I'm putting the heating set at 20 all night .. will this work?

[beanbaghashtag]

Normally heating goes off at 8pm. Set to come on just before 6am at 21. However it's been freezing in the mornings as we have loads of windows. It seems to take hours to heat up and things feel damp and cold underfoot in most rooms. Last night DS woke complaining he was cold in his room and DD also woke.

We usually have the window open a tiny slither for air to come in anyway, but our room is much warmer than the kids due to the position.

So tonight I'm leaving the heating running all night and hoping for no night wakings. I'm also hoping if the house stays warmer I can get away with running it at 20 all day rather than 21/22. Maybe wishful thinking that?

I have a smart meter so will see if it's costs loads more? 🥶

Says it's 4 degrees now outside, forecasting a low of 2 degrees.

Yes it might be first thing, but it seems a spectacularly bad place to put a thermostat because of the great variation in temperature.

@ElftonWednesday

The kitchen is not a cold room.

That's the coldest room in our house... What makes yours warm?

Cooking? An oven?

Good god it’s no wonder that energy bills are so astronomical.

Invest in a thicker tog duvet and some hot water bottles. Having the heating on permanently isn’t actually good for you anyway as it dries out the atmosphere completely.

I have my heating on on a need to basis, but by 10 I tend to be in bed with a hot water bottle, and my bedroom window wide open. And I’m generally colder than most as I’m on blood thinners which make a difference, but the other night when I woke up and had left the heating on I was bloody boiling.

Ours goes off at 10pm and back on at 6:30am when we wake at 7am so it has half an hour to warm up.
I like a window open when I sleep too, but I have a duvet and two throws on the bed.
Can you add extra layers to the children's beds and give them a hot water bottle to keep them toasty. I think back to my childhood, bedsocks, long pjs and lots of layers of blankets - so cosy and warm.

I would get an electric blanket, I have mine on low all night, its a twin side one so DH doesn't have to suffer it.

@ElftonWednesday

Cooking? An oven?

Well, ok, the area around the oven is a bit warm when it's on...

Ds room is the closest in our house. Draughty. Have got decent blackout curtains that really cover the whole window which helped loads and he has a brushed cotton duvet and a teddy fluff bottom sheet. Says he is so much warmer now.

Good god it’s no wonder that energy bills are so astronomical.
They are anyway no matter what you do . My last one was £140, same last year was £100 and our usage is lower. But, yes, now is the time to be reducing usage not putting heating on all night.

Kids just kick off the duvets, the have long PJs and vests on.

Put them in a sleeping bag then.

Electric blankets ? Your heating bill will be astronomical mine was double this month and I'm careful no heating on at night, only when I really have to

Can they sleep in onesies?bed socks?

How old are they?

Electric blanket. If just got ours in tesco half price. Game changer.

Do you air the house every morning?
I hate sleeping with the heating on (and FWIW, outs goes off at 7.30pm, and back on at 6am, so similar to you).
I'd try:
heating on an hour earlier in the morning
Mid morning, throwing all the windows open for half an hour (assuming not raining)
Adjusting any thermostatic valves you have so the radiators in the cold rooms are fully open, and the warmer rooms about half or 3/4 open.
DS hates his duvet, but is quite happy with a fleecy blanket. Might the kids go for that?

Add curtains to the windows with shutters
Close you t window
Dehumidify (plants can help with this)
Wear bed socks
Proper pyjamas
Add blankets to beds
Have the heating turn on for two hours only in the coldest part of the night.
Buy thick curtains with proper lining
Hot water bottles in all the beds

And only once you’ve done all that, consider putting the heating on all night. Otherwise your just chucking money away.

Also so:
Draught excluders for doors

And if the kids kick off duvets - they’re warm enough. If they say they’re cold, they’ve a very simple solution…

If there's damp fix that.

And if the kids kick off duvets - they’re warm enough. If they say they’re cold, they’ve a very simple solution…
If they are older than toddlers they can just pull their cover back up surely?!

Dunelm do very reasonably priced teddy fleece bedding and it is great

We didn’t have central heating growing up although we had plenty of gas fires and wall storage heating downstairs. In winter we slept in a sleeping bag and duvet on top and it was so cosy. I’ve been known to do it Occasionally as an adult. It’s horrible waking up freezing when you have kicked the duvet off and it’s somewhere on the floor.
I would try something like this first just because as well as cost it’s actually horrible sleeping in a stuffy hot room.
Ours goes off at about 9 and back on about 6 but I have left it on at 18 overnight if we have really dire temps which isn’t often in U.K.

Thermal lined heavy curtains if the windows are the issue, once we got ours there wasn’t a draft to the windows anymore, we hung them a couple of inches past the window too

Close windows. Put another blanket on DC, or warmer PJs. Or set heating at something less than 21 at night - generally heat at night can make sleeping uncomfortable.
I'm concerned at what this is costing you, with the price of heating.
I like a house to be 21 (at least), but with recent price issues I've reduced this to 18 during the day, and off at night. It's about 12-16 in the morning when we wake up, depending on the room. I am finding it miserable and the smart meter says we're still spending a small fortune, but I am already getting chilblains and can't get rid of this cold, despite wearing multiple layers and my new wearable blanket arghhhh

My kids always preferred warm bedrooms. Plug in oil radiator rather than heat the whole house. I bought a quiet one that doesn’t click on and off from Amazon. Bambino or something

Going off at 8pm is too early, it will get much colder overnight.

Either have it set to 18 and 24 hours or set it to 20 and off between 4am and about half an hour before you get up.