B&M’s £10 winter hack went viral – I barely use my heating now

Energy bills are still biting, and small wins matter. One cheap fix from B&M — pegged at £10 — has blown up on TikTok for a simple promise: keep more heat in, use less gas, feel less cold. I tried it in a drafty terrace. The change was real.

At 7.14am, the kitchen tile felt like ice and the kettle hissed like a little dragon. I’d slept in socks again, the kind with fuzzy cuffs you keep meaning to replace but never do. On my phone, another video rolled past: a roll of silver, a pair of scissors, a radiator on an outside wall — “B&M, ten quid, thank me later.”

By 9, I’d walked back with the roll tucked under my arm, a pack of double-sided tape in my pocket, and that stubborn winter feeling in my chest. You know the one, when your house is neatish, the thermostat sits there smirking, and your breath blooms faintly in the air. I cut, pressed, slid, and stood back to listen to the quiet. The next part surprised me.

Why a £10 roll went viral

The moment you see it, you understand the appeal. A quick, tactile job that turns a cold wall into a reflective surface feels oddly satisfying. Shelves at B&M were dotted with gaps by lunchtime, the kind of empty that says people aren’t just browsing — they’re buying.

On TikTok, clips of the £10 B&M hack racked up millions of views in days, stitched with little flourishes: the scissor-snip ASMR, the crinkle of foil, that soft click when the radiator comes on. One London renter showed her pre- and post-thermometer next to the same radiator, a modest uptick, but a bigger story: “I barely use my heating now,” she said, swaddled in a sweatshirt, grinning.

There’s logic under the shimmer. Radiators on external walls push warmth across the room, yet a surprising slug of heat bleeds straight into brick. A reflective barrier sends more of that warmth back into circulation, feeding the gentle convection loop that warms your bones. The price is friendly, the job feels doable, and the payoff — faster cosiness — is immediate enough to feel like magic.

How to do the B&M radiator-foil hack properly

The method is straightforward. Cut panels of radiator reflector foil to match the width of the radiator, not the wall. Stick double-sided tape on the wall behind the radiator and slide each panel down from the top gap, shiny side facing the room, leaving a small gap around pipes.

Work section by section. Wipe the wall first so the tape adheres, and trim corners so the foil doesn’t snag on brackets. It’s fine if the foil sits in two or three vertical strips rather than one big sheet — smaller pieces are easier to slide behind a tight radiator and still bounce heat back.

There are a few classic errors. Don’t cover the entire wall; target only the space behind the radiator so moisture isn’t trapped everywhere. Avoid blocking thermostatic valves or pressing foil onto hot copper pipes. Try an external-wall radiator first for the biggest gain. Let’s be honest: nobody does that every day.

Think about airflow too. You want warm air to loop into the room, so pull sofas a hand’s width off radiators and lift long curtains off the top. A little reshuffle can mean a lot of comfort, especially in narrow rooms. I could feel the warmth looping back into the room.

We’ve all had that moment when you’re hunched over a bill, wondering which tiny change might finally make a dent. This is one of the sticky, real-world ones that feels less like a hack and more like common sense with a shiny coat. The fix won’t heat a house by itself, but it stacks nicely with draught proofing and better habits.

“The radiator used to blast at the wall,” said Ruth, a nurse in Leeds who tried the B&M roll on a single radiator. “Now the room warms faster, so I drop the timer to short bursts and it feels the same.”

• Cut foil to radiator width; use strips.
• Stick tape to the wall, not the radiator.
• Keep gaps around pipes and the valve.
• Start with radiators on outside walls.
• Pair with draughts are the enemy habits: closed doors, tidy airflow.

What changed at home — and what won’t

My test wasn’t fancy. One living-room radiator on an outside wall, one roll of foil, and two chilly mornings. The first day without foil took 36 minutes to hit a comfy “jumper off” feeling at the same thermostat setting. With foil, the room felt settled after 27 minutes, the air less swampy near the window, the chill behind the sofa blunted.

