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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think 17 degrees C is too low a thermostat setting.

146 replies

WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid · 19/10/2011 17:55

Dh wants to save m

OP posts:
GalloweesG · 20/10/2011 07:48

Back in December 1983 my Mum gave birth to my little brother, in those days everyone was taken home in an ambulance with a nurse. The nurse came in and checked that our heating was working. A woman on the ward had no central heating, she was told to heat one room that she and the baby could stay in.

I'm amazed that so many houses still don't have central heating and it's distressing that so many can't afford to use it.

I think that everyone should use the heat that they need through the winter and negotiate with the energy companies in the spring. Obviously oil deliveries are a different matter but I urge you to see your MP's the more people they have to deal with about this, the better.

Vat needs to be removed from heating fuel and energy companies need to pass on reductions in wholesale energy costs, they are currently low and are not being passed on.

LaurieFairyCake · 20/10/2011 07:51

People didn't 'cope' without central heating. Hmm

We all fecking died younger.

TheHumancatapult · 20/10/2011 07:52

I spoke to mine and said nothing they can do about heating oil prices basically supply and demand . No regulations unlike gas and electric

Adversecamber · 20/10/2011 08:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

valiumredhead · 20/10/2011 08:27

I hate CH, the heat from it is all stuffy and urghhhhh, so I have it on as little as possible. Has been on once so far this year just to test it. Anything over 17 degrees and I start wilting. It's 5 degrees out at the moment and to me it feels a bit cool inside so I have slippers and a cosy cardi on and am fine. I never have the radiator on in the bedroom, I like a big thick quilt and a hot water bottle instead. I love wood burners and open fires, they give off a completely different heat which isn't so drying.

Lizcat · 20/10/2011 08:52

What is so wrong about waering plenty of clothes. I grew up in a house with no central heating so our thermostat lives at 17. If it is cold we put on moe clothes or do something active. Even in 2004 when DD was 14 days old we had no electric to power the gas boiler so no heating for a few days in Feb with snow on the ground. You keep the curtains close for as long as possible don't leave doors between rooms open and the thermomstat in her bedroom still stayed at 18C.

DedalusDigglesPocketWatch · 20/10/2011 09:15

We decided to set our thermostat at 16 as DD at school every morning, DS and I are usually out and about then afternoons are spent outside at the horses. This means that the house always feels plenty warm enough when we get it.

We did get our windows replaced a couple of years ago and we are mid terrace so I think that makes a fair difference.

Oh, and DD has eczema which gets irritated by central heating so it is in our best interests to keep the house on the cooler side.

Might get the hotwater bottles out soon though....

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 20/10/2011 09:39

It is an impossible one to argue as it depends on the house and the people living in it.

I hate central heating and being hot generally and would much rather sit under a duvet with a hat on, but dp feels the cold as do the kids so we have it on at 17, but never any higher. However we also live in a terrace in a city so it never really gets that cold.

If you live in a badly insulated detached house somewhere more rural no way is 17 going to cut it.

If you are a person who really feels the cold again 17 is not enough.

StarlightMcKenzie · 20/10/2011 09:46

I think that for working conditions thermostat temperatures are supposed to be around 18degrees in the winter, and around 22 in the summer, to account for the extra layers or not that you are likely to be wearing.

StarlightMcKenzie · 20/10/2011 09:48

wearing more clothes doesn't warm you up. If you know anything about insulation you'll know that wrapping up an icecube keeps it cold, and what about hands, nose etc?

Exercise can keep you warm. i.e. rigourous housework or going for walks, but jumpers simply do not.

Original poster
WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid · 20/10/2011 09:53

Have a bit of a solution. Heating will offically be set at 19 degrees. Thermostat lives in the living room at moment so that will mean the rooms we live in will be 19 degrees and hallway will be cooler. I feel the cold more than most and will be wearing thermals and jumpers indoors to help keep me warm (dh can probably cope with a t shirt (the freak)).
Heating can come on once in morning and once again at 4.30pm, if it gets cold in the living room we can use the electric radiator.
It is an old drafty house, we are improving the insulation so hopefully it will get better soon.

OP posts:
coraltoes · 20/10/2011 09:55

Wearing more clothes doesn't help when you get out of a shower into a FREEZING bathroom!

Oh and OP YABU for starting a competitive freezing thread. Brrrrr

StarlightMcKenzie · 20/10/2011 09:58

And I'm not breastfeeding my babies in 15degrees. Sorry but it ain't happening!

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 20/10/2011 10:02

No, wearing more layers won't warm you up, but they will keep you warm, the human body is not an ice cube, when it exits bed in the morning it should be warm, wrap it lots of layers and it will stay warm all day.

