Central heating - are we odd then?

[Clary]

I need to ask after things people said on a couple of threads (about vests and gas bills).

We have our heating on in the am (from say 6.30 to 8 ish) and again in the pm (from say 4pm to 9pm tho sometimes I override it for an hour at 9.30/put the gas fire on).

That's it. And yet some people clearly have the heating on all night. I would never consider this (tbh I reckon it would give me a headache and DH would hate it as he is very warm).

Am I being unneccasrily mean? What's the MN split on this?

[FeelingLucky]

I'm the same as you. Not good to sleep with heating on. It's a health thing, not a money thing

[nowwearefour]

we have it on something similar unless we are in for most of the day when i would override it and i sometimes override it early afternoon if a particularly cold day. we harly ever ave it on but we did this week when temperatures were predicted to go down to -12 but set thermostat v v low eg 16.

[FAQtothefuture]

in the really cold weather I keep my heating on low all day. This house gets very cold, very quickly, but takes AGES to warm up again, meaning that if it's cold I have to have the heating on full blast for a long time to warm it up to wearing jumpers and 2 pairs of socks temp.

Having experimented for the 4yrs that I've lived here, even with the price rises, it's worked out cheaper to keep it on low all the time and then just pump up high for short times if it's exceptionally cold.

[Nell12]

No you are not being mean, our heating goes off at 8 20pm.
I sleep with the window open (for the same reason as you!) it is only since the temperatures have slipped below zero that I have conceded and closed the children's windows!

[hermionegrangerat34]

Oh, its horrible when the heating is on at night. We're like you wiht the timings, and occasionally on a very cold day I overide it to be on permanently and then forget to turn it back on to timed. When that happens I always wake up baking in the middle of the night and have to go and turn it off, cursing. I think there has been one night in the last three years when it was actually cold enough to need to be on all night.

[Sidge]

We have ours on from 0600 (we get up at 0630) til 0730 then again from 1630 til 1930. If we get cold in the evening we put the fire on in the living room; the children are in bed so no point heating the whole house.

Having said that I have been at home for most of today so had the heating on constantly, but wouldn't have it on overnight. My mum does and I wake up with a mouth like a camel's flip flop when I stay at hers. Ack.

[FAQtothefuture]

I also have to have it on overnight in cold weather. But need to get it just right.

Sleeping in the cold gives DS1 and 3 chesty coughs and irritates their chests, (especially DS1 who's bedroom is very very cold). While DS2 coughs if it's too warm (because of the heating).

[bellavita]

I am with you Clary on this. It would be far too warm upstairs in the night with the heating on.

[duckyfuzz]

same as OP, but on in day for a bit at weekends, if we need it, can't bear it being on at night

[PandaG]

we are similar to you Clary during the week - but goes off a bit later in the evening. During the weekend/school hols if we are at home more during the day it may well be on all day. I was at home all day ysterday and had the heating on all day, as well as multiple layers - it was freezing!

[jenkel]

We have ours on 4.30 to 10.30 at night and 6.30 to 8.30 in the morning. I too hate the heating on a night, if its really cold I will overide it during the day and put it on a bit earlier, we dont have any other form of heating apart from an open fire.

[Clary]

Yes at th weekend if we are in for a long stretch I will prob have it on for an hour - in this sort of weather anyway (hardly been above freezing for a fortnight!)

Interesting about keeping it on low etc FAQ. That's what my mum says too. I hear you about chest complaints too, luckily we don't seem to get them.

Not sure we can put ours on low actually

Yes I left it on all night the other day (did advance not boost I think) and woke feeling terrible.

[harpomarx]

mine always on about 18 degrees and then I turn it up when it feels cold (first thing in the morning usually and then a few hours in the evening). I don't use the timer (mine is ridiculously complicated and I'm in and out of the flat at different times), just turn the thermostat up and down.

[FAQtothefuture]

I think the keeping it on low depends on how big your house is, and how long it takes to warm up to liveable temp.

