How cold is too cold?

[DuploTower]

For a house?

Am I being unreasonable thinking 13 degrees is too cold?

I'm freezing.

What's normal?

As I mentioned on the other thread about heating, we have no central heating here. A small fan heater won't do it, OP - too expensive for not enough heat. We use oil-filled radiators, much more economical. I also snuggle under a heated throw during the day, and have an electric blanket on low all night. I don't know what the actual temperature is in the house, but I would guess it's around 18 degrees in this room with the radiator on low, and the door firmly shut. 13 would be horrible (and it's probably the temperature in the rest of the (unheated) house.

That just sounds so miserable. We don't have a thermostat but i hazard a guess that on 'high' it's around 24.

we are roughly between 30-40 degrees at all times

we are roughly between 30-40 degrees at all times

As if. People die during 38 degree heatwaves.🙄

the 40 degree house is BS. During some heatwaves our upstairs must have been 30 and you sweat your arse off even if you're buttnaked

If the temperature was 13 outside I’d still be wearing my winter coat! I’d be utterly miserable and ill in a house that cold.

16 over night & if we are a bit cold in the evening we have it up to 18. DH & DS are always in t shirts, I feel the cold so have fluffy socks & a jumper on & sometimes a blanket over my knees.

13 is dreadfully cold and unhealthy for children or babies.
Is it your OH who is insisting on this temperature? Because that is abuse and you should consider leaving him.
You shouldn't be forced to live like that.

Mine is minimum 18 degrees always and I regularly (several times a day, when in) turn it up to 21/22 degrees.

It's currently 11 degrees outside, so you all must be really cold. Minimum of 18, in our house as feeling cold is awful. I can't function when it too cold. Our thermostat for is set for 20 as I have all of the windows open to sit the house, they'll all be getting closed again shortly so it will be back down to 18.

Your poor children!

@DuploTower Agghhh LPG, I really feel for you. We used to live somewhere that had that when we were renting. It was beyond awful. I have never been so cold in my life and yet even to get the house to 13 degrees cost a small fortune. We were so miserable as it was cold and damp and there wasn't a whole lot we could do to make it warmer. My parents lent us a fan heater but all that did was blow the fuses!

How awful.
So, you'll be putting up with this until 2022 or 2023?

He's a miserable bastard who needs a good, hard kick up the arse.

I feel like a neglectful wife.

No, no - you're not.

He's just a clueless, dickhead husband.

I grew up in a cold unheated house. Its not something I'd put my kids through

17.5°C in two bursts, morning and evening, but we're modern and well-insulated!

How expensive can it really be? Can't you save anywhere else? Honestly I'd rather be (moderately) hungry than freezing. Isn't there any help available if you're really so strapped for cash that your children must wear winter coats indoors.

You are not a neglectful wife but your children are being neglected by both of you (if you actually have the money to keep it warmer)

This is far too cold. Tell your husband the heating is going on and that is that. If it takes longer to save up, so be it.

Incidentally....does your husband smoke, drink, go to the gym, buy fancy trainers, have "hobbies" that cost money ?

I think women do actually feel the cold more than men. DH and DS will be in t-shirts while I'm in five layers and woolly socks with the heating on. We do live in an old cold house which is difficult to heat effectively despite new boiler, full double glazing, modern well insulated extension, ufh etc; we still have to have heating on all day to get to 18. When all the dc have left home I am moving to a small well insulated flat....

www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/why-do-women-feel-the-cold-more-than-men/

13 is igloo temperature. I would die.

I like mine at around 24. 😳

I would consider that cruel to your kids to be in a house that cold tbh, it must be damp as well.

I set our thermostat to 20 upstairs and 21 downstairs, I hate being cold and would cry in a house that was 13 degrees 🥶

There are lowcost electric panel heaters like this. I have one for a pet and it's cheap to run (I have low strenght) and does keep smaller room reasonably warm.
You can either stand them separately or attach to the wall

A small fan heater won't do it, OP - too expensive for not enough heat. We use oil-filled radiators, much more economical.

Heaters are essentially 100% efficient, regardless of how they transfer heat to the room. An oil filled radiator has the advantage that it smooths the transitions between the element being on and off but a fan heater has the advantage that it puts out heat immediately.

Personally, I prefer a ceramic fan heater, since they operate at a lower temperature than conventional nichrome elements so you don't get a burning smell and they warm the room up immediately, to supplement the central heating of whatever room I'm in. Fiddling with the 'base temperature' of the (mains gas) central heating, I managed to knock about 30% off my energy consumption by going for 17°C with the gas and bringing that up to 22°C electrically.

20 degrees a ground level and 19.5 upstairs.

Agree with everyone who says 13 is far too low. I grew up in an unheated house - think water freezing in the washing up bowl, getting dressed under the covers in the morning and frost patterns on the inside of windows (I am very old) but even then there was always one room that was kept at least tolerable.

Your going to live like that for a couple of years?