How cold can I keep the house safely?

lindseykim13

Really wanting to know what is not a good idea illness and damage wise.
Got 3 children in the house and don't fancy making them ill for lack of heating nor do i want the house going mouldy. The cost is obviously a major factor so need to keep the heating to a minimum.
What should i not be doing or doing in the winter.

I know not to hang wet washing in doors if possible but what else please?

Such as opening the windows to air the house, closing the vents, condensation on the windows a good or bad sign?

TIA

scaredy_cat

well, when i was 10 (late 70s), we only ever had a gas fire on in the living room and sometimes a small heater on in the dining room. we didn't have central heating in the bedrooms and i can't recall getting colds! I used to wake up in the morning with frost on the windows, which made for quick dressing and getting downstairs! and i certainly sleep better if the room is cold at night

i think having the windows open during the day would air and get rid of the condensation (keep the doors closed) , then perhaps for a few hrs before bedtime, put the heating on to take the edge off the chill in the bedrooms.

lostinrates

Houses that are well built are fairly tolerant. Young peoples health might be less resistant. I would certainly keep one room where you can all comfortably spend most of your time in the house 'warm'.

We have had no central heating, but we do have a woodburner in one room, so through winter we tend to be in that one room as much as possible. I also spent on electric heaters on nights where freezing pipes might have been an issue...because repairing that would have cost a whole lot more.

Washing makes moisture, but so does just being there,...breathing, sweating (hahaha) etc etc. airing is IMO important.

Are you tightening belt through need or want? Is there any chance to juggle the budget a little if you want to keep warmer? are you all well?

Seakay

I think the problem is not so much the temperature that you keep your home but the contrast between home and school, shops etc which (I believe) is greater now than in the 70s or previously, ie schools and shops are getting hotter and less ventilated, which I think is the real health risk.
I have to keep my house relatively unheated and I find that I have to practically strip off in shops and other people's houses because they are so hot by contrast and if I don't then it feels even colder when I get home.
I think the answer is to make sure that when you and they go elsewhere they have lots of easily removeable layers to try and minimise extreme fluctuations in temperature; I think that it's going from over heated to cool or cold and back which is most likely to cause people to go down with chills and colds.
It's good to get rid of condensation on windows - I use one of those super absorbant cloths - to avoid rotting frames and windowsills.
I air bedrooms and other rooms as usual - obviously not when the heating is on!
I dry washing indoors when it's bad weather using a dessicant dehumidifier - takes a few hours at pence an hour and takes the chill off the room - or leave a window open in an unused upstairs room and put the washing in there - this is more for Autumn and Spring that real winter chill!

mysk_girl

I have my central heating set at 15deg, and then we have 2 wood burners to keep the downstairs a bit warmer. I am expecting a baby in about 3 weeks and have a wee oil fired radiator in baby's room to keep it around 16deg, but the older 2 kids (5 and 2) sleep fine and are rarely ill. In 5 years as a working mum, I've had 1 day off work because of sick children.

blossomhill_2

Insurance companies require empty houses to be kept at 17 degrees to protect from pipes freezing etc

If it feels warmer outside than in then you need to increase the heat

It is possible to have a cold house but warm active wrapped-up-warm older children but it's not an ideal way to live if you have any choice, and certainly not suitable for babies

(Back in the day when I was at school boys wore short trousers all year round but their legs were chapped red raw - today this would be seen as cruel)

thriftwizard

For the first 12 years that we lived here, we had no heating upstairs & kept downstairs at 16-17℃ and the kids never suffered - I had two when we moved in and another 3 afterwards & they've all grown up fine & healthy! We do have an open fire in the living room, but apart from that, never used any supplementary heating except hot water bottles. It's an old house & quite leaky, so we've never had any great issues with condensation or damp (except caused by plumbing problems) but the wall cavities & loft are insulated & most of the windows face south, so we have a fair bit of "solar gain" & just all got used to wearing lots of layers & moving round rather than sitting still.

I too find other people's houses & quite a few public places unpleasantly hot, yet have no trouble at all functioning & sleeping in Spain in high summer! My face starts to feel as if it's cracking after half an hour in my mother's flat, though, and my throat starts to dry up, and the few times I've been in hospital, I can't get out fast enough; I'll swear the heat & A/C, on top of being woken up every half hour for observations, actually make you ill!

Interestingly, although I suffered from asthma when I was younger, I don't any more, and none of my kids have, not even the one who had a bad bout of bronchiolitis as a tiny baby, when we lived elsewhere. And we rarely get coughs & colds, whereas DS2's girlfriend, whose mother keeps her flat nice & warm, gets them all the time. So living with a lower temperature than most doesn't seem to have done us any great harm!

lindseykim13

Thanks for tips so far, unfortunatly it is more of a need than a want this year. Previous years we have always tried to keep it off or low as much as possible just to save the pennies towards better things but having cut bugets everywhere else this year the heating needs to be watched like a hawk.
Just wanted to make sure i wasn't going to create more problems by not having it on much or at all.

mysk_girl

blossomhill wrote: »

Insurance companies require empty houses to be kept at 17 degrees to protect from pipes freezing etc

If it feels warmer outside than in then you need to increase the heat

It is possible to have a cold house but warm active wrapped-up-warm older children but it's not an ideal way to live if you have any choice, and certainly not suitable for babies

(Back in the day when I was at school boys wore short trousers all year round but their legs were chapped red raw - today this would be seen as cruel)

17deg sounds very high to protect against freezing pipes when water freezes at 0deg. I shall have to check my policy documents!

We have a frost stat on our boiler that kicks in at 5deg... I'm not sure parts of our house ever reach 17deg in a freezing winter period!

marmiterulesok

I came across this piece of information on one of the posts here a while ago and copied it down:

below 9c risk of hypothermia

12c too cold,risk of heart attack or stroke increased

15c discomfort,risk of respiratory illness

18c comfortable home temperature

21c ideal home temperature

I do tend to just put on the radiator in the sitting room when it gets really cold.My sitting room has a north-facing wall and I've had some problems with mould.I've recently bought a dehumidifier and this is making a big difference.The sitting room temp is 19c just now,which is quite comfortable,but I do dress warmly.I'm aiming for a humidity level of 40-50%

I am another who prefers a cool bedroom.I leave the bedroom window ajar all day,but might do it for a shorter period of time when the cold really starts.

I hate the cloying stuffiness when a room is too hot.I really do believe that it's unhealthy for a room/house to be too hot.

I hope that some of the above might be of use to you.

kizzie_nikita

I've been reading that at 12C the blood starts to thicken which means your blood pressure gets higher as it's harder to pump it.