Hardgoing · 20/10/2011 10:11

My human body is quite icy though, in winter, even when I have several layers on, the outside bits (fat bits like bottom and thighs) are freezing to touch. Basically, I go cold and stay cold, all winter. Cuddling me is like cuddling an iceberg. My husband is a warm type of a person, he is always warm to the touch. I've concluded that people are very different, if I sat working for a long time in 17 degrees at home, I would start to feel quite miserable quite quickly (and no, doing activities when your main job is writing isn't an option although having a quick dance for 10 min is!)

Laquitar · 20/10/2011 10:15

I totally agree with GalloeewsG re the VAT.

And i too find it distressing that so many households in uk don't have heating in 2011. To me heating is not 'luxury' but basic human need, it is on the top next to food. Technically you can survive in a cold house or on porridge and water, but it sucks. If you are so poor that you cant afford it there should be more help imo. If you can afford it you should put it on and feel like a human in your house. If someone else enforcing it to you it is extremely unkind and arrogant.

Please tell me you don't buy take aways on Fridays.

StopRainingPlease · 20/10/2011 10:30

"wearing more clothes doesn't warm you up. If you know anything about insulation you'll know that wrapping up an icecube keeps it cold, and what about hands, nose etc?"

Unless your body temperature is below zero rather than the usual 37C, then yes more clothes do keep you warm as they trap the heat your body produces. And wearing more clothes on your body does help to keep your hands and nose warmer as when your body is cold the supply of heat to the extremities is lessened - this is why people get frostbite in their toes and fingers, as the body is using its heat to protect vital organs. Keeping your body warm convinces it to send some heat out to your extremities.

However, I do like a warmish house. I go out on a winter's day and ride my horse in snow and ice and I'm fine, but the coldest part is when I get home, sit down and haven't put the heating on yet.

StarlightMcKenzie · 20/10/2011 10:43

Well it doesn't work with me or my dd. If the air is cold, all areas of the skin that are exposed are cold and make my arms in particular feel cold and shivery and I feel flu-like and cannot rid thoughts of going to bed with a couple of duvets over my head. My dd is the same although not quite so bad.

I suspect inaction is partly responsible as when I move about the problem is much less but sadly most 'work' be it domestic or paid is pretty sedetary.

MsWeatherwax · 20/10/2011 11:06

Ours is set to 15 at the moment but I am having a bit of a debate with DP about it. It is by the front door, where it's cold in the morning but the front of the house gets the sun all day so is warmer in the evening. I think this is one reason why it's not really warm enough at night in the house for me, especially upstairs in the back bedroom where we sleep. However, in the morning I am woken up feeling too hot because the radiator comes on full at 7. It doesn't seem to come on full in the evenings. DP doesn't want me to change the thermostat, because we are monitoring how much gas we use with our current system of having the heating on a couple of hours in the morning and evening - next week we are going to try the having it on constant low temp all the time so we can compare if it uses less gas. It's all got very confusing and we both think we are right and the other is wrong.

backwardpossom · 20/10/2011 11:13

Take your skis, upahill I reckon it wont be long before the Cairngorm ski centre is open for skiing! can't wait!

TheHumancatapult · 20/10/2011 14:42

Lizcat

Puts hand in air please ms can I be exacused from keeping moving I spend all day sat down ( am in wheelchair )

But once I'm cold I can not get warm at all and I'm cold right now .
But don't know by touch when my legs are cold all I know is end up chilled to the bone despite wearing thermals

valiumredhead · 20/10/2011 17:20

TheHumancatapult I spent some time in a wheelchair after an accident a couple of years ago - I have never been so cold! I used to screech at dh to shut the door when he put the rubbish out. I could never get warm once I was cold even with a hot water bottle and heating up high - the complete opposite of how I normally am! I think you can be excused Wink

Abra1d · 20/10/2011 17:25

Ours is set at between 17 and 18 degrees. But we haven't put our heating on yet.

We don't have very young children (teenagers) and are fit and healthy. I think wearing lots of layers will do us just fine.

Tianc · 20/10/2011 18:33

Humancatapult don't know if you saw it on the other thread, but would it be feasible to get a wheelchair cosy or sew attachement loops to a fully-zipped sleeping bag?

Then bung a hot water bottle in the bottom so your feet actually get some circulation? I'm not immobile, but find once my feet are cold they don't easily warm up again of their own accord, circulation is just too poor.

Tianc · 20/10/2011 18:36

Sorry if I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs, by the way. But have had similar tho less serious problems when I was less mobile.