How cold can I keep the house safely?

bettycrumble

When I am going through a stubborn 'I will not put the heating on' phase and can feel the cold in the house, I really feel the cold, even with coats etc on, when I am walking to school to pick the children up. I got a bit of a fright one day when I felt far too cold outside. I felt much warmer on the morning (we always put the heating on for an hour upon waking) walk to school with the outside temperatures being so much more cooler at 8.30 in the morning as opposed to 2.30 in the afternoon.

I'm a fit and healthy stubborn mule and the chill I felt that day woke me up to the fact that feeling cold is dangerous.

fishbiscuits

lostinrates wrote: »

I don't see how ideal temps for everyone can be so high when risk of cot death I googled for a similar post was 16 to 20 degrees c.

That is correct but the quoted 16-20 degrees is the ideal temperature for sleeping babies. The advice is that bedrooms are kept a few degrees colder than living rooms, so 21 degrees would be about right for daytime.

This is a few years old, but interesting nonetheless. It suggests that there is more risk of winter deaths in mild climates such as ours, as people take less precautions against the cold. Just change the commas for full stops (I can't post links)

news,bbc,co,uk/1/hi/health/5372296.stm

lostinrates

fishbiscuits wrote: »

That is correct but the quoted 16-20 degrees is the ideal temperature for sleeping babies. The advice is that bedrooms are kept a few degrees colder than living rooms, so 21 degrees would be about right for daytime.

This is a few years old, but interesting nonetheless. It suggests that there is more risk of winter deaths in mild climates such as ours, as people take less precautions against the cold. Just change the commas for full stops (I can't post links)

news,bbc,co,uk/1/hi/health/5372296.stm

So, say 16 and a few degrees higher would be nineteen/twenty? I do think a lot depends on health and lifestyle. I have lived in much hotter places and prefer this climate...we can later up, but there is not much you can do for 'free' when you are too hot,

fishbiscuits

lostinrates wrote: »

So, say 16 and a few degrees higher would be nineteen/twenty? I do think a lot depends on health and lifestyle. I have lived in much hotter places and prefer this climate...we can later up, but there is not much you can do for 'free' when you are too hot,

Yes, but 16 is the lowest reccommened temperature for sleeping babies. All I'm saying is that goes along with what has been posted saying 18 is comfortable and 21 is ideal. 16 is acceptable for nighttime, but 18 would be the absolute ideal bedroom temperature for a baby, being in the middle of the reccommended range.
I agree with you about hotter climates though, I don't really enjoy the heat myself.

lostinrates

fishbiscuits wrote: »

Yes, but 16 is the lowest reccommened temperature for sleeping babies. All I'm saying is that goes along with what has been posted saying 18 is comfortable and 21 is ideal. 16 is acceptable for nighttime, but 18 would be the absolute ideal bedroom temperature for a baby, being in the middle of the reccommended range.
I agree with you about hotter climates though, I don't really enjoy the heat myself.

I think, at some point, a lot more people are going to have to accept 'comfortable' as an ' ideal, ' maybe not for what we might personally want, but as a balance for affordability and sustainability. At 18 degrees in the outside very few people are shivering, in spring, the first warm days feel 'comparitively' lovely, even though they are not 'toasty' compared to many heated house temps.


It's great to know what is ideal, for houses and health, vital indeed. But if people cannot afford it, or we do not have the fuel because of crises or whatever, then we don't.

I have to say, I almost wept when my heating installation was put back another fortnight today, but I have coped, and would be prepared to again under the same circumstances. Any slight variable and the balance of that for me would be different and heating would move up my priority.

For me now, while I really want heating option ( my house has only one, pretty useless south faint window!) what I really want is enough hot water for a decently hot bath.

fishbiscuits

I suppose I should really tell you that I keep my house (living room) heated to around 19 degrees, and that I have a ten month old daughter (who has never had a days illness in her life - yet!!). So yes, ideal is just that, ideal, and not always achievable.

VJsmum

Well we never had central heating when I was a kid, 2 gas fires - 1 in lounge and 1 in dining room. THe bathroom was heated on a Sunday for baths.

And I tell you what..


it was bl00dy freezing and bl00dy awful. I loathe and detest being cold and will give up an awful lot before I go back to that.

We keep our thermostat at 19 degrees which is jumper and socks temperature.

oldtractor

VJsmum wrote: »

Well we never had central heating when I was a kid, 2 gas fires - 1 in lounge and 1 in dining room. THe bathroom was heated on a Sunday for baths.

And I tell you what..


it was bl00dy freezing and bl00dy awful. I loathe and detest being cold and will give up an awful lot before I go back to that.

We keep our thermostat at 19 degrees which is jumper and socks temperature.

Same here VJsmum

lobbyludd

I'm toasty at 19 degrees, at 20 I'm uncomfortably warm, 21 and I'm darn near passing out. I have a constant running battle at work over who is in charge of the thermostat.

My ideal temp is probably 18 degrees but I am comfortable at 17 and 16 in a jumper and socks + furry slippers.

at 12 degrees for prolonged periods my thumbs start to go numb (arthritis) but other than that I generally run warmer than other people. The same appears to be true for my children, and has always been the case.

My parents however need higher temperatures than me and keep their houses at 20-21.

we are all different.

Boodle

For approx the last month we switch heating on in the morning to 18C and leave it on until about 6pm when the house is heated enough to carry through. We switch it off if going to be out of the house longer than an hour or so. It is switched off in the spare room and radiators at setting 1 in the bedrooms, 2 in the living space. All upstairs windows are always on vent unless it gets extremely cold during the nights deep in winter. This is pretty much our usual winter routine. I find it very warm in libraries, schools, shops, other people's houses but then they find it cooler in mine. My girls rarely get colds or sniffles, and when they have it is mild and over quickly. It is comfortable for us. We all speak up if chilly/overwarm and check with eachother and would adjust heating/put gas fire on if needed.