Llys Llên

We will help you settle into your new home & community.

Please take the time to look through this guide, and the full online version, and get to know the most efficient way to live in your home.

Get in touch if there is anything you aren’t sure of.

Once you’re settled in, a member of our team will give you a call to arrange a visit and answer any questions that you might have. Of course, if there is anything urgent, please get in touch sooner.

A member of our repairs and maintenance team, and your housing officer will visit to see if everything is ok.

A member of our team will come and read your meters and show you how you can do this.

We will email and text you with a feedback form to see how you’re settling in, and anything we could do better.

Your housing officer will see how you are settling in.

We will pop along to check your home to see:

• How you’re settling into your home.
• If there are shrink cracks that we need to repair.
• Get feedback from you about your first year living in your home and ask if you’d like to take part in a story for local newspapers and our tenant newsletter.

• To get the most out of your solar panels, try and use your energy during the day when the sun is shining.
• Use 1 appliance at a time rather than 2 or 3 appliances together as this will use less or no grid electricity (depending on how much sun there is).
• During the winter months, your energy supplier will top up your solar battery every 20 days.

To keep your storage battery performing well, it is important that it is fully charged and run down every 20 days.

Every 20 days, your electricity supplier will top up your energy in your battery using any credit you have on your account. You will then use that electricity during the next few days, until the battery runs low. Then it’ll be topped up again 20 days later. For example: If you’re on a ‘prepayment/pay as you go’ meter, and have added money to your account, it will be transferred straight to electricity. This is stored in your battery for you to use so you’ll not use electricity from the national grid. Another example: If you top up your electric by £10, and it is day 20 and your battery needs topping up. The battery might take approx. £6 from your allowance and store it.

Don’t worry, you haven’t lost your money, it is just stored as electricity in your battery ready to use when you need it until the battery empties.

Your hot water comes from an electric hot water cylinder, located in cupboard space off hallway. Your water is heated from the communal ground source heating system that provides hot water for all the properties in Llys Llên.

Your room thermostat is in your hallway. It lets you know the temperature of your home.

It will send a signal to the boiler depending on the temperature of your home. If your home gets too hot, it will send a signal for the boiler to be switched off and will be switched on when your house gets too cold.

Thermostats are normally set between 18oC and 21oC.

The timer or programmer helps you to control when your heating comes on and when it goes off. By programming it, you can make sure that it works in the way that suits you and your home best. Here is a suggestion of how to heat your home. Programme your heating to come on half an hour before you:

• Get up in the morning.
• Come home.
• Go to bed or go out.

A home will usually take half an hour to warm and to cool down. By doing this, your home should be warm without wasting energy.

There are radiators in your home. They get their warmth from the communal ground source heating system installed around the estate.

Try turning down your thermostat by one or two degrees – it doesn’t sound like much, but this small change can have a massive impact on your bills. Obviously, please don’t lower it to a point where your room feels cold, but by turning down your thermostat by just 1 degree you could save around 10% on your annual energy bill. It is also extremely important that you don’t place items over your thermostat such as coats or furniture.

Make sure that the timer settings on your controller are correct. Work out the schedules of your household and when the home needs to be warm, then set the timers accordingly – for example, before you wake up or when you finish work. You don’t want your heating running when you don’t need it.

Making a schedule and setting your heat pump to warm your water at a different time from your heating will make sure you have enough hot water for your needs.

Turn the heating off or down to the frost protection setting in rooms you aren’t using. Tailoring the temperature of each room will give you more control over your heating, and how much energy you use.

When you are only heating rooms, you need to stay warm, be sure to keep any internal doors shut so you aren’t leaking heat out into the rest of the house.

Don’t trap heat in your radiators. Make sure your curtains or furniture aren’t blocking the heat from entering the room. Lift your curtains onto the windowsill if you need to and pull your sofa forward.

Thermostatic radiator valves are fitted on your radiators to allow you to control the temperature of individual rooms. There are numbers printed on the valves from 1 to 5 which correspond to a room temperature.

We recommend making small changes each day until you find the temperature that best suits you; we suggest starting at a setting of 2-3 for a bedroom, hall, or kitchen, and 3-5 for a lounge or bathroom.

Radiators get hot and therefore are like a magnet for attracting dust and dirt and if left uncleaned. The build-up can be quite substantial. Particularly dirty radiators can be less efficient than clean ones, making your system use more energy to heat your room, which will be reflected in higher energy bills.

