central heating--first time

black_taxi_2

i hav a small flat---today is the first time ive had to put it on

its SO GOOD-instant heat---wish now i got it years ago

only hav to wait for the bill now

Ken68

Just testing are Black, you know to see if it works.
Sweating here, though did put my electric throw on last evening.
Might put the main heating on about Christmas. LOL,

BargainGalore

Dont forget to monitor your usage as the months go your heating use will go up and by March time or there abouts you have a large bill, so make sure you put money aside for when that time comes I pay £48 a month for gas which is for cooking and ch

Barneysmom

They've put mine up to £70 a month and there's only 2 of us now.
:eek:

It's tempting to use it willy-nilly, but best to just put a jumper on for everyday, then have the heating on for a special treat now and then

savemoney

I think mine might go up soon after last Winter I am only just getting into credit so have little reserves for Winter

dannymccann

Ours has been on properly today, been on for 3 hours, 7am -8am then around 1 and will be going on in an hour or so to boost. Living room dial is only on 19 though and its 6 month old house so it takes about 10 minutes to get too hot for me, OH loves it though :eek:

Poosmate

I sometimes wish I had central heating but I would be scared as I'd be heating (minimally) the whole house rather than just the couple of rooms I use most.

A word of warning regarding resisting putting on the heating;

A couple of years ago I decided to save money by dressing up rather than putting the gas fire on. It has to be one of the worst winters of my life! I even contemplated moving out of my home and renting a room just so I'd be warm for a while! I think I managed to get to end of November before putting the gas fire on occasionally and till mid-late December before it went on from when I got home from work till when I went to bed. Then by end of January I had to leave it on 24/7. When I was getting home from work my lounge was at 13.5 degrees, kitchen 9.5, bathroom 5.5 and bedroom 9.5 - these figures rose to 17.5, 11.5, 7.5 and 11.5 respectively after the gas fire had been on for a couple of hours. I believe I went too far in my quest to save money and allowed the very bones of the house to get too cold and the bricks n mortar just leached what heat was being put out when the fire was on and lost it again when the fire was off. It was only when the fire was on 24/7 that the whole house started to retain some of the heat being put out. In the end I had to buy a couple of oil filled radiators to help. I'm so glad this happened in the winter it did - I think I'd have died of hypothermia if I'd tried that stunt last year!

The moral of this story is that whilst you can add layers of clothes to keep yourself warm, your house can't and if your house gets too cold it can take forever to get it warm again. Don't be afraid to heat your house, if need be cut back on something else - a 30p packet of crisps a day will cost you over £109 per year - crisps or heat?

Hope that helps put things into perspective a little.

Poo

kerri_gt

That's actually quite a good point Poosmate. What do people find more effective when it comes to heating/cost, temp on low for longer, or a shorter period but the temp turned up more?

We moved from a 1 bed flat to a 3 bed house last year and I tried to heat only the parts of the house we used as much as possible by turning down/off thermostat radiators in rooms we don't use and closing the doors to those rooms. Had to keep it on in the downstairs toilet though - next to the front door and with a stone tiled floor....brrrrrr!

Andy_WSM

Poosmate wrote: »

I believe I went too far in my quest to save money and allowed the very bones of the house to get too cold and the bricks n mortar just leached what heat was being put out when the fire was on and lost it again when the fire was off.

Good observation - and one that I have seen in my Mum's old Victorian property. Keep it lightly heated throughout the winter and it's a comfortable house to be in - let it get cold and it becomes an oppressive drafty old building that won't warm up easily.

Not so bad with modern builds with their layers of insulation, but for those that live in brick built dwellings, letting the fabric of the building become that cold really isn't going to allow for a comfortable Winter.

I'm all for saving money, but I want to be in a comfortable environment in the evenings at home having slogged my guts out in work all day, not walking around looking like the Mitchellin man with icicles hanging off my eyebrows.

deanos

I was determined to make it to October but had to put ours on this morning

Barneysmom

Last year in bed my nose was so cold I felt like crying with the pain of it

I'm just splashing out on a new window for the bedroom next week as I don't want anothewr winter like last year. We've changed some windows and added a porch last year which was brilliant. But we can't afford to replace all the windows in one go so do them one at a time.
They are all double glazed but are quite old so need doing.