To never ever put the heating on?

[Awayawaywe]

In the last 2 years we have had the heating on a maximum of 10 days. We use hot water bottles at night and blankets and copius amounts of tea to keep warm. This means our electricity bill is the same in the summer as it is in winter (although we do bathe more in winter as in summer we mostly just have a wash)
We have 3dc all five and under and now when I visit other peoples houses I am sweltering! I end up in a vest sweating my head off!
Are we the only ones?!!!!

Ps this is saving us about £30 a month in the winter months.

I wasnt thinking much of this until I saw you have children under 5. not to be dramatic but as someone who worries if their kids are too cold during the night and has temperature gauges in the room I wouldn't be able to handle how guilty I'd feel knowing they were possibly cold. I dont really think water bottles are appropriate either for very young children but that's not the question you're asking and I'm not going to start a debate on that one lol

But you keep rambling on as if you're right and all official advice to heat your home to avoid the damp is some kind of weird global conspiracy

Huh! (nd no need to be rude is there)

My brother is a builder. I've helped him on projects. Havent got a clue what you mean by 'global conspiracy'. Its just ventilation common sense

Please tell us the temperature in the center of your livingroom.

I'm not British and I'm in awe of how big your kettles and chickens must be .

That aside I would guess there is either a physical or mental issue going on here.

Why is your brother getting you to help on projects? Can’t he afford staff?

My husband is a builder too, if we're going to go down that road!

We still have the heating on to prevent damp in the home. Yes, ventilation is important but in a damp climate like the UK you need other methods too. If it's damp and wet outside and you open the windows, all you're doing is allowing that damp air into your house and into the walls.

All the modern advice recommends ventilation AS WELL as heating so I'm not sure why you're so determined to argue otherwise?

still have a key meter

You'd save more getting yourself off a key meter for a start! That makes no sense!

Minus 2, with heavy frost this morning, when I left for work

The first year, we had no heating, except for wood burner, that heated one room

Central heating installed last year. It is soooo looovely & warm now

The key meter thing makes me wonder of this a cry for help and it’s something to do woth op husband.

If it's damp and wet outside and you open the windows, all you're doing is allowing that damp air into your house and into the walls.

No you're allowing in air, not moisture/rain. Unless its blowing a gale in your direction and you have huge open patio doors, I suppose

All the modern advice recommends ventilation AS WELL as heating so I'm not sure why you're so determined to argue otherwise?

Yes but the advice really stresses ventilation. But not heating as much. It is the ventilation that is important

Again

Freezing winter, cold bathroom window pane. Take a hot shower and you get loads of condensation on the cold window pane

Take a cold shower, you get no condensation

It's the same concept for walls

That's the best way I can describe it

Why? Just why would you do this for £30 a month????????

I'm going to add that I grew up in a house with no central heating, just a coal fire in the living room, which was only lit in the winter evenings

Most people have got used to modern methods of heating & better insulation

Surely you need to wash more in the summer than winter?! Given that it's warm and we sweat more and are outside more?

My bills are around £165 a month - £30 of that is electricity, the rest is gas and the only gas thing we have is the heating. We also have a log burner that is around £80 a month for wood.

Being cold - no thanks.

No you're allowing in air, not moisture/rain. Unless its blowing a gale in your direction and you have huge open patio doors, I suppose

Air can be damp, though . So you are letting in moisture. I live in one of the wettest parts of the country - believe me, the air is damp here.

Yes but the advice really stresses ventilation. But not heating as much. It is the ventilation that is important

"It makes sense that people want to save on heating cost, but one of the best mold prevention techniques is keeping your heating on.

"If you seriously want to avoid mold in your home then avoid rooms cooling completely. Experts recommend that the ideal temperature for living rooms is 20°C, 23°C for the bathroom and children’s rooms, and 16C for the bedroom and kitchen. It is recommended that you never let the temperature of your home fall below 14°C."

www.viessmann.co.uk/heating-advice/6-mold-prevention-tips-for-a-healthy-home

I am ALWAYS cold and our heating is NEVER turned off. It is controlled by a Nest thermostat so I can use my phone to turn it up without my husband knowing! He thinks there's something wrong with me. I find other peoples's houses very chilly and they find ours very warm!

