room temperature.

teddysmum

I have a 'Keep warm and save money' card, from the public library, which contains a thermometer and advises on healthy temperatures for the home. It says that below 16 is too cool and could cause health problems, 20 is ideal and above 22 is too warm and too costly.


Now having just had a central heating replacement, after making do with a gas fire and oil radiator for quite a long time, I expected to be toasty warm..but I'm not.


At 20 (I have closed off this main room to avoid drafts) or even sometimes 22 degrees I still feel cold. I am 65 and have back problems which restrict my movement on some days, but wonder whether this is me being odd or do others have their thermostats set higher ?

heartbreak_star

Temperature's a personal thing IMO. I get far too warm at even 21-22 degrees (temp of work office) but everyone else seems cold at that temperature!

HBS x

Torry_Quine

20C would be too warm for me, as well as expensive. It's an individual choice though.

pollypenny

I am rarely warm, even though I wear layers usually topped with a fleece!

I'd love to live in a warm climate and hate it when people have air con going full blast.

peachyprice

20 would be too cold for me, I find 22 comfortable, 24 too hot.

teddysmum

My body just can't decide what it wants. If I wake up hot, in the night, and push the covers aside, next minute I'm frozen. Cover up for a few minutes and I'm hot.


There were reports on tv that people are wasting fuel as the norm for thermostat setting is becoming 24 degrees.

AnnieO1234

24 degrees or higher is dangerous for a newborn certainly. 16 degrees or lower is dangerous for an elderly or infirm individual. But a lot depends on activity levels, clothing, drafts, warmth of the entire house, position of the house etc.

In respect of OP, those cards are not the most accurate of devices, get a digital thermometer if you're really interested/concerned about it.

Also depending on the way your thermostat works, it may be that it is unable to keep your home to a constant temperature (modern digital ones with external read outs will hold a constant temperature).

Xx

sammyjammy

My lounge is currently 16.5 degrees centigrade. I don't have the heating on and my feet are a little chilly because I removed my woolly tights when i got in from work. I usually only put the heating on if I think the cats are cold - am very tight

If you feel cold and have already put on jumper, socks etc then put your heating on. If you have back problems the cold will only exacerbate it but try to keep mobile too.

A.Penny.Saved

I have a great dislike of heat, it's what goes with my health condition. I have walked into people's homes and almost knocked over by the heat and my blood literally begins to boil and not through anger.

Comfortable for me is about 18C but I can go much much lower with heavy clothing. 20C is okay providing I am not wearing too many clothes, a T shirt is fine. Any higher I find very uncomfortable and those high temperatures of 30C last year was unbearable.

@sammyjammy 16.5C unheated? How does your home stay that warm without heating? Mine is below 14C according to my cheap digital thermometer which reads about 1C too high!

Most digital sensors are very inaccurate in my experience. Central heating thermostats are usually terribly inaccurate and often many degrees incorrect, sometimes as much as 4C.

Therefore I would recommend that the OP ignore the central heating thermostat as a means to judge the temperature. You require a much more reliable liquid sensor, the old style Mercury thermometer is still the most accurate if you can still find one. Digital sensors are usually utter carp IMO. Even the best meter that I have (£50) reads a little bit low by about 0.5C.

Buick

I like to be warm. I don't have a thermometer, but I'd guess I like it well above 20 degrees. Go by how you're feeling (ie hot/cold/just right!).

jenniewb

I was told by my electricity company who were trying to advise me on how to keep costs down, that for every 1 degree above 16 degrees on the thermostat would add 10% to my bill. I tried 16 degrees but couldn't do it.


I manage between 18-20 degrees and with a hot water bottle and wrapped in a big fleecy dressing gown with big furry slippers, occasionally I'll add a portable radiator to the mix- I don't like the cold and seem to feel cold most of the time.


I've always been sensitive to the cold- even as a small child so although it may seem bizarre to wrap up and add extra heat, to me I'm doing quite well not to ramp up the heating further.