Advice on how to handle- dds housemates at uni want to out heating on overnight

[Thethingswedoforlove]

How can we convince them that it really isn’t cheaper to keep the house at a constant temperature?! They want to have it on at a ‘low’ temp of 17 degrees! It’s a huge house with 6 people and most students don’t even have it on during the day let alone at night. I’m at my wits end. How can we afford that bill? I told her that she should say that those that want it on overnight need to pay and she won’t pay a share of that but clearly that is a bit confrontational and doesn’t lend itself to harmonious living. How can we convince them?! It is utterly nuts. Some are saying things like my dad knows about heating bills and it is def cheaper etc.’

Ours is set to come on at 18 and go off at 21, that's 24 hours a day. Bugger being colder than that.

@LarkinAboot love the username! It is 17 overnight here we are referring to. Not daytime (although admittedly I don’t know what they plan to set it to for the daytime I suspect higher than 17 somehow).

Give her the link to the source if evidence. Leave her to it. Part of growing up.

Depending on house insulation, if it is higher in the day time it is probably not going to go on much in the night anyway if it is set to 17 degrees. It will take a while to go below that.

If she gets an electric blanket for her bed she won’t need to have heating on overnight. Problem solved.
@Thethingswedoforlove
its a big waste of money having heating on when you’re in bed asleep.

Mine is set to 16 at night, and rarely comes on, or if it does it´s just for some minutes and sorted. Sod being freezing. And clothes coming out of cupboards damp. Someone I know who works in the sector professionally always said the expensive part was making the boiler work like mad to get a freezing house warm again. Having a minimum temp was easier on the boiler and on the pocket.

lol at "we all used to wear hats and gloves and scarves indoors and it was fine"- we used to shit outdoors as well, thankfully things have moved on.

I’m a building engineer and it’s is usually a good idea to keep the heating on low if you can.

I don’t agree that keeping the heating on a constant low is necessarily more energy efficient. It depends on the building.

We were given this advice in our last house (large four storey Victorian terrace) and followed it, checking the meter readings at regular intervals. Our bills were much higher than when we were using the timer, even though the overall temperature was lower.

If the OP’s DD is living in a shared house like this, it will be expensive to maintain the same temperature for 24 hours.

That said, we are having some very cold weather at the moment, so if this is a temporary measure meant to get them through, I wouldn’t make a fuss. It won’t make a huge difference to the bills in the short term.

edited for typo

Now is definitely not the time to make a fuss about this.

Yes. She really likes her housemates. A lot. They are prob her best friends in the whole world.

That's really nice!

@interrupttheflow as mentioned they now have a smart meter and are going to monitor it.

Our thermostat is set to 18.5°C during the day, and 10°C overnight (midnight to 7 a.m.). There's no need to have it as high as 17 during the night - that's what duvets, warm pyjamas and bed socks are for. No wonder the planet is fucked if people are insisting on having their home as warm as Spring at night, in deepest winter. 🤷‍♀️

@interrupttheflowthat is fair. I honestly didn’t think anyone did this. I’ve learned. I just assumed it would be a crazy amount extra but others have pointed out that it might not be especially when split 6 ways. To be fair to dd she didn’t enter into battle on it she asked for my advice. So nothing expended. And we have learned something.

Actually it was tough living in a student house with no central heating. I also supported myself whilst at uni. There’s a whole group of students that support themselves with jobs whilst studying. It is tough. I have checked that my kids are mindful of student colleagues now who have no financial help and/or family and are supporting themselves.
The good part of my experience was that I managed to have no debts unlike everyone else who had parent support. I had no time to party. I worked and studied. I even managed to have small savings that got me through part of my postgrad until I got a research grant. Amazing really. It was tough being me but it got better and better because I got myself out of poverty. First to go to uni. No family help. Once you’re experienced hardship and deprivation you don’t think to write comments like yours.

I have mine set at 16 constantly, even in this weather it hasn't come on much. I really don't think 17 will be as expensive as you think.