Across a week, that translated into smaller heating bursts. My evening timer shifted to two shorter runs rather than a single long blast. That’s where the “I barely use my heating now” line makes sense — not in a magic-free home, but in a home that warms faster and stays even long enough that you can switch off sooner.

Numbers are slippery in the wild. Independent tests suggest a modest energy saving that compounds over time, especially where radiators face brick on the other side. Think of it like turning a draughty shoulder away from the wind. The big gains come when you layer solutions: door snakes, a rolled towel at the letterbox, thicker curtains. The £10 roll is the easy win that gets you moving.

There’s a tactile satisfaction in a fix you can feel with your hands. The foil crinkles, the tape sticks, the room exhales. In a winter where every degree feels personal, that matters more than a spreadsheet.

Here’s the plain truth: no hack beats a whole-house upgrade, but a smart nudge can tilt comfort in your favour. Your mileage will vary with your walls, windows, and habits. If your space is leaky, it’s still leaky — the trick is keeping more of the warmth on your side of the bricks for longer.

My favourite fringe benefit? Radiators feel less like hot spots and more like part of the room’s rhythm. You sit down, the air is even, the corners aren’t sulking with cold. That quiet is worth £10 on its own.

If you’re renting, it’s low risk. The foil hides out of sight, and you can peel the tape off when you move. Landlords like anything reversible that keeps tenants from cranking the dial to 27C and sweating through December.

If you own, it’s a tidy prelude to bigger jobs. You get the quick win now and the confidence to tackle seals, chimneys, and that annoying gap by the floorboards. Small momentum beats postponed perfection.

What I didn’t expect was how quickly the habit took hold. Mornings became warmish with a lower thermostat nudge, evenings felt less peaky. That’s the real charm of a viral hack when it’s not snake oil — you try it, it works, and you tell a friend.

There’s a cultural piece too. We’ve made a game of swapping fixes, sharing clips, and comparing notes. The B&M roll fits that language: visible, doable, not preachy. More than a gimmick, less than a revolution. Exactly the speed most of us can live with.

One last check: if the radiator sits in a recess, trim the foil to fit the flat back wall and leave room around edges so moisture can breathe. Dryness is warmth’s quiet ally. Skip kitchen and bathroom radiators for a day or two if you’re nervous about steam, then commit once you’ve watched the walls stay happy.

If you take nothing else, take this: warm air you don’t lose is the cheapest energy you’ll ever buy. Keep it in the room, and the thermostat becomes a background character, not the main event.

And if you want to go deeper, pair the foil with a simple timer tweak: heat in short bursts when you’re about to be in the room, not on autopilot. You’ll notice it within a week. Promise.

My house won’t make a heat-pump brochure anytime soon. It still creaks when the wind shifts and whistles at the back door. The foil didn’t change who it is. It made it kinder.

I’m not here to sell the sizzle. Some radiators will show a clearer difference than others, and some walls are so stubborn they shrug at tricks. But the pattern I keep hearing from readers is the one I felt: a faster warm-up, a gentler cool-down, and fewer moments where you’re shivering while the boiler burns.

That’s where the energy-saving conversation lands for most of us, somewhere between science and lived-in comfort. A £10 roll that shifts your daily rhythm without a lecture. You do it once, then you get on with your life — and maybe, just maybe, you stop eyeing the thermostat like a frenemy.

Use the hack, share it with the neighbour who always borrows your scissors, and then go put the kettle on. Small wins, shared, heat a street.

FAQ :

• Does radiator foil really work or is it just shiny decor?It works by reflecting radiant heat away from the cold wall and back into the room, reducing losses through external walls.
• Can I use kitchen foil instead of a branded sheet?It’s tempting, but purpose-made foil is tougher, safer around heat, and easier to fit in strips without tearing.
• Will this stop condensation behind my radiator?It can help by keeping the wall surface warmer, yet you still need ventilation and sensible heating cycles.
• Is it safe for all radiators?Standard water-filled radiators are fine; leave gaps around valves and pipes, and don’t attach anything to the radiator itself.
• How much could I save on bills?Expect modest but real gains that grow with time — faster warmth, fewer long heating runs, and a house that holds heat better.