year The new Kurt Geiger collection is full of shoes you'll actually want to dance in I've found the perfect partner to my prescription skincare and I'm hooked I've tested hundreds of beauty products and this Perricone MD cleanser stands out Get £297 worth of beauty products for £80 with PrettyLittleThing's advent calendar Wickes sells pipe insulation for as little as £1, which is as low-cost a fix as they come. Do you have a story you’d like to share? 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