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Original poster

How warm is your house?

49 replies

JenniferAllisonPhillipaSue · 22/09/2021 07:13

With the news full of warnings about forthcoming energy price rises, I've started to look around our home to see where we can stop draughts and make it warmer (thick curtains, draught excluders, that kind of thing). I was curious to know and monitor the temperature in the house, partly because DH moans that "it's cold" while I'm sitting here having a menopausal hot flush ...

Thermometer arrived yesterday. With no heating in the house last night, living room was 23.7 and has only dropped to 22.8 this morning. Bedrooms similarly are 23 degrees, even with windows open, which might explain why we struggle to sleep. I'm guessing our house is well-insulated Grin and now I need to convince DH that it's not cold at all.

I'd like to get the living room down to about 21, and the bedrooms down to 19, I think. How warm do you have your homes? Will you be turning the thermostat down this winter?

OP posts:
BarbaraofSeville · 22/09/2021 07:24

Your DH needs to put a jumper on and get up and move around if he's cold at those temperatures, assuming there's no relevant health conditions or mobility issues in play here.

Your plan to keep the temperature at 21/19 is in the right ball park, and you should be able to drop a degree or two if you want to save money over winter. If anyone's cold at those temperatures, then it's jumpers and slippers time, not just to control costs, but for the sake of the environment.

We have a Hive system and it's set to be 18 in the daytime in the week, 21 in the evenings and heating will only come on overnight if the temperature drops below 17 C. The house is well insulated so the heating rarely comes on apart from in the early morning and evenings.

Now I WFH, I tend to press the boost button a couple of times in the daytime, if I'm cold, and wear a hoodie as standard, plus go out for a walk at lunchtime to keep active, which also stops me feeling the cold so much.

RosyPoesy · 22/09/2021 07:49

My living room is currently 19c. Overnight I turn it down to 12c although I don’t think it actually drops that low. If your DH isn’t wearing a dressing gown then he can’t whinge about being cold.

PlinkPlankPlunk · 22/09/2021 07:59

Currently it’s 15 degrees as I’ve had the windows open in the bedroom overnight; it hasn’t warmed up yet as the boiler is broken.

I’m hoping once the engineer has finished today, it will remain at a toasty 18 in the day and 15 at night. Or it might just stay broken in which case presumably we’ll have a constant 12 degrees from October until March

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EagleOrIgel · 22/09/2021 08:03

My living room is currently 22.9, 51% humidity. I've swapped my shorts for trousers and started to wear my fleece gilet (over a shirt sleeved T-shirt) during the day. It's turned noticeably colder in the past couple of days. Back to wearing socks all the time too. DD has stated to leave her jumper on when she comes in from school.
Our hearing clicked on in the living room overnight last night, we keep it turned off in our bedroom.

GTAlogic · 22/09/2021 08:06

Ours is well insulated and it's 23°C ish at the moment. In winter we have it set so the heating clicks on at 15-17°C. It does sometimes feel cold but that's why we have blankets, fluffy dressing gowns and thermals.

AlphabetAerobics · 22/09/2021 08:09

The house is very well-insulated - to the point I’m very conscious of opening windows daily to let the moisture out.

I rarely put the heating on (far north of Scotland) and the thermometer in the kitchen currently says 18.

Lots of throws/dogs/hot water bottles/cashmere clothes.

rocklamp · 22/09/2021 08:43

It's 17.5 downstairs at the moment and a bit warmer upstairs, but the windows are open.

We don't use the central heating, but have a multi fuel stove in the sitting room which heats the whole house because the heat goes upstairs. We have a small new build house. We don't like it too warm and are used to being cooler. We also like a lot of ventilation.

InnPain · 22/09/2021 08:48

I’ve woken up this morning and felt a bit of a chill but nothing an extra layer can’t resolve. I’ve had the kitchen window open overnight though as we had laundry drying on the airer in there so I know that affects how warm/cold it is indoors this morning.

idontlikealdi · 22/09/2021 08:49

21c in the kids bedroom last night and 24 this morning. I find it too hit and have an ongoing battle with DH about having the windows open to sleep.

PurBal · 22/09/2021 08:54

21ish. I’d prefer it a little cooler but DS is 10 weeks old and his limbs are always freezing despite him being warmly dressed. Not quite worked out the blanket/sleeping bag/baby grow ratio yet.

StarryStarrySocks · 22/09/2021 09:00

I'm so glad I've seen this thread! My thermostat is showing 19 without any heating on. I was doubtful that was accurate as I'm in Scotland and it's windy and quite chilly just now. But sounds like it might not be broken after all. Smile I'm still planning to get hold of a thermometer just to double check though.
I'm perfectly OK without the heating on at this temperature but whenever my mum comes round she complains of being cold. My suggestion that she wears a jumper falls on deaf ears! Hmm

MinaPop · 22/09/2021 09:16

We are far NW Scotland but house well insulated and doesn't let draughts in unless wind is from a particular direction.
Don't have the heating on yet this autumn. Thermometer says 18 and I'm a bit too warm in a t shirt to be honest. I prefer 16 ish. It shows everyone's different in what their perfect temperature is, but I honestly think it's about acclimatising yourself. I've reacclimatised before after living in a hotter place and it took about three weeks of deliberately not wearing enough clothes, and then my body readjusted and felt warm again at this clothing level.
It sounds a bit martyrish! But I think it is better for the planet and the wallet...

