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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to switch the heating off overnight?

99 replies

ingeniousidiot · 01/12/2015 16:26

Is this not the done thing anymore? The last couple of times heating has come up in conversation people have been surprised that our heating goes off at 10pm, then back on at 6am - it's off in the day too. I sometimes work from home, so stick it on in the day if cold.

They told me it was expensive and inefficient, but I thought that most people didn't have it on 24hrs/day - maybe I'm wrong, what do you do?

OP posts:

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 01/12/2015 17:26

Our heating is also "on" 24/7 but is thermostat controlled. In the nighttime the thermostat is at 16 degs then it gets back up to temperature in the morning. Heating also automatically turns off when we leave the house, and back in when we return

Theoretician · 01/12/2015 17:27

The idea that it's more efficient to keep the heating on sounds like nonsense, however I did recently google an explanation that might explain why it could be true in some cases. Wet brickwork will leak heat much more rapidly than dry, so if having the heating on all the time dries out the walls, it can cause them to insulate better. I guess this will only apply to people with older or less well-built properties.

SoWhite · 01/12/2015 17:29

Mines not on yet at all!

StompyFreckles · 01/12/2015 17:29

We never have our heating on at night - too hot otherwise!

Ilovefluffysheep · 01/12/2015 17:31

Am I the only one who hasn't turned their heating on at all yet? Not that cold.

Even when on its always off at night, cannot stand it being too warm.

mrsjanedoe · 01/12/2015 17:33

Ilovefluffysheep
Am I the only one who hasn't turned their heating on at all yet? Not that cold.

Very true (apart from bathroom which is too cold to bath a baby), but my problem is humidity more than temperature.

IndridCold · 01/12/2015 17:37

Never have the heating on at night, and anyway the radiator in our bedroom is broken so it would be pointless as well!

Ilovefluffysheep · 01/12/2015 17:41

Fair enough mrsjanedoe. My bathroom is a bit chilly, but I just grin and bare it, but if I had a baby I'd put the heating on. However, my teenagers can put up with it!

I think I'm fairly warm blooded, as often don't put my heating on until quite late in the year compared to others I've talked to. I've been living in pj's pretty much since July as had 3 separate ops, 2 major with long recoveries after. I have been wearing big fleecy pj tops and feel proper toasty. The district nurse did mention my house was cold when she visited today, but then told me her heating is on all the time as she likes a warm house!

WhatsWithTheHashtags · 01/12/2015 17:44

SoWhite where do you live?

WhatsWithTheHashtags · 01/12/2015 17:44

Like, roughly!

mrsjanedoe · 01/12/2015 17:47

has anyone been in primary schools , and preschools? they are boiling!

when the kids sit down, I could vaguely understand, but where the little ones are running all the time, it's madness. My youngest wear a short-sleeve tshirt and are still sweating.

murmuration · 01/12/2015 17:47

Oh dear, reading this I'm thinking DH has a point - I had been setting the 'on' temp to 18 and he complained it was too low. Is 20 typical then? I did raise it to 19!

clam · 01/12/2015 17:51

The only time I would ever have the heating on overnight is perhaps if there was a foot of snow outside. Oh, and once when we came back from a week away in a particularly cold February, and even the carpets and mattresses seemed frozen (and we'd had the timer set to switch on for an hour a couple of hours a day to stop pipes from freezing).

PigletJohn · 01/12/2015 17:51

Fanny:
"modern, well insulated houses, what era do you mean? Just newbuilds, postwar, interwar?"

I would say a house with cavity walls that has been fitted (or built) with CWI. It makes even more difference than thick loft insulation, because the area of wall is usually much more than the area of roof. Loft insulation is cheap and easy.

Terraced houses with small areas of exposed external wall can get by without CWI, though you will notice the cold wall and there is more risk of condensation on it. There are very few houses whose severely defective walls cannot be repaired to make them fit for CWI.

Draughtproofing is easy and cheap, and double glazing does not give an economic return. Lined curtains are enough.

