The heating is officially on is yours?

ZolaBuddy

Finally turned on my c/h on the 4th given that the overnight temps were forecast to drop to around 4C and clear skies up here in Cumbria.

I wanted to switch my c/h on anyway just to get the rads back to life as they're due a boiler service and full flush next week.  At the same time I want to make sure my pipes don't freeze should we get a sudden cold snap. so they're going to get a good lagging soon as well.

Using my energy usage spreadsheet that I've been using for the last 3 years I can more or less work out my usage and cost comparisons. Therefore a couple of hours of a morning an 2 in the evening at around 19C is within my budget, but only when needed.

Mstty

I know we could have waited another week maybe more before turning on our ASHP heating but I've got this year's settings to test out and measure lol

Actually it was a close run thing after the ASHP has settled down and got some base heat in the concrete slab under the ground floor. As the temp dropped we were using an electric fan heater in the large kitchen diner with double height as it started dipping to 15oC when we opened the door in the morning and we was then taking the fan heater into the Snug when we weren't up and about. Using about 2-4kWh more with the ASHP on.

So we could have struggled on with cold feet and toes but now all toasty with the underfloor heating doing its job and latest estimates I suspect we will still save about 200kWh on last November if it all pans out as expected.

phillw

I put mine on today to test it still worked & I had to bleed one of the radiators.

It will probably go fully off again tomorrow. I'll just have to stop walking around in my underwear.

jessmist

We had our heating on Friday evening as it was  rather cool. 
Heating was on for an hour this morning but haven't needed it this evening. Trying really hard to limit the use while we can.
I have also reduced the thermostat temp down to 18.5 as well

Doom_and_Gloom

SAC2334 said:

I remember that so many people , 1 in 4 ,were saying they would not be putting any heating on at all in the winter .
Best of luck to this bravado but I bet most will give in and say "its only money , lifes too short "etc and give up 

While we aren't one of those saying we will go without heating for winter, basically impossible due to my disability, we are going to be even more careful than we usually are
We are all electric and our bill can easily double in winter and as our monthly cost is now around £100 even with the help of £66 that is a huge cost to us on a limited income. Our heating peaks at 2kwh for an hour.
Knowing the increase we bought an electric blanket that peaks at just 70 watts an hour.

As it is at the moment we haven't even switched to thermal tops/trousers/leggings/socks or the like. We are wearing our light dressing gowns most of the time and sometimes our thicker ones. We still have the 4.5tog duvet on the bed and sometimes that feels too warm still. 
We are going to hold out as long as we can because as the electric prices are getting ridiculous we are going to have to be more and more careful. After all there is unlikely going to be any help next year like there was this year and they are talking about huge increases next year.

jadey2024

EssexHebridean said:

jadey2024 said:

Not yet, though would have put the living room storage on last night for first time this side of the year but turns out it is broken so I'm in living room extra wrapped up. It's in the low 14 degrees in here right now. 
My daughter is away this weekend but her room has dropped to  low 12 degrees now so will need hers on before bed when she gets back home and before waking up. (Panel heaters in bedrooms and we are on E7 so I can't put them on much on the on peak rates so she mostly be in cold bedroom throughout winter)

My bedroom is about average 2-3 degrees warmer than hers. Last night it was in the low 15 but I managed perfectly fine with extra layers and thick duvet. Just the toilet trips were little shocks to the system lol as had no heating on in bathroom either (Cold seats 🥶) . I have a low watt towel rail and may put it on in time for off peak later as it does well in heating my bathroom up a little.

I’ve been doing some cost testing on our towel rail recently which might help - ours uses between 300 - 350 watts to run for 2 hours which on our night rate (just under 15p/kWh) costs around 5p. It definitely takes the chill off, and that’s a decent price for a nice cosy warm towel too! Do your bedroom panel heaters run at the off peak rate if you have them on at the right time? If so then you might find even a half hour burst at the very end of your E7 overnight period is enough to ensure that the room is warm for getting up (obviously depending how early you get up and exactly when your off peak timings are!)

