Is your heating ON or OFF?

Wednesday2000

12.5 in my house this morning. The heating is on most definitely on! There is a thick frost in my garden.

I keep getting condensation on my bedroom windows. I think it is because we sleep with the door closed. We have to as I worry my dog won't wake us up if she needs to pee in the night if we leave the door open.

mjm3346

Down to 6.8 in the bedroom this morning - the fan heater on 1kw still felt just like a fan, the 2kw was ok for a quick dressing. Went for a walk and it was pleasant in the sun but still cold enough for a bit of wind to make the eyes water, nice to get in and the 10.5 in the lounge actually felt quite warm particularly sitting where the sun was coming in the windows, cup of tea next.

Novice_investor101

Definitely back on. I decided spending £5-£6 a day for a couple of weeks was something I could budget for this month. I can afford to keep doing that for longer, if I cut down elsewhere but I’d just prefer not to. 

I’ll be spending tomorrow working out a way to hang a teddy fleece giant blanket at the stairs somewhere in an attempt to try & keep the heat downstairs. It’s only two rooms (kitchen, lounge & bottom of stairs in the middle) but I think would make a difference. The doors are open to allow the dog to roam to & fro. 

Spies

So I let the house cool down to the minimum as we were out all day today, it bottomed out at 9.5c by 5pm.

I turned the heating on at 5pm and I've spent £3 and it's only gone up 4c.

Sat here in multiple layers with a dressing gown and heated throw. 

I don't think having the heating off completely is really an option. 

Doom_and_Gloom

We have finally had to buckle and put the heating on. It went on for half an hour to get the room to 17C. That was enough, the temperature is still at 16.9C now. The heated blanket is on and we feel toasty warm.

Primrose

I think in these below zero temperatures one is being forced to weigh up the cost of heating versus the cost of potential damage caused by frozen pipes which could be horrendous if they subsequently burst. .  There,s also the risk thst a potentially difficult insurance company might not pay out if they could try and prove that the damage was caused by deliberately not putting the heating on.

So you,re damned if you do and damned if you don't, so often a case of weighing up options and choosing the less painful one.  If you have the option and can afford to lose a little heat, opening up the loft trap door for a while to let some heat escape up around your water pipes, (which hopefully are lagged) could help reduce this risk.

Fizz2015

Heating on here in South East Wales for 1 hr first thing, late afternoon and evening. No more than 4-5 over per day over weekend and during the coldspell but less in week as at work/school. Being cold is horrible and affects family wellbeing. Am trying to conserve energy in other areas though. I might cry when the bill comes in. 😢 

charybdis26

@Primrose  I've been a bit of an energy miser even before the recent price hikes, so not a lot of excess heat left to escape into the roof space. I've a small run of water pipes in the loft that is potentially vunerable to freezing, even though the pipes are individually lagged with foam pipe insulation and sit beneath 30 cm of glass fibre loft insulation.

On these colder nights I run fresh slugs of water through the hot and cold taps before going to bed in the hope that the slightly warmer replacement water is less likely to freeze than  stagnant water that may have lain there, cooling for several hours. I do the same again when I get up for a middle-of-the-night pee and then the heating comes on early morning to put some warmth back into the property.

Haven't experienced any issues in the 8 winters since deploying this procedure, but in the present cold snap and during 'beast from the East' type conditions the house receives a bit more heat anyway and I'm more vigilant.

Primrose

Read in the paper today that many elderly people are planning to spend up to 20 hours a day in bed as the only place they can keep warm.  It,s a horrible enforced option as this amount  of inactivity can soon result in muscle loss , especially in the legs, reduced  circulation and other health issues. 

 I once had nearly 2 months enforced bed rest following a serious back injury and ended up looking like a skeleton with legs like matchsticks so please if you,re contemplating doing this make sure you spend some time every day dressed warmly and doing some exercise indoors using your legs. Even gently walking on the spot for five minutes every hour will help keep your muscles properly toned.  

YorksLass

You're right Primrose, it's an enforced "option" that some people are choosing and it's bad for both physical and mental health.  DH has limited mobility after a fall two years ago and now walks with a stick - albeit slowly - and I'm forever nagging him to make sure he moves around a bit every hour.  I know it annoys him but it's preferable to the alternative!  He dresses warmly and I make sure we have plenty of hot drinks and at least one hot meal a day.  And the heating is on right now - I keep a close eye on our energy consumption and so far we have a decent amount in credit to be able to pay for it when the bill comes.  I have no intention of either of us ending up in hospital with hypothermia.     I'm sure the NHS has enough on its plate without us adding to their workload.