This house is very drafy, high ceilings, and gets really cold. It's a pretty old crappy boiler/radiator systems that you can only control the temp of the radiators from the boiler (a little dial with high-low on it).

The house I'm moving to soon, he apologised as we went in that it had been empty for a little while and the heating had been off.

I was as it wasn't really that cold at all!!!!

The chests thing is a realy PITA especially with having the youngest and oldest affected byt the cold, and the middle one getting coughy with the heating on......unfortunatley he generally pulls the short straw really as he doesn't actually get ill from it just coughs quite a bit atnight. Whereas DS1 and 3 do get ill.

[SoMuchToBits]

I have mine on all day (from 6.30 weekdays, 7.30 weekends until 10.30 at night) as I am at home most of the time. Never have it on at night though.

[beanieb]

You're not odd IMO

I have it on about 7 - 8 then we put it back on at about 6 until we go to bed.

IMO there's no point having it on all night, I am in bed.

[GrimmaTheNome]

We have ours on all the time but turn down the thermostat at night and when we go out.

We do have it off at night when its not quite so cold outside - maybe if we could improve the insulation on our house we'd be able to always turn it off overnight.

[Caz10]

We left it on all night recently for the 1st time as we thought it was going to be too cold for DD, it was one of these really freezing nights...come 2am-ish DH and I woke up sweating, DD was screaming and far too hot it was awful! Never again!

[elkiedee]

I don't like the heating being on at night, I have it a bit later in the evening but that's because I tend to be up later.

[FAQtothefuture]

cat - please see my explanation about the night time heating - it's not to do with the drafy high ceilings, it's because 2 of my DS's are prone to chest infections/problems, and the one in the coldest room in the house especially so. (we first discovered how cold that room was in the October after we'd moved in, pretty mild October day, lunchtime 13 degrees in that room - it was wamrer outside the house than in there). It's not helped by some exceptionally poor maintanence/DIY done by the previous owners of the house which means if you hold a lit candle at his bedroom door, with all windows and doors in the house shut firnly - the flame moves around the draft is that strong!!!)

The reason for keeping it on low at all times is because of how quickly it gets cold (lets just say it was put on the market in October and had the energy efficiency thingymajig done) and of all the similar type properties I've nosed at online in our area it was by FAR the worst of the lot. The boiler/central heating system isn't very efficient and to reheat the house again involves having it on full (with the poor old boiler chugging away loudly) for 2/3hrs!!

It really is atrocious - and was next on my list of things to get sorted had I been staying here.

[Ivykaty44]

It will depend on how your house is insulated, when your house was built and how much you feel the cold.

If I am at my dads house it is really rather warm and yet the heating is turned off, his house is 1960's with cavity wall insulation and double glazing.

i come home to my house which is a 1930's house with no cavity wall insulation and no double glazing and the house is much cooler.

I cant sleep with the heating on though as it makes me feel sick and breathless so always turned of at bedtime.

We have duvet bottom and top though to keep snug in the cold weather.

[RipVanTwinkle]

FAQ - my sympathies. 13 degrees is just about the warmest our house gets without putting on portable electric heaters. We have storage heaters so we get much of our "heat" at night. There's no heater in DS's room though so I set a small oil radiator to come on a couple of times a night. We all have problems with chesty coughs in this household - I'm convinced it's down to the cold conditions.

[Linnet]

My central heating is timed to come on at 6.45am-8.30am then again from 5.30pm-8pm.

If it's very chilly during the afternoon dh will put the heating on for a while just to warm up the rooms but it doesn't take long to do that.

I'd never leave it on all night we'd be melting.

[FAQtothefuture]

Rip - I live in hope that apparently "very cold because the heating hasn't been on for a few weeks) house will be better. It felt comfortable for me the other day when I visited it and it was about 2 degrees outside

I didn't have a proper look, but I think I'll be able to adjust individual radiators (they look like the type that you can do that) so if the heating is still required on cold nights I can turn the one in my room right down/off and put the DS's rooms to the temp that suits them best. Unfortunately DS2 and 3 will still be sharing so it's going to be another trade off, but it can't possibly be worse than this place LOL