Cold winter leads to record number of calls to the national Heating Helpline (http://www.heatinghelpline.org.uk)

11 January 2011 – The national heating helpline (http://www.heatinghelpline.org.uk) offers free, independent advice to home owners. The service includes the popular free phone support line as well as an email response service to connect people with specialist heating advice from a member of the Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association (HVCA) team. Their advice covers money saving tips, safe operation of home heating systems and where to locate home heating improvement grants. 3 Top questions answered by the Heating Helpline during 2010 were: 1. Where to find a reliable local heating engineer 2. Technical help on heating controls 3. Gas safety The Heating Helpline website (http://www.heatinghelpline.org.uk) also has a free comprehensive, practical brochure on home heating advice. Finally, to stay safe and avoid rogue traders, the Heating Helpline advises householders to always use reputable, qualified tradesmen. The easiest way to locate reputable, reliable tradespeople is to use the ‘find an engineer’ feature on the Heating Helpline website home page or use the TrustMark website (http://www.trustmark.org.uk). Further information on how to reduce energy bills, save energy and locate energy grants is available via the free Heating Helpline on 0800 840 4069 or at the website: http://www.heatinghelpline.org.uk. Ends