If you work from home, what setting do you have on your thermostat?

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I find that sitting still, I feel chilly if the temperature is under 19.5 - 20⁰C. As the room I work in is north facing, this means having my heating on for several hours a day at the moment. What's your preferred working temperature?

Off until it gets dark. Can't afford to heat the house all day long for one person!

20-21, but only in the room I work in. It’s not on all day, just morning and evening but it has a booster thing I can do if it’s really cold. It’s a fancy modern storage heater, not central heating. Other rooms have their own heaters and timers/thermostats.

I wear thick bed socks and a duvet wrapped around my bottom half in winter. I really like that as it’s like sitting in bed :)

Agree with a pp merino is great as well. I have some merino joggers and long sleeved top, those with a cashmere hoody on top and bed socks means I will not be cold. These things aren’t cheap new but ebay has loads.

I work in a north facing spare room that feels cold. We have app-controlled heating so I can have just that radiator on but it's normal for me to be wearing multiple layers with leggings under joggers, two pairs of socks, blanket over legs, microwave heat pad on my lap or back, tea in thermos cup so it stays warm longer.

I have it set for 21 during the day, sitting still all day means I feel cold quickly.

Mine is controlled via a Nest thermostat and is set to 17.5 during the day, and 14.5 at night (it rarely gets that low). Yesterday I was in online meetings all day sitting still and felt cold so I turned it up to 18; the Nest tells me it was on for 14 hours but that it was unusually cold also…

My teenager came downstairs today wearing a dressing gown over her school uniform and tried to whack it up to 20 degrees. I told her there was no point as long the radiators were very hot anyway and wouldn’t get any hotter, and she way leaving the house soon anyway. She then stropped out of the house 20 minutes early, to wait outside for the school bus, wearing only her school blouse and jumper

I don't have it on. I bought a small heater for my office that heats the room up fully only being on for about half an hour, maybe a quick blast again in the pm, I keep the door shut (new build, well insulated) I'm not heating up a whole 4 bed house for one little room. It costs about 17p a day I've worked out!

I have 2 questions for all the people who say it's not worth having it on for 1 room or person.

Don't you leave your desk all day? I'm always in and out of other rooms. I don't sit in one spot for 8 hours straight.

Also, what about people who live alone? Should they just never use heating? If it's cold, it's cold, it's irrelevant how many people are here.

I understand if it's for financial reasons of course but if it's not then why wouldn't you be warm and comfortable?

@Meruem no I'm not really, I go out for a walk at lunch time, I don't need the heating on to grab a drink or some food from the kitchen. And I assume most people don't live in large 4 bed houses by themselves, but if they do and want to heat the whole house for themselves...have at it, but I can't justify that expense or waste.

I understand if it's for financial reasons of course but if it's not then why wouldn't you be warm and comfortable?

Environmental considerations? I probably could afford to have the heating on all day, but what a waste that would be. As an able bodied, non-elderly person it’s not that hard to make yourself comfortable without needing to heat a whole house all day.

@southbailey

I don't. At the moment I use a heated blanket when I get chilly

This!

The heating is only on when the kids are here.

Mine comes on at 6.45am until 7.30am so it's not freezing when we get up. I have just bought an oil filled radiator which I use in the dining kitchen where I work during the day so that i don't have to heat the whole house just for me in one room.

Heating then comes back on when the kids get home from school at about 3.45pm until 10pm.

Thermostat is at 19/20.

20c at the moment but it's sleeting and very cold. Normally 18c and I have various oodies/onesies.

I'm comfy at 19° with slippers and a hoodie usually. If it's struggling in the afternoon I light the stove early.

Does no one else have radiators that you can switch on or off individually? I thought most did. I don’t heat the whole house. I switch the radiators off in the rooms I’m not using.
Anyway, I walk everywhere, buy most things secondhand, mend things that are broken, have never flown long haul etc so if heating is my one ‘wasteful’ thing then I’m fine with that. Being cold is miserable.

@Meruem

I have 2 questions for all the people who say it's not worth having it on for 1 room or person.

Don't you leave your desk all day? I'm always in and out of other rooms. I don't sit in one spot for 8 hours straight.

Also, what about people who live alone? Should they just never use heating? If it's cold, it's cold, it's irrelevant how many people are here.

