Is your heating ON or OFF?

ceridwen

JoolzS wrote: »

For those of you who feel warm at temperatures that others feel cold - please be aware that it doesn't matter how many layers the other person puts on - they will probably still feel a bit chilly and uncomfortable. I lost track of the number of posts where the poster claimed that they were comfortable enough but their DH, DS, DD, or any other relative felt cold - if you can afford it put the heating on. Some "old style" things aren't worth reliving - and being cold is definitely not one of them.

I've also noticed a lot of posts stating the "correct" indoor temperature. A lot of central heating thermostats aren't particularly well calibrated. Mine never, ever kicks in below about 19 degrees (on the stat). The comfortable temperature (on the stat) is 24 degrees. I'm not stupid and I realise that 24 degrees isn't the real temperature - it's just the stat. Reading this thread I'm worried that some people will be really, really cold because they can't keep their stat below some arbitrary level. Growing up my mum wouldn't let me ever let the stat go above 20 degrees. If I followed that ruling I would practically never have any heating on even though the real temperature is probably a lot lower.

Oh, and for those of you who think that keeping your house temperature very low is saving the environment for your grandchildren - please note that your children will always make sure they are never, ever cold once they get their own place - they will use up the carbon you aren't using.

One other thing, if anyone gets this far, I have discovered that if I actually GET warm then I can STAY warm. I did try cutting the heating down by a couple of degrees a few years ago and I was never, ever warm. Now I push the heating up by a couple of degrees for an hour or so and then I often find I can turn it off for a few hours because I simply am warm.

Julie

I agree that the important thing is to GET warm in the first place - and its then much easier to STAY warm. I tend to work on the motto as far as possible of never letting myself get too cold or too hungry in the first place - as I then grab for everything going in the way of heat or food and seem to need more. Once one gets chilled to the bone - it does take a lot of doing to "thaw out". So I tend to work on the basis of the central heating is on for the morning stint - and then play it by ear thereafter.

Regarding the being disparaging about those of us who wish to save a bit of the Planet's resources for succeeding generations - this is a factor we need to take into account. Hopefully - wonderful new technologies will come along for succeeding generations - but we cant bank on it. We should bear in mind the Red Indian saying about taking into account the effect of our actions "unto the 7th generation" after us.

Re the correct indoor temperature - I'm certainly well aware my house thermostat leaves a lot to be desired. I was not happy when I started discussing the "ins and outs" of that thermostat with my gas guy AFTER he had installed it. I didnt get "on line" with t'Internet until after that was done - and, when I did do so, I realised my house thermostat should be a digital one - not one of those manual dial ones:mad: I am not pleased with my gas guy that he just went ahead and installed the wrong type in the house of this (ignorant at the time) customer - but 'twould cost too much to put matters right now and when I've already moved on to a decision to have the full whack of "alternative energy set-up" (solar panels/heat pump/etc) - though absolutely no idea when/if I'll ever be able to manage to do that financially (yet another bit of "ceridwen makes decisions and then lives in faith as to how they are to be implemented":D ) then I tend to feel its a bit pointless adjusting my current conventional set-up. I rely on a thermometer myself to tell me what temperature my house is - rather than that darn house thermostat (which, incidentally is set at 18C and I'm waiting to see what I think of that).

I do agree with you about being aware of the temperature of other people in the house - I'm the first one to think that once any other person in the house is reasonably covered up with clothes then the heating should be on if they are still cold. Colder person wins in my house - which means that I got used to my house being warmer in the first place - as I wasnt going to risk lodgers being too cold. Now I'm living on my own - I decide on my own. But if there is more than one person/other living being in the house then they get "decision rights" too in my book. I well remember frequently being too cold as I was brought up - as my share of "decision rights" got totally ignored - so I wouldnt do that to anyone else. Other people - and animals/birds/etc - in the house are entitled to be warm enough too - and I always automatically offer to switch on the sitting room fire when I get visitors and dont take "no" for an answer unless they're commenting how hot they are.

jackieb

JoolzS wrote: »

I've been in this position once in my life, about 20 odd years ago when I was 19 or so. The heating at my work had completely failed due to a burst pipe in the attic of the building and the temperature was somewhere around 50 degrees. I phoned up some government department (really have no memory of which one) to find out the minimum heating requirement; discovered it was 60 degrees and I was somehow able to persuade every single person in the office, including my boss and his boss, to walk out which pretty much shut the company down! We all went to the local pub and discovered they also had a burst pipe and no heating :rotfl:. We did however all stay there until they brought in some space heaters at the office and got the working space back up to a bearable level.