I only trialed the towel rail for the first time on Friday just for a a couple hours. The landlady had it put in with the new bathroom 3 or 4 yrs ago but I didn't want extra expense on my bill plus with it being a lower wattage (250w)  I thought it would be pointless and only good for keeping the towel warm and nothing else so never used it. But on putting it on Friday, I was very impressed. The bathroom which is very very cold (I always have window on latch too) was so toasty warm that I took to chilling in it lol. (I had no heating on elsewhere in house) I think I will only put it on for an hour before our showers and through very cold nights.


The panel heaters would use peak rate yes if put on before 12.30am With my room it is fine with panels, but my daughter would have been best off with a storage heater as it is so cold and I've no choice but to use peak rate before her bedtimes, i try to about 11.30 but it means she is in a cold room at first in bed and it needs an hour with the starting temp beimg so low and a 1kw heater. I just bought her a electric underblanket though to try. Last winter, her room hit lowest 8 degrees on a couple occasions despite new windows, loft insulation and wall cavity all done. There was storage heaters in there originally but they were removed about 18 mts ago or so and replaced with panel heaters and we had the old storages removed in living room and replaced with these smart high rentention ones which the brand I have, I don't rate. They were put in with the government eco heat grant scheme so didn't cost the landlady a penny. But, despite having the measurements for the living room (17 square mtrs) the company put in one storage heater that is 1745w and meant for room size up to 12 square meters. So last winter, despite set to 21 degrees, the living room never went past 18 degrees and mostly 17. I emailed the company a few times but they ignored me. So I spoke to estate agent and they are now arranging for the storage on landing  (i have never used heating on landing in 14 yrs living here so was pointless putting it there) to be put in living room so be two in there. And then the other one in living room died lol. So waiting on that to be fixed. I've had no luck with heating since my old ones were replaced.

MuckChucker

The world is doomed. A lovely soggy wet day yesterday, 6th of November but it was not cold in the slightest. We've been playing with the new log burner on a few chilly evenings over the last couple of weeks but as we finally got a chance to sit down yesterday evening, there was no need, it was not cold in the slightest.

I'm expecting the mornings to get chilly and this will be the likely reason the CH will engage but I checked the Hive thingy at 07:30 this morning and the living room was exactly 18.5c. Positively balmy. 

SensibleSarah

I'm not even close to putting the central heating on yet. To be fair, I do this every year - not just this time around because of energy prices. I usually end up putting it on for a couple of hours in the evenings from around mid-Nov and longer on the really cold days, but we'll see. 
Friday morning was cold! Had to de-ice the car at 6am which was surprising with it having been so mild recently. I head straight out with dogs in the mornings and the exercise means I'm kept fairly warm until I get back home so having the heating on when I get up just doesn't really make any sense. I work from home but last year hot water bottles did the trick most of the winter and this year I have the luxury of a heated electric throw to wrap around me as I work, which I have started to use during the morning and don't need by the afternoon. I'm going to see how long I can keep going with just that, but all bets are off if it snows or if I get ill. I'm absolutely not envisioning that I'll keep the heating off totally, but just aiming to delay it for as long as I can without being miserable.

sammyjammy

I had mine on for an hour yesterday, mainly as my attic room is mid renovation and will remain so for some time (torn rotator cuff!) so I want to keep the chill off it but hte rest of the house was very warm at 19 and I couldn't bear it any longer.  Looking back we had lying snow here on 27th November last year.  Unless something drastic happens that's not going to be an issue

Brebal

I’m envious of those with warm houses. My thermostat used to be set to 18. Now I started this winter at 16 and already reducing it. Well, I’m changing to it being off and switching it on when needed but it’s takes an hour to go up 1 degree.  If I wanted the house kept at 20 the heating would be on loads!! (Which is what I did last year.) 

I wear thermals and two other layers (joggers and jumpers).  I’ll be adding another layer soon I’m sure! 

It’s not so bad tho. The only time I get cold is when I’m sat too long, in which case I use a blanket and hot water bottle.  

Compared to last year though, Im using a quarter of the KWH I used in the first week of November last year. 

If I can make the savings now, I can turn it up a bit come the real cold weather!