heating on during the night

PrinceGaz

spankymonkey wrote: »

i dont think i would be able to sleep if we had heating on through the night.... if its chilly at bedtime my son has an electric blanket we switch on for 10 minutes before he gets into bed, my daughter is lucky she has the hot water tank in her room so doesn't need the radiator on most times. and my central heating comes on at 6.30 in the morning along with the water so its all warm for the morning .... my thermostat is only ever on 18 at the highest at the moment though, so most of the time the heating doesn't even come on!

eeek! are electric-blankets still legal? Even if not, I hope it is switched off AND unplugged from the wall before he goes to bed. I think electric-blankets are pointless as a warm bed anyway will provide enough insulation that after an initial minute or so of still feeling cold, after two or three minutes the bed will be just as warm as it would be without one. Beds, and blankets (electric or otherwise) have very little heat capacity so they cool down very quickly without the heat source. But that means they also heat up very quickly with a heat source, like someone in it. Assuming the insulation is good (a decent duvet), an electric blanket is a waste of money and energy, and is potentially dangerous if you forget to turn it off.

paceinternet

Night time doesn't require the same room temperature as daytime, so you have the "programmable room stat". For those not familiar with them, they are a replacement for a normal mechanical room stat, but with settable temperatures at different times of the day, and days of the week in the more sophisticated models.
So you can have 14 deg at night and 20 in the day, or many other combinations to suit your needs and budget.

KimYeovil

paceinternet wrote: »

So you can have 14 deg at night and 20 in the day, or many other combinations to suit your needs and budget.

But that's the sort of stupidly high night time temperature that Curley and I protest. There will be idiots on benefits heating their entire homes to 14 deg overnight and then moaning and bleating poverty. 14 deg is a degree short of an acceptable daytime temperature for those whose money is tight.

(Yes, I know you just gave those figures as examples. But most poor people nowadays do not adjust for their needs or budget.)

Kaz2904

Some people think you need to heat the house at night and have it as warm as it is in the day. My DH stays up very late and would like the heating on until he goes to bed. It doesn't happen because I set the heating and keep hiding the controls!
The idea is that the heating clicks off at 22.30. Then when he comes to bed he's supposed to open up downstairs so the heat can come up but he doesn't want the cat coming upstairs. If the temperature dips below 10 degrees at night then the heating will come on. I have woken up in the night a couple of times in the last week shivering violently because it's been so cold. Thats with flanelette pj's & socks on.
He grew up with a water tank in his room so it always feels cold to him at night but none of the rest of us can sleep if it's too hot at night. At least he wears pj's now too and surprisingly he finds he's warmer at night (amazing huh?).
BTW, am I the only person sitting here wearing a coat now?

spankymonkey_2

well its not a heated blanket as such its a heated fleece bed warmer i suppose....and it is ok to have on all night,but i dont keep it on all night just 10 minutes or so to warm the bed up. its nice for ds to have a bath and jump straight into bed. i needed something as he does like to sleep in the nude! (hes 8 btw!)

Sue-UU

KimYeovil wrote: »

But that's the sort of stupidly high night time temperature that Curley and I protest. There will be idiots on benefits heating their entire homes to 14 deg overnight and then moaning and bleating poverty. 14 deg is a degree short of an acceptable daytime temperature for those whose money is tight.

A bit on the cruel side for those living on benefits surely. Not all those living on benefits, either temporarily out of work or due to physical/mental problems, can afford to use their heating like that anyway. Anyone would think they had free heating! Why the need to lump them all in to one category?

KimYeovil wrote: »

(Yes, I know you just gave those figures as examples. But most poor people nowadays do not adjust for their needs or budget.)

......then bigger fools them, with all that's been advised recently.

MrsE_2

looby-loo wrote: »

I just wondered how many people leave the heating on during the night when it gets really cold. I have seen a few posts where people say they do. As a household who has never done this I didn't realise anyone did. Are we in the minority or are we normal? Just wondered.

If it was free during the night I wouldn't have it on.

Like it full blast all day, but to go off when I get into bed.

HOWEVER if my house was really cold - like some in Ireland I have slept in, yes I would have it on at night.

MrsE_2

KimYeovil wrote: »

But that's the sort of stupidly high night time temperature that Curley and I protest. There will be idiots on benefits heating their entire homes to 14 deg overnight and then moaning and bleating poverty. 14 deg is a degree short of an acceptable daytime temperature for those whose money is tight.

(Yes, I know you just gave those figures as examples. But most poor people nowadays do not adjust for their needs or budget.)

I have a thermometer in my living room & I don't think I have EVER seen it drop below 17. Even if I get up on a cold morning before the heating comes on (& its not a new house & its exposed on 3 sides), how can you heat your house to 14:eek:

oldskoo1

we have our heating on 24/7 but low - about 18degrees

Every 1/4 BG take an actual reading and we used £50 of gas in 3 months. Heating only really came on since Mid sep and we had some 5 degree days.

Been monitoring it taking readings and based on our last week of usage (its been quite cold) we will use about £35 of gas if we carry on at this rate for the rest of the month. I'm sure if its consistently <10degrees our usage will go up more.

But so far 24/7 is no where near as bad as we thought. We expected a big hike. We are on BG click 6 dual fuel, 10yr old 4bed detached house, 270mm loft insulation, upvc DG windows and doors, cavity filled walls.

But our real excuse is our newborn requiring a constant heat of 18degrees c and the mrs is at home now.

So far 24/7 is costing us the same as 20/21degrees of 1 hour in morning and 4 hours in the evening. But with the added benefit of having a warm house whenever you get back.

Soot2006

We turn our heating on at about 6PM and turn it off around 11PM ... Can't sleep with it on -- too dry. Often keep a window open too and wrap up in a lovely winter duvet (though it can be hard to get out of bed in the morning!). We're in a purpose built flat though so we get heat from the floor & ceiling when the other flats are heating ... + double glazing etc .