When are you turning the heating on?

[FetlocksBlowingInTheWind]

Assuming that you will turn it on at some point, is there a date or a temperature you're waiting for?

It's only 16 degrees inside my house right now and my hands are freezing! But somehow it feels wrong to put the heating on before October.

Do you own the house? Replacing those windows with double glazing would probably be quite cost-effective now that heating is so expensive. We replaced some old double glazing recently and you can feel the difference even with that.

We turn ours off on the control panel, the boiler has to stay on for the hot water. We don't touch the thermostat except to see the temperature on the advice of the plumber.

Aiming for ‘not before November and off start of April’ on the basis that’s a month either side shorter than last year so saving a lot of fuel which will compensate for the extra cost in the cold months it has to be used.

we have a stove and that warms the living room up to 20c in the even and kids rooms which are above go from 17c to 18/19c by bedtime. I put my clothes horse in that room (not near the fire!) and by morning stuff is dry.

rest of house is 16c consistently

if the fire doesn’t go on we have oodies and electric blankets which cost pennies to run

Ours is off at the moment. It's 17 degrees, I was a bit chilly earlier in t-shirt and flip flops but fine now I've added slippers and a cardigan.

I have done a deal with my DH (who works from home) that he can have it on when it gets to 16 (currently 16.5). I was hoping to last till October but that won’t happen. We have always had it on to come on at night when it hits 14 but we are going to have to reduce that too. So depressing.

Mines been on for a week already.

Once it’s hit 16°c we’ll turn it on, still not quite jumper and socks weather yet but I have dug out the winter slippers.

Wouldnt some of you who seem determined to freeze and are at the level of using oodies and heated throws etc be better actually testing the waters for an hour or two in a morning and 3 or 4 hours in an evening , for 3 or 4 days ,checking your readings and submitting them and seeing what the actual damage 'is' - rather than presuming it's going to be absolutely through the roof unaffordable? I could submit every day to Octopus if I wanted via the app and get a very good idea of the situation and adjust accordingly- remembering that the rebates kick in at some point this month too. There seem to be some very alarmist over reactions going on before actually having a single bill at increased rates. I do blame the energy companies on this though through their policy of getting people to pay massively increased DDs to bolster their cash piles , mind you some people seem to have had incredibly cheap deals and very low bills in the past and hence it probably seems a huge jump to suddenly need to pay around double. I've checked mine and even with heating on at normal levels, and normal electric use it would have to almost double to match what I'm paying on DD (£267)

It's 13° here today, I haven't turned it on yet. I have a warm jumper on and my thermal top underneath and warm socks. I feel comfortable enough with a couple of extra layers.

Not yet, and hopefully not for a while longer. It's 20° in my house. I usually like to wait till after October half term. Hopefully it won't get too cold before then.

@Cheeselog yes it's been on my mind to do that but not sure I can afford it. How much roughly did you pay?

Once I start to feel cold with jumpers on and blankets on the sofa. No where near that stage yet, my windows are open through the day time still.

I think ours would normally be on by now but we're resisting for a bit longer to save oil.
For those asking who turns the heating off - we do. Our control panel has 4 settings - off, once, twice and continuous. We turn it to off in spring but most of the time it's set to twice - which means it comes on in the morning for a couple of hours and then again in the evening.
We can also control it from the thermostat in the hall but people who shall remain nameless have a habit of turning up the thermostat and forgetting to turn it down again.
I'm going away at the end of the week and debating whether or not to switch the control panel back on in case it's cold whilst we're away as DS will be here and doesn't know how the panel works - or let him just put a jumper on (which he never does). PS he is out at work most of the day so I'm not being that mean!

@VeridicalVagabond I'd have put it in for DH too, poor thing. How is he recovering?

WFH I'd use an oil filled radiator in one room. I wouldn't be heating the whole house.

We only joined the modern world last year and got a thermostat fitted. Previously we just had the heating on a timer, an hour in the morning and 2 in the evening. Probably from late October to about April. Ours in a small mid terrace with good windows and insulation so doesn’t get cold very early on. Plus we are south facing in the lounge.
I’ve noticed a bit of a chill in the air this week here on the south coast but am surprised to see that the thermostat is still reading 22’ during the day!

I said October but caved this morning and put it on for an hour so I could have a shower - I am in Scotland though and it's pretty bloody cold 😭

So no not switched on yet.
I did switch it off over the summer but the boiler still on to heat water one hour a day for bath, hands washing etc
I have a feeling that the thermostat will mean we have the heating on less than without it as last year we set it at 18 which was warm enough and it rarely was on for more than 2 hours a day.

Yes, just this.

In South Midlands and it isn't cold, just breezy. Sun is shinning through the clouds and it is really quite cosy in our house (newbuild with quite large windows F&R).

@StarDolphins

aww bless his little paws 🐾

but couldn't you get a less radical cut? Or buy him a couple of jumpers? I'd offer to knit a couple, but he'll need them before Easter 😂😂

I’ve finally started using my heated poncho today, and might light a fire later.

Heating actually “on” will maybe be at the weekend when everyone is in the house rather than just me wfh. Or maybe just light the fire again/snuggle on sofa.

Just checked our weather station, 15 outside in the shade, and 19 inside in a dark hall, so not yet. It is also lovely and sunny, so the front of the house is benefitting from that, so much so, I have the windows open at the front, and the blinds down in my office.

I never put the heating on at night anyway, so never overnight.

I have the heater in on the office and have put the log burner on once last week. I'm holding off putting the central heating on as oil is so expensive at the moment

I have it on for an hour in the mornings for the last few days and in rhe evening when it gets chilly I’ve been putting the wood burner on.

I thought about it today but recently bought thermometers to dot around the house. Lowest one says 20.4. So it's a no.

Already on for 30 mins- 1 hr in the evening.