Is your heating ON or OFF?

ceridwen

Have just felt comfortable enough to switch the heating back off again - think I could be yo-yoing with it for a week or so. I see the house is less than 20C - but I'm feeling okay with it at 18C currently.

I'm now carrying round 3 figures in my head about temperature:

- Indoor temperature is supposed to be 20C - as thats what the Scandinavians say (working on my usual basis - "if its good enough for the most advanced nations on this Planet, then its good enough for me").

- Crunchy Chicken (well-known American blogger) has been running a "Freeze Your Butts" Challenge on her blog recently and did a poll of her readers re how low they set their temperatures at and has come to an overall conclusion that 62F is possible and it will be 65F if anyone complains - I checked that out to see what that meant - and it means 16C and if anyone complains then adjust it to 18C. She noted the lowest people kept their houses was 15C - as there were some people who maintained that low a temperature - but decided that was too uncomfortable for most people.

So - my personal conclusion is that I think my own personal "thermostat" looks like its adjusted slightly. So my house will be the lowest temperature I feel comfortable (not cold) with between 16C and 20C.

(hmmmm....thinks.....if I'm ever in a position where the temperature had to be lower than that for financial reasons - think I might just start keeping a chart of house temperatures/list of my other financial expenditures/etc for the local newspaper - just out of interest you understand - heh!). No-one could find any financial "sticks" to beat me with anyways - no debt/car/smoking/fancy tv package/etc - if I didnt have enough to live on ever I could easily "prove" it wasnt down to me <grin>

A_fiend_for_life

I think the lowest temperature I have had without the heating on is just over 14C and sat layered up using the computer with the windows open. Part of it is maybe your level of activity before hand but also the fresh air is invigorating too. It's just under 15C at the moment but last week and the week before the heating would have been on.

It is fine when the temperature is stable but if the temperature drops suddenly even to 16C I tend to feel it more and reach for the heater.

vickyj

We are fortunate enough to live in a 2 year old house so our insulation is really good, hence we have not had to turn the heating on yet. I will confess though i was very close to it a couple of days ago when it was particularly cold here. I knew it was not so great when i was fully covered and my legs still felt cold under my jeans lol. The kids have not complained yet though so i guess i will now be driven by them . :-)
Vicky

Skintmama

Put mine on last week to make sure it worked........all seemed fine, so off again 2 hours later.
Very mild here at the moment fortunately.

Olliebeak

Mine has been on since last weekend - when I discovered that my freebie room thermometer (from Eon!) wasn't giving a 'true' picture of how cold it was in my living room.

Since then, my c/h thermostat has been set at 20 degrees - but it has barely kicked into action (and even then mostly in a morning around 7.00am and evening around 10.00pm for around 15 minutes each time). It's felt so warm in here today (I've had the slow cooker going all day though) that I'm going to lower the room thermostat to 18 degrees and see how it goes with that.

I feel like turning it off altogether, but just don't see the point. I'll just leave it set on the timer (7.00am-9.00am and 7.00pm-11.00pm) with the thermostat at 18 degrees. If it's needed it will kick in and if it's not needed then it won't - problem sorted - everyone's a winner - luvvly jubbly!!!

judyjetson

Just found this thread and I'm glad to find there's other like-minded people about! I leave mine off until it has to go on, as once it's on it stays on low for the rest of the winter.

I think we're either a bit more hardy than our friends or we're just used to it, as people have been known to keep their coats on in our house, while we're walking round in our t-shirts! :rotfl:

I did turn it on last week to see if it was working - good thing too, as it wasn't, but all's fine now.

I've just put the winter quilt on this week - my goose down superking bargain (£30 reduced from £220) - as it was getting a bit chilly in the wee small hours, and we'd gone from the summer quilt, to summer quilt with quilted throw over that. It's like sleeping under a giant marshmallow!

I don't know if generally it's cheaper leaving your heating on low, but it's more economical for us at the moment, as with having a big old house it takes a good while to warm up, so there's no point in putting it on timed or on for just a day at a time. Maybe one day when we've finished all the work that needs to be done on the house!

Caterina

Still no heating on, managing quite well, weather been quite mild and a quilt was sufficient on the bed, didn't even need the woolen blanket on top of that!

Loving the sunshine of the last few days!

Caterina

ixwood

judgejaq wrote: »

..

I don't know if generally it's cheaper leaving your heating on low, but it's more economical for us at the moment, as with having a big old house it takes a good while to warm up, so there's no point in putting it on timed or on for just a day at a time. Maybe one day when we've finished all the work that needs to be done on the house!

No offence, but I doubt that's true. It's always more economical to have it on as and when it's needed. That excuse/logic seems to be quite popular.

Thorntonone

hello in our house it's always 26 deg, i find myself out in the garden cooling down all the time. the wife and daughter like it like this and have the heating on from september to may no matter what. they even know seconds after i turn it off.

sandieb

lauzjp wrote: »

We have to have the heating up a good whack to be able to feel any noticeable difference. Our council flat windows are badly fitted, though the council deny this after several inspections. We previously put bubble wrap and all sorts of insulation type stuff around the windows to little avail - except damp and condensation!



can't open the windows it's too cold, and soon there will be more insulation efforts as we can't afford to keep putting the heating on.

Have you tried using window film which acts like double glazing - it's like strong clingfilm! We have it on our bedroom windows and it cuts down the condensation (ours is not a damp house at all - condensation only caused by warm interior air hitting cold windows).

Not expensive and well worth a try!