Is your heating ON or OFF?

YorksLass

^ This ^ 

As an "elderly" person, this is as low as I will go.  I'm fine during the day when I'm doing things and being active, but notice the difference come evenings when I'm sitting.  I do use extra layers, throws, hot water bottles etc that all help but, if I'm cold, the heating gets whacked up until it's comfortable for me.  I find regular hot drinks help too.

Everyone's different depending on their needs, whereabouts in the country they are, type of property, age, physical abilities etc so there's no "one size fits all" solution.  I definitely wouldn't be comfortable with MikeyPGT's 13 deg!

Mnoee

MikeyPGT said:

I do wonder at how warm some people feel that they need to be. It's currently 13 in my sitting room and I'm not finding it at all unpleasant. I'm wearing a T-Shirt and (unbuttoned) fleece overshirt, jeans, sports socks and fleecy slipper socks. Oh and the door is open because next door's cat is currently asleep on the sofa next to me!

In summer there was a similar comment from someone else when there was talk of fans and cool drinks when it was 'only' 25c! It just shows how different we all are. 

Doom_and_Gloom

@Rosa_Damascena - I doubt we'll be able to go without putting the heating on at all during the winter months, however it's likely we'll be able to have it on low when it becomes needed and so minimal spend. Our heating/hot water system where we live is under a provider we have no choice over as it is chosen by the flat managing agent; it's communal heating/hot water and we pay for what we use. We've never been on this kind of system before so we aren't sure how it compares to what we did before for heating. 

Although it is certainly chillier here than it has been I had the window in the living room open not long ago for about an hour and a half. The air flow was lovely. I've got a jumper and slippers on so I'm keeping my body warm and I'm drinking hot green tea so no problems there. The window is on latch now.
I'm disabled so I'm not able to move around much to keep warm so I do have to be careful how often and for how long I keep the window open. It's a balancing act as I love fresh air and as I'm not always able to go out to get it the open window is the compromise. Thankfully this flat warms up really fast once the window is put on latch so it isn't bad.
It was colder last night so the windows were closed during the night for sleeping. Will probably have them closed the next few nights if the forecast is correct as it is supposed to be 0C to -1C. 

I'm aware that living where we do in the South and in a newer build that it is much warmer (though according to my phone it is 4C outside right now it doesn't feel that cold in the flat) than say where a friend of ours lives up in Scotland in an old house! I'm sure he has his heating on as I believe it is highs of 3C and lows of -1C with likelihood of snow today where he is!

@Mnoee - at 25C I'm basically dying from the heat as due to my disability I don't do well with heat! My OH and I have 'hot water bottles' that are old and for putting small ice balls and cold water in during the summer which works a treat. Don't worry we make sure the summer ones aren't used for hot water in the winter. We picked up a long hot water bottle from L!dl recently for this winter. OH kept stealing my long hot water bottle last winter so when I saw it and that it was only £7.99 it went in the basket without much thought.

Rosa_Damascena

Florenceem said:

Older folk are told to have the temperature at 18 at the lowest.

The risk is with age and decreased temperature, people lose awareness of just how cold they are and it goes downhill from there 

@MikeyPGT - are you sure your thermostat isn't broken??!

Nelliegrace

I had to go out in the car today. It was -2°C first thing, 0°C and snowing steadily when I set out. It was cold in the car for the first few miles, even though I was wrapped up well. I was the one clapping and shaking my cold hands at the traffic lights!
I gather that heating is to be an expensive optional extra in some new electric cars. 
This is to try to fool us that they can go further before stopping with dead batteries. 
It does not sound very sensible in the UK. Hypothermia creeps up on you, unawares. You can be very cold without realising it. 

Auntycaz

I set my thermostat to 15/16 degrees in the day and 13 degrees overnight. I find keeping the heating at a constant temperature is better for me than turning it up high and then turning it off when it gets warm as I have mobility problems and asthma and find it is better for my joints and my breathing. 
We are forecast -4 degree for tomorrow morning so I won't be venturing outside.  I do the same as @Laura_Elsewhere and open all the windows for about 10/15 mins when I get up and then close them all in the same order. I've done this for years and find it helps prevent damp around the windows from condensation.
I have made extra thick draught excluders for the doors and have double thickness curtains at the windows and doors.  I have several warm dressing gowns and often pop one on over my clothes to keep extra warm. I also make sure to have plenty of warm drinks during the day as they also help to keep you warm.  Stay safe and warm everyone.
 

Prudent

I have set the thermostat for 13 c overnight and most of the day. I set it to 15c for a short spell for my morning shower. Late afternoon I am setting it at 17c for a couple of hours. The heating isn’t running continuously in those two hours. I would be fine with a lower night temperature, but worry about freezing pipes as our boiler is in the loft. It was serviced today so hopefully will be fine.

@Auntycaz, I open the windows for about 15 minutes every morning to prevent condensation. We close the curtains as soon as it gets dark. I am wondering if I should look into door curtains. I am not sure how much heat modern upvc/ double glazed doors loose at night. I could only do the front door as we have a cat flap in the back door.

Laura_Elsewhere

Auntycaz said:

 I do the same as @Laura_Elsewhere and open all the windows for about 10/15 mins when I get up and then close them all in the same order. I've done this for years and find it helps prevent damp around the windows from condensation.

 

As we don't bother using any heating, we only open the windows for about 3-5 minutes at this time of year, all of them open right wide- but we have the bedroom window open six inches all night, and only rarely have it any less open. 
Our Victorian 'stone pig' ceramic hot-water bottles are like little storage heaters, so our bed is toasty warm, and we're at the convenient ages where we wake for the loo at 5am and close the window then so it's warm for getting up and dressing   Then I open them all for a few minutes, and then close them up for the rest of the day. Thus far, we've only used the stone pigs at night in bed, but as it gets colder we will start using them as heated footrests in the sitting-room, esp my husband WFH at a desk all day. 

Auntycaz

@Prudent my front door opens into the hall but my back door opens directly into my living room and is half glazed. The door curtains and draught excluders have made a huge difference in keeping the cold out. I keep the door curtain in the living room drawn all day too as I get plenty of light through my living room window.Stay safe and warm everyone.

Rosa_Damascena

Am I the only one reeling from ridiculous costs? Now I'm satisfied that my heating is working I won't be using it unless I must. The sight of the meter running amok is scary, it is literally eating up money!!