Thermostat and cold house! Is it lying to me??

[ShowTime80]

A lighthearted rant but help me to understand thermostats! This year I moved from a modern flat to a Victorian house. I am soooo cold! I literally have to remove layers before going outside. How can this be possible?! The thermostat says the house is currently 22 degrees. This simply CANNOT be true! I am wearing a vest, t-shirt, shirt and a warm hoody and I'm freezing! On the school run walk this morning I only wore a shirt and light jacket.

Are thermostat temperatures accurate? 22 degrees is shorts weather surely? And yet it's freezing in here! I'm not used to thermostat as we had under floor heating in the last place.

Why is it so cold!!

Me too. Watching with interest. I'm not a cold person, my thermostat says 21, I am just about to go and get a vest and socks. We need answers.

if it's drafty it can feel a lot cooler than it is.

Is it damp? That can make it feel really penetratingly cold?

Have you a thermometer? The thermostat may be very inaccurate.

I live in a cold Victorian house with old heating so no thermostat but my IKEA clock says it's 17 in my living room right now! I don't actually feel that cold today but I had a run earlier so maybe I'm still a bit hot from that!

The actual temperature makes little difference to me, its how much I'm moving about. So if working from home and sitting still at a desk, 22c is too cold for me. At the weekend if I'm rushing around catching up on housework, 22c is perfect!

My money is on the air being damp.

Get yourself a dehumidifier and watch it take gallons of water out of the air. Really does make a massive difference to the ambient air temperature (not just the technical one that thermometers read).

Thermostats are not especially accurate and can seem less accurate as a result of where they are located.

Try getting a thermometer and checking the actual temperature near the thermostat and elsewhere in the house.

It could be that the thermostat temperature is inaccurate or it could just be that the thermostat is located in a warm spot so while the thermostat is reading 22 the rest of the house is colder.

Mine also says 22 but I am absolutely freezing!.I’m not going to make it through winter with minimal heating!

Mine says 17 and im cold, if it was winter then id have the heating on but feel like its far to early for that!

The location is very important - so its only going to tell you the temperature where its located, which could be a warm spot or a cold spot. Mine us in a really sheltered spot at eye level in a sunny room and it is much colder on the floor for instance.

Damp and draughts also make difference and i gurss some thermostats themselves might be out by a degree or too.

I’ve just ordered a thermometer off amazon to gauge the downstairs. Our kitchen feels cold, it doesn’t get any direct sunlight. I’m sat in the living room on my lunch break and it is noticeably warmer in here.

my feet are cold with socks on. I also don’t want to put the heating on as it’s only September, but that may change this evening.

I think we've acclimatised to hotter temperatures.

Our thermometer reckons it's 20 inside today - I am absolutely freezing. We'll be lighting a fire at this rate!

Your thermostat only measures the temperature at the single spot it measures the temperature. With a whole house, it is easy for there to be large variation from that. some rooms are better insulated than others, some get more sun, heat rises, etc.

My house is especially bad for this because while the thermostat is centrally located, it is also directly next to the washing machine. Even if I am running a wash with colder water, the heat from the machine operating raises the temperature in the utility area.

Get a room thermometer. Our thermostat was miles out. Thermostat set to 13C to get the rest of the house at 18C.

If it is warmer outside than in, open all the windows!

If the thermometer agrees with the thermostat, get the moisture out of the house - ventilation and maybe a dehumidifier. Reduce the moisture into the house by using pan lids and venting bathrooms.

Thermostat is in the hallway reading 14c so have lit the log burner. My car thermometer has had a nervous breakdown reading -19c. Thermostat shouldn't be in a warm room. I've been cleaning and vacuuming so have warmed up now bar my toes

Is that the actual temperature reading, or the temperature it is trying to get to?

I’m struggling too , the living room is at 19 and that should be plenty warm enough but I’m struggling to heat up