Is your heating ON or OFF?

ailz95

We've given in and set our heating to 18C today. We both have arthritis and I have mobility problems, and I think we're both getting stiffer through living in a temperature of 13 - 14C, so it's on.

I'm sad about this, but even with the fleeces etc. - we have no alternative heat source - the pain was too much.

Ailz

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Do electric blankets cost a lot to run mardatha,and what's the best kind to get.

rockie4

I'm quite chuffed, our gas bill arrived yesterday and the gas usage shows I've used a quarter of what I used in the same quarter last year :j :j I've only had the heating on for the odd hour here and there usually when GS and GD were visiting.............however I've caved in this week and had it on a bit longer........OH has manflu so needs heat as well as a fleece :rolleyes:

Muppet81

I have followed lots of the tips on here. Never used to draw curtains but do now and have lined with blankets. Lots of snuggly blankets around. Purchased nice slippers and fleeces.

Until this week, the CH had not been on but late afternoon I have lit the multi fuel stove in the lounge. This has kept us cosy of an evening, aired the house and dries and the washing overnight.

For this cold snap, I have set the CH to 15 which means it comes on for a short time, morning and evening. We live 100 feet up on an exposed Yorkshire hillside so it is a bit parky at the moment. Mr Muppet has started to complain about the Artic conditions, especially when he has his morning shower.

This week however, I find that when I open the curtain in the morning, the windows are running with water and the windowsills are awash. As I have not been heating upstairs, I did not worry about flinging the windows open for a few hours but as it get colder, I don't fancy having the heating on a bit but having to lose it through open windows.

I used to have awful condensation problems but following the massive expense of having all my perished plaster taken of throughout the house and replaced, using my CH and having windows on vent, the house has been snuff dry for the last few years.

I want to be frugal and use minimum heat I don't want to risk going back to this situation.

Those of you who have insulated to the hilt to save fuel, how do you cope with condensation?

housebug

Westywoodpecker wrote: »

Yesterday I "caved in" & finally put the central heating on for a couple of hours in the evening. It was really cold & so was the house. We've done a lot better than usual. Like a previous poster said, it's not worth getting poorly for

Us too. Popped it on for the first time for 3/4 of an hour early yesterday evening. And it came on for a short while this morning. Thermostat is set between 10C and 15C and the boiler is on a timer for morning and evening. In all its not on more than 3 hours out of 24 and the flippin' cost is still unreal. I use the gas fire in the front room the rest of the time when it gets really chilly in here. I find the afternoons are the worst for cold.

I've been around and lived in different countries, but this is the first time I've lived in a country where so many people are facing "heat or eat". Ridiculous.

Primrose

Muppet - we suffer similar condensation problems on some windows (despite double glazing) when we close all our curtains and the temperature drops below freezing. If we leave the curtains open it doesn't occur so the only solution seems to be wiping them down with one of these absorbant microfibre cloths. We're fortunate that now we're at home during the day, when the temperature rises and it's a little windy we can open the window slightly and create a "through" breeze which helps clear the moisture quickly, We only seem to get the condensation when the air is still and frosty, not when it's bitterly cold and windy

shanouck

I do not have central heating and never had central heating for 18 years! At first i felt the cold now i do not feel the cold at all - when i walk into a place with central heating on i feel sick". I have never had a cold or serious illness either in those years-that was till i changed my job an now work in an office that is like a sweat box- the germs breed in there, everybody is coughing and sneezing even in the summer!!
I think people these days are so used to Heat that they dont know any more when its cold or not?? I have a coal fire and this only goes on when its below freezing as this is only when i feel the cold- in my house..I have felt like getting central heating in - due to i am getting older and i may need it -but due to the climate change and the planet getting warmer i am wondering if i should not bother? And get air conditioning instead?

Steel_2

Hubby has insisted on keeping the CH on now after we switched it on a couple of days ago, but is keeping it down on 12 degrees.

I'm still not really feeling the cold much. Normally by this time of the year the heating is on 18-20 for most of the time, and it usually isn't this type of weather, but this year....?

I've been getting up at 6:30 - 7:30am to let the chickens out and have had to spend 20 minutes or so outside cleaning their coop, putting down fresh straw, feeding them and changing water (or in the case of the last few days breaking the ice) and talking to them, so I'm wondering whether my tolerance for cold is getting higher because of this? I don't wear any gloves so my hands are usually pretty cold when I come back in, but even completely unheated the house feels warm to me.

However, I do have a heated blanket on the bed that I switch on for 10 minutes before I get in bed. I don't seem to be able to heat the sheets up enough with my body heat otherwise and end up having a cold miserable night's sleep.

cookiedough38

we have given in, it goes on in the mornings and evenings for a bit. With a newborn baby in the house its not worth making everyone ill

Daisymac_2

Just had a terrible thought, :eek: here we all are cutting down loads and loads on gas and electric, me and DH included, I am literally obessed with our Electricty Monitor and I nearly cried when the monitor for the oil went from 9 (full tank) to 8, :rotfl: but...... surely the energy supply companies are going to be selling less becuase everyone is so conscious of how much they are using at the moment and wont that drive the prices up again ?, I mean if British Gas make £XXMillion per year and we all get our energy usage by a 1/4 then surely British Gas's profits will go down by a 1/4 !

I hope not cause we really cant afford it at the moment !