Try to regularly clean the convector fins – the zigzag grooves running down the back (and front). This can be done with a long-handled radiator brush or even by running the nozzle attachment of a hoover across the top and bottom.

Switchee is a smart, connected thermostat for your heating and hot water. It doesn’t need to be connected to your Wi-Fi to work.

For advice about:

• The mobile app
• Your smart thermostat system
• Controlling your heating and hot water
• Setting a timer
• FAQ’s and troubleshooting

Visit https://switchee.com/residents/ where there is some really useful videos and guides for you.

If you don’t have access to the internet, please let us know and we can get someone to come and show you how to use your smart thermostat.

• Make sure you use the correct size pan for the food and the hob.
• Make sure the lid is kept on the saucepan to keep the heat in.
• When boiling vegetables and pasta, only use enough water to keep them covered.
• A microwave oven is more energy efficient than an oven, so use a microwave, when possible, but remember to switch it off at the wall when not in use.
• Cook in batches when using the oven. You can freeze portions of food to warm up later, this could also save you time.
• Food cut into smaller pieces cook quicker and saves time.
• Make sure the rings on the cooker are clean as burned food absorbs heat and makes the ring less efficient.

• Defrost your fridge and freezer on a regular basis as this will improve their efficiency and stop a build-up of ice. See your appliance user guide for more advice, if needed.
• By keeping the fridge and freezer full they don’t have to work as hard and therefore use less energy
• Make sure that food is cooled down before placing them in the fridge or freezer.

• Make sure you use full loads and not half loads.
• When possible, use the low-energy program on your washing machine.
• Dry your clothes outside when you can, and do not put clothes on the radiator to dry. This increases the amount of condensation in the air in your home and increases the risk of black mould.
• Take advantage of your electricity provided by your solar panels and use your appliances during the day (especially on sunny days).

• Make sure the appliance is switched off in the wall when you’re not using them as some appliances use energy when on stand-by.
• Use energy saving light bulbs around your home, and when you’re not using the room make sure you switch off the light.

Your home doesn’t have a typical heating system. For most of the year, you shouldn’t need to turn your heating on. The windows and insulation will help keep the heat in.

In the winter, when it isn’t so sunny, you may need to top-up your heating.

You can programme your heating and hot water to come on and off up to three different times a day. You can visit https://switchee.com/residents/ for useful videos and guides, or scan the QR code that is located next to your equipment.

A meter has been put into your home. We have registered your electric meter with British Gas. If you wish to change provider, please contact your preferred energy supplier.

Please do not put wet clothes onto radiators to dry.

Your home will be set between 16-22 degrees but adjust the temperature to your own comfort.

In the kitchen, you have an extractor hood over the cooker area that will take the smells out of the kitchen. In the bathroom, you have an extractor fan which will turn on when you turn the bathroom light on.

Damp and condensation, if left untreated, can cause mould. To help reduce this in your home, you can:

If there are water droplets in the corners of windows and walls, wipe them with a cloth. If you would like more tips about reducing condensation, please visit our website https://www.denbighshirehousing.co.uk/mould-and-condensation/

To make sure your home continues to meet your needs, you’ll need to get approval, in writing, from our repairs and maintenance team before making any changes or adaptations.

Damage to your home would need to be repaired immediately by one of our team and may be recharged.

We have provided an external letter box in the building’s main foyer. The key will be provided for this for you to access.

It isn’t possible to put a ventilation pipe outside for a normal tumble dryer & there is no space for one.

Yes, you can as long as they are attached safely.

This is one of the most important pieces of information about living in your new home. As this is a communal building, you are unable to put anything outside your home that fixes to the walls or railings.

Yes, there is a lift in the building & please follow the lift advice within the lift. Please do not put scooters, bikes or any other furniture in the lift.

Please do not use it if there is a fire and follow your fire safety guide for more information.

Landings are not a storage area and may cause a fire hazard. Please use your apartments to store your items, excluding bikes and scooters. Storage may be available outside the apartments for these items.

No as this can create a fire hazard. Please use your apartments to store your items, excluding bikes and scooters. Storage may be available outside the apartments for these items.

Yes, the bike storage is behind Llys Bodnant flats.

The main block front door can be opened using your door fob. The intercom unit is located outside the main front door to the building with each flat numbered on the panel.

Yes, using your door fob.

The bin storage area is at the rear of the apartments, by the car parking area.

Resident parking is available on site. Visitor parking is available in main pay and display car park nearby.

No.