It is very expensive to heat an older house comfortably, and difficult to make it comfortable all over. Bare floorboards in an old house will be cold unless you insulate between the joists.

FannyTheChampionOfTheWorld · 01/12/2015 17:53

I'm not sure if mine has CWI or not. It's roughly 1950 council built, does that give any clues? There is insulation in the loft, and double glazing from before we moved in. I feel it's quite well insulated but we have damp patches on the front wall.

Senpai · 01/12/2015 17:53

I turned it off once, DD woke up after her blankets fell off and her hands were ice. We just keep a minimum temp it can't fall below and it heats as needed day and night. Our bill is reasonable.

chrome100 · 01/12/2015 17:57

We turn ours on for a couple of hours in the evening and that's it. No one's in during the day and we are up and out of the house pretty quick in the morning so no need to turn it on then.

StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes · 01/12/2015 17:58

I am battling with both here, I think if it were down to me I would leave it at 16 / 17 all the time but DH has a snippy fit if he realises it has come on at night, which would be very rare as its not that cold yet. so its set for an hour in the morning so we get up to a house with warm rooms and again for just before we get in from work. if I am sitting around watching TV and cold I turn it up and listen to DH complain he is too hot, then I try to remember to turn it down again so its not too hot in the morning when it comes on as we are busy moving around so don't need it so warm. I would like a timer I could set for different temps at different times like some of you have

HackerFucker22 · 01/12/2015 18:01

Am the same. On when I get up and back off when the house has warmed up. Pop it back on if it feels chilly in the day (have a toddler and baby, I'm on ML) but turn it off when things have warmed.

Usually don't need it in the evening as the oven usually heats up floor we're on!!

Sparrowlegs248 · 01/12/2015 18:01

Ours is on more than usual atm as we have a 4month old baby. It is set 6-9pm. I put it on for an hour most mornings, and whenever i feel the need through the day - today it was on for an hour 4-5. Not on overnight. I am sometimes chilly but the baby is the warmest baby ever, he is often toasty while i am cool.

OvO · 01/12/2015 18:01

Never have mine on overnight. I barely have it on at all. It gets put on when very cold to protect the pipes and random other 'take the chill off the rooms' times.

We have a gas fire in the living room so just heat that - DC are still young enough that they are in here all the time rather than skulking in their rooms all the time.

I spent a small fortune on a silk all year duvet and that leaves me and my 8 year old rosy cheeked and toasty, so no need for heating. Others have good duvets too just not as nice as mine. . I sleep with a fan on every night and am still warm under it.

HackerFucker22 · 01/12/2015 18:02

Caveat to say we're in London and it's been a very mild autumn / winter thus far.

Did it have it on a fair bit when we had a recent cold snap (a few weekends ago)

captainproton · 01/12/2015 18:04

I live in a 30's house, we don't have the heating on much. Mostly a couple of hours in the morning/evening more for the little ones than adults. Central heating makes me cough and I hate being in houses where the air is really hot, dry and stuffy. I've lived in a 80's house that kept the heat very well compared to this draughty home. But I don't have one patch of damp in this house, that horrible black mould that collects on walls/by windows. I dry a lot of washing inside on heated airers. I do air my bedrooms daily and the bathroom and box room have those air vents where you can see daylight the other side. I'm sure this house leaks tonnes of heat, but as long as it takes the condensation with it I don't mind. I am in the south east, but grew up in the peak district, I don't actually think it ever gets that cold here to require heating on a lot.

PerspicaciaTick · 01/12/2015 18:05

Our temp is set for a minimum of 16 around the clock - but the house is modern and well insulated and it is very rare for it to drop below 16 an trigger the heating to come on. Then we have it at 18 for an hour in the morning and for a few hours in the late afternoon/evening.

So, yes, the heating has the potential to always be on - but the reality is that it is mostly not triggered.

megletthesecond · 01/12/2015 18:06

Mine is on overnight when it gets cold, once the frosts really arrive it'll be on 24/7. I can't sleep when it's cold (even in thermals) and the dc's have me up most nights anyway, expensive to keep it on but it helps me sleep.

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