If your DH doesn't fancy readjusting his tolerance level, then he just needs to wear more clothes. Use a hot water bottle in bed, whatever. It's crazy to be sitting in a hot house in a t-shirt while the planet boils, when he could be sitting in a slightly cooler house in a jumper.

FindingMeno · 22/09/2021 09:19

I have to keep a reasonable level of heating because of damp issues.
I aim for 21° in the living room of an evening and around 19° at other times. 18° or below in bedrooms.

Dollywilde · 22/09/2021 09:21

It was 20 in the baby’s room last night before we turned in, 18 in ours and I’m sure it dropped lower overnight, but we have the skylight open a crack all night for ventilation.

We struggle with downstairs, it’s a mid 1800s cottage but the downstairs has been opened up so it’s largely open plan. Very beautiful but it gets very chilly. Not sure how cold it was yesterday evening but we were under blankets on the sofa. I’ll be firing up the log burner before long - I find it heats the bones of the house so if I set a small fire at 5ish it’ll keep us toasty downstairs until bedtime without putting on the heating.

Dollywilde · 22/09/2021 09:22

My parents’ on the other hand - my dad isn’t well and likes the heating on year round. How my mother didn’t leave him during menopausal hot flushes I have no idea.

SciFiScream · 22/09/2021 09:35

The thermostat in the hall says 22°c (Scotland, windy costal town).

Haven't had the hearing on yet. Only set to click in at 15°c though we will probably change that when it does get cold.

I hate it when the radiators go on. I'd rather wrap up and use a hottie.

The air drys out so much and I sneeze a lot more.

I'm not having hot flushes or anything like that. I just like a much cooler operating temperature.

CeeceeBloomingdale · 22/09/2021 10:32

Normally about 20°c at the most which I find too cold but am making a conscious effort to put a jumper on before the heating. I’d prefer it at about 22°c personally, we live in a very cold house, even in summer. It’s detached and on a hill at the very edge of a town so there is no protection from other houses at the back of the house and we are very open to the elements.

emmathedilemma · 22/09/2021 10:38

my heating thermostat is usually set to 20 degrees for a couple of hours morning and evening, 16 during the day so it doesn't get to cold when I'm out. I might turn it up to 22 if it's really freezing cold outside. My flat tends to get particularly cold when it's windy. My bedroom radiator is rarely on.

Original poster
JenniferAllisonPhillipaSue · 22/09/2021 10:58

Just for the record, DH is already wearing t-shirt and hoodie whilst complaining of the cold ... It's not cold!!!

Thank you for all the responses. I need to work out how to cool down our bedrooms (windows are already open!)

OP posts:
Hen2018 · 22/09/2021 12:41

It’s 19 degrees.

No heating here but never drops below 8 in the winter. We keep warm with hot water bottles and stand in front of the oven door when we’ve finished cooking.

toastfiend · 22/09/2021 13:01

Heating hasn't come on yet here - it's still 20 degrees during the day so I'd be amazed if we needed it on yet! Windows open during the day when it's sunny and at night as we all sleep better in cooler rooms. Upstairs is currently 22 degrees, downstairs is 20 degrees. We're in a new build so it's pretty well insulated. I anticipate that the heating will be turned on at some stage when the outside temperature drops below 15 ish in October. Then we keep it at about 19-20 degrees mornings and evenings. I wfh so might boost it once during the day, but try to wrap up in a thick jumper/woolly socks and use a small portable radiator in my office first before heating the whole house, so it's mainly if the dogs look cold that the heating comes on during the day. 😂

I prefer a cooler house, summer is awful as ours gets so hot. We have blankets on the sofa and I'd rather wrap up in a warm jumper than put the heating on, although we're lucky that it's relatively cheap to heat so I hope we won't be too badly affected by price rises this year.

Recycledblonde · 22/09/2021 13:10

We've just moved and our new house is boiling, at least 23 degrees during the day even with the windows open. I have never lived in a house with such efficient insulation. It was renovated 2 years ago and all the windows replaced with top of the range double glazing. I think they thought they were in Scandinavia or Canada and I'm going to be very grateful for it this coming winter.

MrsPsmalls · 22/09/2021 15:12

Thermostat 20.5 in the day and heating off more or less over night, well comes on at 9 but we never reach that. At the moment thermostat says 23 south east

JaninaDuszejko · 22/09/2021 15:24

We found last winter we need the heating higher during the day than in the evening because when WFH we're not moving around. We've got the thermostat set to 19.5C in the evening and 20.5C in the day. We wear jumpers and warm socks.

But it's 20C and sunny outside here so we've got the windows open and the heating isn't coming on yet, it's nicer than July at the moment!

InFiveMins · 22/09/2021 20:23

I'm in a top floor apartment and very rarely put the heating on. Probably 10 times a year. It's very well insulated and with heat rising from the apartments below, it's great. Previously lived in a cottage which could get pretty chilly and a lot of money was spent trying to heat it and keep it warm!!