Note the experts in adeline’s link, Flaxmeadow! Helping your brother do a bit of cement mixing doesn’t make you an expert.

I grew up like that. It was fucking miserable. Unless it was snowing, as that blocked the gaps in the window frames and it felt less bone chillingly awful for a while.

But my mother was fine. Menopause and fundamental selfishness meant she was alright.

my heating is practically always on, I’d rather we spent a bit of money but we’re warm

Condensation is about humidity relative to temperature.

www.axa.co.uk/home-insurance/tips-and-guides/what-causes-condensation-and-how-to-stop-it/

Opening windows allows warm wet air (warm air holds more mositure than cold) to flow out. It will do this naturally; normally the highest goes towards the lowest. This reduces condensation.

Your children should be playing, not sitting under blankets.

I'm more interested in how people manage to only pay £80 a month for gas and electric and claim it's on all the time??!

£130 a month here and I can assure you, our heating is NOT on all the time!

This sounds a miserable way to live, very Ebeneezer Scrooge. You may feel warm enough but are you sure your kids are comfortable? Are you too tight to take a bath in the summer too? Unless you are very extremely poor it is miserly. I would have thought that food and warmth and shelter came before anything else when budgetting.

I'm more interested in how people manage to only pay £80 a month for gas and electric and claim it's on all the time??!

I just paid £216 for 3 months of gas/elec and my heating is on about 5 hours a day, I would estimate. More on weekends and WFH days. If I'm home, it's on. No idea what the temperature is but it must be over 25. The heating was less than half of the bill cost, so about £30 a month.

Small 1 bed flat, double glazing, no dishwasher, no tumble drier, washing machine on 2-3 times a week.

I never got why heating was "expensive" because I consider £30 a month cheap. That's less than we pay for internet, or than people pay for a fancy phone or Sky, and 10x less than some people pay for cars on finance.

The whole point of ventilation is to equalise the temperature inside to the same as outside.

What a load of tripe. The temperature in Glasgow today is 5c. Is that a comfortable temperature? Should I be sitting here with the windows open and the heating off to combat damp?

Or should I do what any sane person does - heat the house. Open the trickle vents on the windows. Make sure that the kids open a window when taking a shower. Open the window when boiling pasta on the stove.

The idea that the ideal temperature is the same outside as in is just total lunacy.

Oh and the gas bill isn't even just heating, it's all the hot water too.

Air can be damp, though hmm. So you are letting in moisture. I live in one of the wettest parts of the country - believe me, the air is damp here.

But that is nothing to do with cold temperature

Air can be moist in summer. It can be dry in winter

"It makes sense that people want to save on heating cost, but one of the best mold prevention techniques is keeping your heating on.

"If you seriously want to avoid mold in your home then avoid rooms cooling completely. Experts recommend that the ideal temperature for living rooms is 20°C, 23°C for the bathroom and children’s rooms, and 16C for the bedroom and kitchen. It is recommended that you never let the temperature of your home fall below 14°C."

This advice is because it is assumed people are heating their homes and also cooking (steam), dryers, showers etc.

It is not advice for a house doing none of that.

This is my point. I'm not giving examples of normal house activity. I'm saying that, in theory, if a house is totally cold and has no heated moisture, then it should not be damp. It isnt cold temperature that causes damp. It is moisture and different temperatures.

This is how weather fronts work. For example high pressure in winter will be cold but dry. When the stars are out for example in winter. But if a low pressure front clashes with high pressure then you get rain.

As I've said earlier. I dont like central heating personally but I would put it on for visitors and especially children and the elderly. I'm just making a point about damp. That it is possible to be sheltered in the cold and not be damp