I think I may have been the person to get everyone wound up about the lack of heating becauseI had to get two buses to work so I was already pretty close to freezing by the time I arrived. This meant getting to a cold office was not the best thing for my mood.

There were no sanctions for anyone who left the office that day and I would do exactly the same thing again in the future.

As Pasturesnew says, I don't believe there has ever been an upper limit. This would make certain workspaces unworkable at all times of year - machine shops, mines, kitchens, etc can sometimes all be at over 100 degrees no matter what time of year it is.

Julie

In the winter, if my husband is at work and he goes outside, the hair up his nostrils freeze after 10 minutes. He works on the Sea of Okhotsk and he could walk over the sea to the rig (he doesn't btw lol). He might be off to Siberia next. I don't think there's a minimum heating requirement there. :rotfl:

Caterina

My DH said that there is an upper limit for temperature in offices but cannot say for sure, he thinks it is around 26 degrees centigrade.

I am happy at around 18 in the house and 17 in the bedroom. The bedroom thermometer is an electronic gadget that my mum bought us for Christmas a few years ago and is very precise, even gives percentage of humidity, tells the weather and other bits of info - unfortunately it does not make the tea or reconcile my bank account LOL.

As for the comments re. one-upmanship, of course, I AM the ONE UP naturally!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Caterina

annie123

temperature in the work place was something that became an issue a few years ago when we hit 100 degrees (now that was a summer!:D )
and I found myself responsible for staff comfort and my company responsibilities during the heat wave!!! .......My manager left that out of my job description:rolleyes:

There is no upper limit set only perceived comfort, the lower limit is 16 degrees for most of us or 13 degrees if severe physical effort is required.

web site here:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/temperature.htm

18 is my comfort zone at home and seems to be OK with all of us ....except DD (theres always one!) but she still only wants to wear t-shirts indoors as jumpers aren't cool:rolleyes: her choice as she is 18.

Barneysmom

I wish I could tell what the temp of my house was.
The rads have controls on them 1 - 5 on the knob, the boiler has a higher/lower knob on but I don't know the exact temp.
I bought a fridge thermometer and stuck it on the wall, it was ok for 2 weeks. But now it's stuck on 18 degrees and doesn't move from there.
I could do with a proper themometer for the wall.

annie123

wilkinsons had some in the gardening section, 0.75p and £1 depending on which size you want.
A fridge thermometer is designed to work at much lower temperatures than room temperature so you will get better results using a proper one.

Barneysmom

Oh thanks Annie123 - I just nearly blew a fiver on Ebay for one :T :T :T

anniewoo

I am still holding out for 1st November,but I must admit I wavered yesterday,it was very cold here.Even with 3 layers on,I still couldn't get warm so I got out the micro hot water bottle and that helped a lot It doesn't seem so cold today although it is raining and a bit miserable.

I am not doing this for some kind of one-up-manship,I am seriously concerned about paying my heating bills this coming winter,I only have the State pension to live on and I am trying to save as much money as I can.I am also concerned about the environment,although maybe not everyone else is worried about this.There is also only me in the house,so no other people to worry about.

Little_Star_3

no heating on here yet either...i actually went to work early yesterday cause I knew it would be warmer there than staying at home...not doing this for one up manship either...just dont have the money to have the heating on. I see we have gathered a wee bit in our gas/elec dd so when the weather gets worse I may put it on for an hour a day or something like that but at the moment we are doing with out, and tbh we are both out at work, we both come home have dinner go to bed, get up the next day and go to work so it doesnt really seem worth having the heating on at the moment.

annie123

Thats something I miss, keeping warm at work for free...(lost job last month) but I have found that spending time doing winter preps and cleaning etc keeps me warm so have not had the heating on any more that I would have if still working
Not sure about the coming week though daytime highs of 5 degrees for London on Wednesday:eek: me thinks will make that batch cooking day and visit the library to change books, always nice and warm there and I've pre paid for it via my council tax:rolleyes: