What's the big deal about heating???

[2boyzNosleep]

So, NOT including financial issues, why is putting on the heating a huge issue?

After reading some recent threads regarding heating, it's got me thinking.

If you can afford it, why do people refuse to put heating on as long as possible? Why purposefully suffer in a freezing cold house? We all know that living in the cold is detrimental to our health, so personally I'd rather stick the heating on and be comfortable and healthy and an higher energy bill, than save money, freezing & be more susceptible to illness.

I'm on a fixed tariff so I pay the same amount each month for energy based on an estimate. Usually the estimate is well over what we use and we end up getting money back, so we're not shocked by a massive quarter bill to try and pay. Not sure if that's part of it?

Again, just to be clear, I'm not talking about people who are really suffering with paying bills, cost of living etc.

I live in a colder house for many reasons.

Grew up in a house parents couldn't afford to heat.
Lived with abusive man so heating only on when he was around.
Lack of money right now but also
Fear of poverty overrides any safety net in savings when there are any.
Body has got used to not needing the same level of heat that others need.
Lung issues which prevent being in dry air for too long, so central heating isn't put on for long.

Right now my boiler has been broken for over a week. I'm wearing a jumper, jeans, socks, slippers as normal but my "nod" to being without any heat or hot water in the middle of a snowy week is a thermal vest, scarf, fingerless gloves and a hot water bottle. It's 2C outside. I reckon if I was used to having heating on all the time I would be in a physical and mental mess by now.

DH with brought up in a house with no heating. MIL who is 80 walks around in her t-shirt with no heating on in her bungalow whereas I'm shivering. She will turn it on when I am there but thinks I am a right wuss!. My parents house always has the heating on at around 20 degrees and DH hates it.
Makes him really grumpy and feel shit.
I have got used to it being at around 18 degrees and moan if hotter as makes me sleepy.
I do environmentally try not to have it onto much and always have done.

Our reasons.
1 worry about a huge bill

2 too hot makes me irritable and I have asthma DH has a dry cough

3 over the last few yrs the less heating and walking everywhere has given me an ability to withstand the cold more.
This has been useful as I previously spent half the yr miserable and cold.

4 I would rather be a cold fifty something than a freezing pensioner

Heating threads on mumsnet always bring out the cold lovers, and they often turn into competitive underheating four Yorkshiremen style threads.

It isn't a moral failing to feel the cold.

What a lot of people don't seem to know or understand is how living in cold temperatures increases the risk of chest infections and increased blood pressure which puts older people at a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Never heating a house increases the risk of damp and mould as well.

It’s all down to money for me. I never used to worry about heating the house but now I have to strictly regulate it. The annoying thing is five minutes after I switch it off it’s cold again.

Nothing to do with cost, or the environment, or “ingrained frugality”. I just don’t like sitting in a hot house. Thermostat set at 18 but I’ll turn it up if I’m cold.

We didn’t have central heating at home until the 1970s. One bar electric fire high on the wall in the bathroom. Don’t remember being cold!

There's only me and dh at home and we only need to heat one room for us and the pets. We grew up without central heating and it's no hardship to go into a coldish kitchen or loo and we both prefer a cold bedroom anyway. I don't like the dry heat of central heating. We live in a small, new, well insulated house which doesn't lose heat easily. What's the point of us putting the central heating on?

We have some thick curtains up in a couple of doorways and have done our own secondary glazing with plexyglas at the back patio door which used to get very cold each winter so the kitchen dining area is no longer that cold.

The latter for me.

Heating makes my ears burn, my toes burn and I feel ill.

That said, it went on twice a day this week as it was so cold.

Hopefully this evening the thermostat won't kick in as its forecast to be 15degrees here overnight!

I'm also asthmatic and I find I get very tight and wheezy with central heating, even when I've dusted the radiators! Much prefer cold fresh air in my lungs.

Our thermostat is set to 19, so the heating has been coming on for a few months now, but it is always off at night, between 11pm and 6am. We are in the lucky position to be able to afford it. I hate being cold and layers don't always make a difference imo.

I think some, especially the old style thermostats are just inaccurate so people think they are heating their house to 25 degrees and don’t understand how others can cope with colder but it’s probably more like 20 and vice versa people think their house feels warm /ok at 14 degrees but it’s probably more like 18. Or they have radiators in some rooms that need bleeding or flushing so the house heats unevenly.

we have ours set to 18 and it’s nice and warm. Any higher it feels quite stuffy.

@2boyzNosleep

i was going to ask if you're not English? I'm surprised by a lot of the posts though.

its a very British thing to not put the heating on until x date &!have it turned off by y date.
or be the last one to put the heating on (tougher than all those wusses)

it's just 'a thing' 🤷🏻‍♀️

Where do you live that it's forecast 15° at night at the moment??

& yeah 18° in one house, isn't the same as 18° in another.

it depends where your thermostat is placed.

The south of the UK. here is my weather forecast for tonight.

I don’t get it either I can’t stand being cold ! Also we live in a. 300 year old house and if we don’t use the heating we end up with mold issues !

I grew up in a freezing cold, damp house - my dad loathed putting the heating on. We weren’t enormously well off, but we could definitely afford the heating (my dad always had a nice car, for example). It was horrible and my ceiling actually collapsed over my head when I was in bed, because it was so damp.

I tend to have the heating on, but on a low setting (usually 16/17) - I don’t like the feeling of central heating very much, I find it drying and stuffy - but I do like a woodburner (not lit often, just on very cold days) and the underfloor heating we have in our orangery. I still have the windows open daily in the winter (not all day though).

I have recently been to a Nordic city and everywhere was red hot inside - I found it really stuffy and unpleasant. I do prefer a cooler environment and a jumper on the whole.

Agree, it’s definitely a priority for me. I rather cut down on pub nights, shopping, days out etc and live in a warm house. I know people who are in a similar financial position that choose not to heat, yet they spend easily £50+ in the pub each week.

I grew up in a freezing cold house which makes me all the more determined to use my heating while I can afford it. I have no wish to repeat how cold I was as a child.

Same here. I used to have heating on at a lowish setting but for much of the day in the past as that kept the house comfortable. Single glazing, house 100 years old, draughty it gets cold so quickly. These days, with the huge increase, I limit when the heating is on, coordinate heating with drying washing, wear lots of layers, use a heated throw but I'd like the heating on more than I can afford.

…of course that’s part of it.

Christ.

I have older family members who are heating refusers, or have been in younger days, and these are my collected reasons from a few different people (according to me and my interpretation!)

Hate parting with money and will do anything to reduce a cost that can be reduced

Some kind of moral value attached- something like: it's weak and weedy to be cold indoors, probably means you are lazy and haven't done enough exercise. Children who ask for the heating on are spoiled.

Secret eating disorder, likes to be in cool rooms as believes her body will burn more calories to keep warm

New fangled inventions like central heating, dishwashers etc are examples of gross consumerism and profligacy and it's more virtuous to use wooly jumpers and moral grit to survive.

Grew up very poor and feels a guilt around being comfortable now and wants to stick to old ways.

Beyond the environmental concerns and whether people can afford to heat their homes, a lot of people seem to view it as wasteful to have the heating on. This isn’t a new attitude and it might be more common in older generations. It goes hand in hand with the 1970s/80s Dad’s lament of ‘why is this light on? The house is lit up like a Christmas tree.’

Some friends of mine are monumentally tight-fisted. They have plenty of money - they just seem to enjoy not spending it. We went round there one Boxing Day when there was snow on the ground, and I have never been so cold indoors in my life. Sadists. 😂

Surely your fixed monthly price is based on your previous year's usage @2boyzNosleep ? If you use more power than estimated from previous usage, then your monthly payment will go up. Evening it's spread over the year, £10 a months could be too much for some people to accommodate. Electricity and gas are not unlimited like text messages. Power is not a flat price "all you can use" subscription service like Netflix

I'd say in 99% of cases reluctance to put on the heating is due to financial concerns. Its very early for snow compared to recent years. I can see people bring mindful of not getting into debt with their power company. There may be a few folk with environmental concerns out there without financial concerns, who havn't put the heating on yet. I used to love the house we had that wasn't on mains gas, but did have a wood burning stove.

I wonder if it’s a UK thing as I’ve never ever heard of an obsession about heating anywhere else. You even argue about it.

I’m in a very cold country, people’s houses are always warm and cosy and the heat is not dry. It’s not a thing here to talk about heating. I mean I get if it’s about the cost, and it’s crazy that it cost so much in the UK that you have to freeze in your own home. No thanks.

There was a woman today on another thread who was pissed off because her house was 12 degrees and anything above that was just unnecessary. 😂 12 degrees was shorts and t-shirt. It’s just batshit crazy!!