Please tell me about your winter heating routine!

[Trulyatraditionalman]

I'm in a pickle. Until now, I usually turn my heating off at night and then turn it on when I go downstairs in the morning with the thermostat set to 21 degrees. However it's FREEZING! The last few nights have been so cold (thermostat showing 14c), and it takes the whole morning to actually get the house up to a bearable temperature. I've not really noticed it in previous years, but now I'm WFH, I have to spend the whole morning wrapped in blankets!

What do you all do in the winter? Do you leave the heating on but turn the thermostat down at night? Is it more cost-effective to do this rather than heat the house up from scratch every morning?

Thank you!

[BigSandyBalls2015]

I turn ours down to 16/17 when it’s very cold at night, takes the edge off and doesn’t take as long to heat up in the morning.

[Trulyatraditionalman]

@bigsandyball2015 I'd imagine it's probably the same cost that way too?

[Trulyatraditionalman]

Also, I'm in a 2 bed terrace house but it's over100 years old and the insulation is crap. Single glazed windows don't help matters...

[THATbasicSNOWFLAKE]

Our thermostat is set to 18 constantly

[joystir59]

200 yr old 3 storey house, very well insulated and double glazed. Heating never higher than 18c. Goes on at midday, off at 7pm. Toasty. Combined fuel bill £58/month.

[kowari]

Ours is on from 6 to 7am, then from 3 to 8pm on weekdays, set to 17. It's on all day but off at night on the weekend, turned down to 14 if we go out.

[joystir59]

I HAVE to turn the heating off at 7pm because the house is roasting hot, and stays warm all evening.

[Ridingthegravytrain]

I live in a 4 bed old cold open plan semi. We have it on am 6.50-8am set to 20. Maybe boost once or twice for an hour during the day. Then on from 4-7 in the eve. It is cold but too expensive to have it on more. We have to wear layers.
Having just had an energy bill for sept-Dec of nearly £500 having more people wfh and using gas/electric is really noticeable. And these 3 months coming are the most expensive 😱

[WhenTwoBecomeThree]

Ours is set to 18 constantly but we have a 1 year old so have to keep it warm for her. We keep all doors closed in the house and it stays nice and warm, we have a 3 story house that's hundreds of years old and it goes cold really quickly if we turn the heating off/down

[Toocold]

On all day and off at night but I’ve worked from home for years and currently we’re all at home and I’m miserable enough without being cold as well. I am aware we are fortunate enough to be able to do this.

[insancerre]

Ours comes on at 6 am then goes off at 8
It then comes in at 12 pm till 2pm
Then again at 6 pm till 10pm
If we get cold in between times we just put the heating on - it will go off when it reaches the desired temp

[Perihell]

We have storage heaters.utter crap in our 3 bed.Housing association won’t update them.So 5 years ago jumped through ruddy hoops to get permission for a wood burner,(we paid for it,obviously). And now we don’t put any heaters on at all. The stove goes on in October,we light it every morning and never pay for our wood,just pick up fallen stuff.saved a fortune.🙂

[Oblomov20]

Ours is set to 18 permanently.

[Zenithbear]

Central Heating on at 5.30am - 9pm set at 20.
Usually light log burner about 5pm which usually makes the heating go off eventually. We have electric underfloor heating and electric towel warmers in the bathrooms which we leave on in cold weather and use as necessary at other times.
House is well insulated.
I grew up in a freezing cold house with no central heating so I like to be warm.

[bobby81]

Thermostat set to 16/17 permanently. I occasionally turn it up for an hour or so if it feels cold. Also have a log burner which keeps downstairs really warm. Combined monthly bill of approx £60. 3 bed semi, fairly old house.

[Kintsugi16]

Set to 19 and on from 6am-6pm at the moment as all at home, usually it would be off in the day even if I’m at home.
Log burner goes on about 5pm and towel rails in bathrooms until we turn them off at bedtime. This is only in depths of winter, we make use of underfloor in bathrooms and woodburner in evenings from March-November.

[schmockdown]

We don't have a thermostat. Heating is set to come on5am-8am and 1600-2300. Reality of being at home is we mostly override it.

According to the smart meter we are spending about £5.50 per day, 4 bed victorian terrace. Our neighbours have a new baby and I think we are benefiting from them cranking their heating as even though it's freezing ours doesn't seem to be on as much as normal so we are benefiting from them insulating us.

Never leave it on overnight as none of us like it.

I do get very very cold sitting at my desk, I get up and do some squats / push ups every now and then to warm up a bit. Have fleece blanket, cashmere socks and a hot water bottle.

[namesnamesnamesnames]

I turn it on about 30-60 minutes after I get up, I like the first part of morning without it on but if others are cold it will go on. Then we turn it on and off through the day! The house heats up quickly.

[namesnamesnamesnames]

We are terraced between two old people which I think cuts down on our costs.

[GhostPenguin]

Ours is an old house and we get mould if the heat fluctuates too much so it's on low constantly and it just clicks on and off by itself. Our thermostat says 13 degrees but it's definitely warmer than that so I'm not sure where the thermometer is!

[Babdoc]

I leave the kitchen/diner electric underfloor heating on 24/7 with the door open, to provide some background warmth in the house, but put the gas central heating off at night, as it makes the air too dry and stuffy in the bedrooms. It comes on at 6am.
I also have an open fire in the sitting room, which I light at sunset (4pm at the moment, up here in Scotland!) and keep feeding it with logs until bedtime.
The house is reasonably warm by the time I get up around 8am.
It’s a 4 bed detached, 50 years old, but has full double glazing and brick cavity walls.
It can be a bit chilly in the morning when we get a bad winter - it’s been down to minus 15C outside here in some years. In such circumstances I do sometimes leave the heating on all night!

[Haggertyjane]

I set the heating to reach 20 by 10 am and it comes on at about 6.30am so when I get up at 8 (lockdown perk) it's nice and warm. It's automatic (Nest) so I don't have to worry about things. Upstairs is nice and warm because of the heat rising, and downstairs is cooler, so we put the gas fire on low in the living room.

It was set to 21 and it was ridiculously hot upstairs so it's taken a lot of tweaking to get right.

[Haggertyjane]

I also set the heating off at night and open the bedroom window no matter how frosty it is as I have to have fresh air. I've noticed I am the only one in our road with the window open!

[Matilda1981]

Underfloor heating and radiators on all the time but thermostats set quite low so it just keeps the heat ticking over and takes the chill off.

[NeedCoffeeToSurvive]

Ours comes on 06:00-08:00 in the morning to warm up the house, goes off at 19°c, comes on again at 18:00 until 22:00. Ours is technically constantly on as we have it set to 16°c so the boiler is constantly ready, keeps our energy costs down and is healthier for the boiler, pipes and radiators.