Heating - AIBU?

[Latara]

I'm lucky to have Gas Central Heating; i keep it on all night because i wake up if the air temperature gets cold. Also start to get achy joints if it's cold. Plus it's hard to want to get out of bed in the morning if the house takes a long time to heat up.

Problem is: i need to save money - i'm skint.

My Dad says to switch off the heating at night. He had ''ice on the inside of the windows when i was a nipper, & i was alright...'' !!!

I keep the heating at about 21c - optimum temp as recommended by drs for rooms you live in at night.
I have a digital thing which only switches the boiler on if the temperature drops below the 'set' temperature of 21c, therefore it saves money as the boiler isn't constantly on.
I was in credit by approx £50 on the Gas btw, which i managed to get back from British Gas. So i do save money.

So AIBU to have the heating on all night, or am i a money-wasting wuss??

Of course my heating is always on. As was said, keeping your house at a low constant temperature is cheaper than heating a house from cold every morning. And I hate being cold.

@ RobotLover68
Keeping your house at a low constant temperature is cheaper than heating a house from cold every morning

This is NOT true and would violate the laws of thermodynamics. Having your thermostat lower does save money, but running 24x7 is not cheaper than just heating when you need it.

I would be roating if the thermostat was set to 21! We rarely have it higher than 18 (I turn it up when the in laws visit), and turn it down to 17 at bedtime.

Turning it off at night doesn't necessarily save you money, I depends on the house I think. my gas bill plummeted when i stopped having the heating on timer and instead had it on a lower temp all the time. It worked out that it uses less gas for us to maintain a steady warmth then to try and heat up a freezing house every mornng and evening.

But then we live in a completly detached apartment over parking spaces so it gets freezing and I never have it more then about 15 during the day and usually around 8 at night so it's just enough to stop us getting frostbite. 21 must be tropical!

@ HazleNutt
Sorry to repeat myself, but this is an old wives tale, and not true for a number of reasons. One of these is that modern boilers are far more efficient when running flat out than they are when doing short top-ups (which is what happens when you run them 24x7).

@ HearMyRoar

The "lower temp" is why you're probably saving money. You would almost certainly save more if you followed the advice of the energy saving trust and had it set to heat for the right periods of time rather than all the time

www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Heating-and-hot-water/Thermostats-and-controls

Monkey, it works out cheaper because keeping a warm house warm just requires small blasts of heat. If I let it get cold the walls lose their heat and it takes hours of heating to get it even approaching warm again. The first winter here we just had it on in the evening, we were freezing and the gas bill made me weep. the second year i put it on all the time, the house is warm and the gas bill is lower. Magic.

We have our thermostat on at 16 overnight and it rerely clicks on (usually around 5am if it does). If the heating does come on me and dp can wake up woth sore throats as we are not used to it. We have the thermostat to 19 during the day until about 9pm then I put the electric fire on in the living room for an hour or so and sit under a fleece blanket.
Definatley have a hot water bottle and even wear socks in bed if you dont alredy. When getting up in the night to feed dc I also used to wear a cardigan to bed so maybe try that.
Growing up we had central heating but only came on on the very coldest mornings we had a open coal fire so one room was warm and the rest of the house cold. Everyone had hot water bottles, wore slippers, thick dressing gowns etc.

Damn it, cross posting all over the place.

Timers worked fine when I lived in a terrace but not where we are at the moment, so I think you need to adjust depending on the set up.

Sounds like you need to invest in some good thermals to me. The best ones I have are designed for scuba diving in very cold water- I had to dive in january with snow on the ground so invested wisely. I'm sure you can get ones just as warm cheaply though.

Do you have an electric blanket that you could turn on when you wake up?

Do you have a thick duvet?

Wear a hat and socks in bed?

If the answer is yes and you're still cold, I would go to your GP.

It is more expensive to keep a house at a constant temperature because the rate of heat loss is proportional to the temperature difference to the outside.

More heat is lost to the outside when the temperature difference is greater (at the same temp the whole time) than if the house is allowed to cool for periods of time.

Science.

We also have a fabric draught excluder on the outside doors to prevent draughts and the heat escaping. My parents even have one the put on thr living room to keep the room warm.

After all, it's your hosue and you should feel comfortable there. I would be utterly miserable freezing. Personally if I needed to save, I would rather go without food than wear a hat and ski-suit to bed as it's too cold.

Yes, sorry OP, but I think you are a moneywasting wuss. Wasting the planet too

Get a high tog duvet, put a cotton blanket on top, and wear pyjamas with a sweatshirt on top. Wear bedsocks as well, and use a hot water bottle.

I NEVER have the heating on at night, and only put it on timer for the morning if the temp falls below 2 degrees. And I have Raynaud's syndrome :(

People lived for 100s of years without central heating, and yours is set crazily high.

Where do you get the idea that 21 Degrees is the recommended temperature for sleeping in at night?

zukie good grief woman. Your house is freezing. I really feel for you I hate being cold. (I have a cool house and tonnes of thermals and jumpers).

Put a duvet under your sheets, as well as the one on the bed. You will be toasty warm

A single duvet will be big enough for a normal double bed.

It's not great to have the heating on at night. 16C is best if you have to though.

Hello, thanks for all replies.

Yes i know AIBU & a wuss

I experimented last night with the heating; kept it on at 16c after i posted here, was fine until 5am when i woke up in a cold sweat following the hallucination-type nightmares as usual.

I had blankets & warm clothing on but (sorry if TMI) was soaked through with sweat & shivering - even though i went downstairs & the air temp was actually still 20c with the heating set at 16c.

I know that i can't stop my meds & will always have these nightmares & night sweats. (btw i do wash my bedding & pjs regularly in case anyone wonders!).

So i think that the answer may be to switch off the heating at night; but set the heating to come on timed before i'm likely to wake up after the usual nightmares eg. 4am, turn the heating down once i'm warm but keep it on until i've had a shower & breakfast.

That way i will warm up quickly when i wake at that time; & hopefully save money.

My house is a 26 yr old semi - not that well insulated; so i need to look into cheap insulation too.
Once the house is warm it stays warm for ages; but if it gets cold then it takes ages to heat up.

Thanks.

I live in a 150yr old end of terrace, its freezing but we can't afford to have the heating on all the time and even if we could I wouldn't have it on over night because I like the bedroom to be cold.

Heating comes on at 5am (an hour before I get up) and off at 7am then in the evening 6-9pm

We wear layers and huddle under a duvet on the sofa during the day and have a duvet on the bottom of the bed under a sheet and 2 duvets on top (a 13.5 tog and a lighter one) plus fleece blankets if needed.

I feel so tight I only turn ours on for half an hour when I wake up and my husband has to get out of the shower into a cold room! I only turn it on to dry tights on the radiator's. I hate wasting money and would rather layer than spend more money on gas. I know its not a waste and I'm sure as winter keeps coming I'll turn it on more often. I can stand been to hot.

Maybe I should just wash tights once a week to save more money!

I think there is a type of electric blanket that you can wrap around yourself should keep you cosy when you wake in the night.

We are in Yorkshire and get snowed in every year or so.

I don't mean a standard electric blanket I don't know if that would be safe. If you can find the blanket I found it on eBay last year looking for a Xmas pressy for my mum, if you buy it try jumping in the shower and wrapping up in it after you're dry.

I don't have my heating on at night.

I wear fleecy cow print PJ's and bed socks in bed, and if it's really cold a wooly hat too! Sexy,eh?