I understand if it's for financial reasons of course but if it's not then why wouldn't you be warm and comfortable?

Yes, mine is for financial reasons. I didn't choose to wfh and didn't budget for the heating to be on all day in the winter it when taking the job. Now the cost of virtually everything has gone up and I am a single parent, I don't want to spend the money I have on heating a whole house just for me.

I only really leave my working area (kitchen/diner) during the day to go next door to the toilet so my oil filled radiator is fine. It's nice coming back in and feeling the room nice and warm.

Does no one else have radiators that you can switch on or off individually? I thought most did. I don’t heat the whole house. I switch the radiators off in the rooms I’m not using.

I've always wondered how much money this saves if the system is still on? But either way, I have about 15 radiators outside of my office, much more of a faff to go around switching all those off, and can't be arsed to buy the Hive thermostats when a little heater in my little office works just fine and cheaply!

@ThePoisonousMushroom

Does no one else have radiators that you can switch on or off individually? I thought most did. I don’t heat the whole house. I switch the radiators off in the rooms I’m not using. Anyway, I walk everywhere, buy most things secondhand, mend things that are broken, have never flown long haul etc so if heating is my one ‘wasteful’ thing then I’m fine with that. Being cold is miserable.

My radiators can be turned down or up individually, up to a point, but if I try to actually turn one off some of the other radiators will start rattling. (I think it's air in the pipes and a generally decrepit system rather than a design feature!)

64F which is 17.8C. I tuck a fluffy blanket round me and wear Uggs too. I can't bear fan or oil fired heaters in my office - they trigger migraines. And I really can't justify heating a whole house especially as the price of gas is soaring. It costs me about $300+ a month for gas in winter at last year's prices.

Sometimes I work from my bed and sometimes I light the woodstove and work from the couch.

Reading my response I actually think it would be cheaper for me to rent a space in a shared office in winter. Hmmmm.

@Meruem

I have 2 questions for all the people who say it's not worth having it on for 1 room or person.

Don't you leave your desk all day? I'm always in and out of other rooms. I don't sit in one spot for 8 hours straight.

Also, what about people who live alone? Should they just never use heating? If it's cold, it's cold, it's irrelevant how many people are here.

I understand if it's for financial reasons of course but if it's not then why wouldn't you be warm and comfortable?

I don't leave my desk except for scheduled breaks and lunch I live alone so I have it to whatever is comfortable but am mindful of the cost!

@ThePoisonousMushroom

Does no one else have radiators that you can switch on or off individually? I thought most did. I don’t heat the whole house. I switch the radiators off in the rooms I’m not using. Anyway, I walk everywhere, buy most things secondhand, mend things that are broken, have never flown long haul etc so if heating is my one ‘wasteful’ thing then I’m fine with that. Being cold is miserable.

We have tado. So we have thermostats on each individual radiators and it saves loads of money. BUT only because we have a very modern boiler which doesn't use as much energy heating 1 radiator.

If you turn off your radiators manually but the thermostat is not in the room you are heating, then your boiler will just run and run unless you keep turning it off when you are warm enough, therefore you won't save any money.

I think I may need fingerless gloves !!

Only heat the room I work in during the day with oil filled radiator. Better to put on so.e.good.bse layers and a jumper.
Normally the temp is set at 19.5, if more heating required the stove is lit.
If you are using central heating use the individual radiator thermostatic valves TRV to reduce the temps in the rooms you don't occupy. (If you don't have TRV gentleman fitted, £15 per radiator)

My thermostat is in the room im heating, thankfully.

@Billandben444

I'm retired so what I'm reading above is my normal daily life living on a state pension. Heating doesn't go on at all until about 3.30, just before it gets dark, and then I whoosh it up to 21° until about 7pm when it goes off and stays warm until an early bedtime. During the day I wear a thick velour dressing gown over many layers and fingerless gloves. Sometimes I walk up to the public library and warm up. I feel the cold a lot more now I'm older, it's no fun.

I’m sorry you are in this situation. We have the lowest state pension of any relatively wealthy country. It’s disgraceful. Then, when there is finally a chance of a significant increase (though the pension would still be appallingly low compared to others), they avoid it by ditching the triple lock. You shouldn’t have to go to the library to get warm after working all your life 🤬