Students house stat set at 28 degrees

[dingit]

At night! Aibu to tell her to turn the heating off. Other house sharers insist it's left on. Dd sleeps downstairs, the boiler is in the kitchen next to her room and keeps her awake. Also their heating bills will be huge. If she turns it off, I can't see any of them being arsed to come down and turn it back on, if they notice, especially when it turns chilly.

DD has just graduated. She shared a monster of a ten roomed Victorian house. Nine of them mutually agreed not to have the heating on for the entire 2 years they lived there, it was usually warmer outside than in. The only time they had any disagreements was when one of the housemates put the heating on whenever he was home alone, on full and then would go out and leave it on. He was from a very privileged background and had absolutely no concept of managing finances or experiencing the slightest discomfort.

He would get absolutely slaughtered by the others when he did this and he never offered or was prepared to pay anymore towards the heating.

I feel for your daughter, they absolutely will expect her to share the heating costs. Personally if I were her I would contact the landlord and get him to explain how to set the thermometer and do it when they weren't home, then not mention it.

Thermostat up, but turn boiler right down - rooms (and water) will not get as hot. However, I agree with all the pp comments. Last resort, especially if she is having other problems - move out.

She's only 19, didn't you ask your mum things at that age? I still ask my mum, and I'm 50

OP, on mumsnet if you are under 18 you are a child and as a parent you must do absolutely everything for them, however the second they hit 18 they are an adult and should know absolutely everything about every situation and never be helped by their parents.

Your poor dd. I couldn't sleep in that temperature or be comfortable in the daytime.
I used to live in an overheated hostel and in mine and ds room I turned the radiator right down. Nothing I could do about communal areas though. She might be able to do this or have a word with ll
Surely students care about the environment even if not about the bills (yet). Appeal to their conscience.
As for the loudness at night I m afraid it's part of communal living to an extent.
Could she try the good ear plugs?

it sounds like it is all set up wrong to be honest - there should be temp on the actual boiler itself that it heats water and radiators to and then the thermostat for the room to auto switch it off and on. They all need to be balanced.

Google the model of the boiler and download the boiler manual, then work out the timer settings so it's not running overnight - so off around 10pm and back on at 6am.

She’s tried talking to them, they’re not listening. I’d tell tell her to just keep turning it off, they’ll get fed up of traipsing downstairs to turn it on.

Or maybe not turn it off. That's might piss them off.
But turn it down. Our house is set at 19 permanently and its toasty.

Annie That may resolve the heating issue, but it will also make her a social pariah in the house.

Can't verify this but I read on the Energy UK website that turning down a thermostat by 1 degree could save 10% of the energy bill or perhaps £85 a year. Having said that, it may be that the temperature in the rooms is significantly less than 28 degrees. Depends on many factors as PPs have said. Echo getting a thermometer to check - I have one of these;

www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/decoration/clocks/klockis-clock-thermometer-alarm-timer-white-art-80277004/

Could your DD swap rooms with someone who is far away from the boiler? They will be warmer and she will be cooler and less noisy.

I'm pretty sure dicking about with the thermostat in student housing is obligatory. In a house of 5 ours always got switched between off, 19, 22 and 25 depending on who was in/throwing a strop.

I'd just tell her to turn it off now, and turn it down whenever it was up high. Also make sure all the radiators in the house are set to their highest setting. The fella in our flat who liked a 25 also had his radiator on the lowest setting. Knobhead.

Poor DD. It is really tough at that age, trying to share a house with a group of teenagers who are still learning how to be decent human beings living in a civilised society. Most of them will be fine in a few years but they can be real dicks at this stage!

We always used the traditional student "house meeting" to air our grievances.

I had his same issue as a student, I didn’t have my parents financially backing me up like my housemates did and they wanted the heating at 28C constantly so they could wear shorts and T-shirt’s at home. As soon as I could I moved out, I couldn’t afford them

Crikey I had a housemate at uni who would turn the heating off when there was snow on the ground! My boyfriend now dh bought me a massive dunelm waffle blanket (massive treat as a poor student) as it was constantly freezing to the point I had ice on the inside of my downstairs bedroom window

Seriously though 28 is ridiculous, and I like being toasty. Ours is set to 20 as old and rather cold and drafy house and we have a baby, and would never have it on past 10pm unless it's properly freezing and we have to for our son which we did this year in March a few times.

I'd tell her to work out how reset it, and to turn it off between 10-6 at least!

Also in my thirties and definitely ask my Mum for advice 🙄 ridiculous to think a 19 year old wouldn't phone Mum to have a moan and ask what they should/could do

We have ours set to 18 in the day and off all night. I don't get why anyone would want it set to 28. I bet when we had temperatures like that in the Summer they were moaning it was too hot.

When DS2 was in his student let he controlled the heating because he was the only one who could be bothered to set the accounts up and take metre readings. He collected the money and paid the bills too. Had any of them put it on 28 they'd have been told it was excessive and it would have been turned down.

FWIW our kids are 21& 23 and they still ask us for advice. I'd think it odd if they didn't

Central heating in a student house? What is the world coming to?
Freezing in an inadequately heated Victorian house was part of the student experience when I were a lass.

Could she get some thermometers to see what the temperature actually is in the various rooms? And move them about, because there are usually cold spots and warmer spots in a room. I think 20-22 degrees is considered ideal, though I'd find that too warm for a bedroom.

Huge bill will fix it

Blimey, even my Nan who is elderly and I'll doesn't have her heating at 28 degrees! Far too warm - it's a wonder that aren't all goig around in their swimwear!

I would suggest a house meeting to start with and try to find a compromise - say 21 degrees and using a timer. Healthy young people should not need the heating on 24/7 and nor should they need it set to 28 degrees. Also worth her pointing out that high temperatures can breed germs - they will end up with colds and chest infections!

Also, the heating bill will be sky high if they keep that up.

Hopefully if they sit and discuss it then a compromise can be reached.

This reminds me of a uni flatmate complaining 22 degrees was freezing (room thermometer). She also saw no problem putting the washing machine on at 2am when it was against the wall of another flatmate’s bedroom. She was a delight.

Thanks. Some good points on here. She's coming home for the weekend to get some sleep. I'll have chat with her then.

Focus effort on getting her out of there. The housemates sound like twats and the situation is not going to magically improve. Ime it just gets worse sadly.

That is crazy. I'm someone who really feels the cold, I'm also a lot older than those student, and for reasons I won't bore you with my house is quite a cold house.

My thermostat is set at 21.5 in the winter and I turn it up as required but never, even when there's been snow on the ground, have I had it up to 28 degrees; 25 is the most I'll put it on, maybe 26 at a stretch if it's bitterly cold out.

Also mine goes off at night. They're in bed, why do they need the heating on. I couldn't sleep in that temperature, it must dry their skin and throats out terribly.

28 days is ludicrous. Ours is set to 21 when we are there and up and 18 for overnight and the hours were out.