Is it nearly time to not bother with heating?

[LGY1]

Like everyone I’ve started to worry about heating costs, we are currently on a fixed tariff until Aug & pay a DD of £140 a month. I looked at our rates & yes they will double when the fixed term ends.

Looking at cutting back on our heating use, however I’ve attached a photo of our Hive schedule and I can’t see where we can cut back much more!

If we go with the easy “turn your thermostat down 1 degree” we would be on 17 degrees!

We both WFH full time now & have a 1 & 4 year old so I don’t want it too cold overnight.

Anyone else thinking the same?

FYI we had it set to 13 or 14 overnight during the cold snap, because if it gets much colder than that it takes a long time to heat up in the morning. But now we have it off overnight. Thanks everyone :)

Ours is set to 16 overnight but never comes on. It comes on set at 21 for 2 hours in the morning.....then it's set at 19 for the day but also never comes on ( I sometimes boost it if I'm in during the day as 19 is cold!) I think our house us quite well insulated though.

I sleep on the roof in my underwear, I’m weathered and wild!
Pffft to your 17 degrees wimpery

The only time I've ever put the heating on at night was when we had an exceptionally cold spell and they recorded a temperature of -18°C overnight at the local weather station - and yes I'm in England. It's never occurred to me to have heating on after 10.30pm. Even my DM who liked a hot house didn't have the heating on at night.
I also get irrationally annoyed at the Boxt boiler advert where the guy is fiddling with the thermostat whilst wearing a t-shirt. If you're wearing a t-shirt your heating is on too high! Put a jumper on!

Couple of hours in the morning
Never overnight
Maybe for an hour during day if it’s really cold, but usually not till around 5pm till 10pm.
We’ve all got thick tog duvet, fleece blankets and hot water bottles. I’ve got an oil filled radiator for my office, which I have on low so it switches on and off during the day. I’ve also got a blanket my, hot water bottle and lots of warm clothes. Wool socks were a revelation.

Hoping for a warm spring and summer so I can turn it off in April and leave it till September.

@Snoken

If you are in the UK you need the heating on, otherwise you will end up with a damp and mouldy house. That is an actual concern when you have small children. However, during the night would the time you turn it down to 16-17 degrees or so, and then focus on keeping the house warmer during the day.

This really is not true.

Most of us commenting are in the U.K. and don’t have our heating on 24/7.

Loads of us grew up in houses without central heating and just a coal fire in the living room. No, I wouldn’t want to live like that now, but to suggest that not having your house heated all the time leads to damp and mould is scaremongering.

Houses prone to damp and mould have bigger issues than not having the central heating on all the time

I love these threads... competitive cold withstanding! ' HEATING OVERNIGHT!?? mines not been on since the beast from the east' 'I wear fleece at all times a blanket over my legs whenever I MUST be stationary... otherwise it's star jumps all round'

🙄🙄

Your heating schedule looks fine to me

You don't need the heating on at night at all.

@Snoken

If you are in the UK you need the heating on, otherwise you will end up with a damp and mouldy house. That is an actual concern when you have small children. However, during the night would the time you turn it down to 16-17 degrees or so, and then focus on keeping the house warmer during the day.

Well that's not correct for everyone. My heating never goes on overnight and it's not mouldy or damp. I'm in the U.K.

I’ve never known anyone who has their heating on overnight

The problem we will have is that we normally go into debit in the winter and then the summer months when we arent using heating etc, we then go into credit. Looks like that wont be happening this summer.

@yorkshireteaspoonie

I love these threads... competitive cold withstanding! ' HEATING OVERNIGHT!?? mines not been on since the beast from the east' 'I wear fleece at all times a blanket over my legs whenever I MUST be stationary... otherwise it's star jumps all round'

🙄🙄

Your heating schedule looks fine to me

Well yes it looks fine, but she's asking where she can cut it! Overnight, when she won't even notice whether it's on or off, is the obvious place.

We’re the same as you except we have higher temps during the day (20C) and no heating on overnight. I do think a house should be warm dyeing waking hours if you have children. My mother’s main memory from childhood is being cold :-(

We used to have a thermostat on 12 degrees for night or if we were out as we were worried about pipes freezing, but when my mums pipes did freeze the insureres said 14 degrees is better. I know 14 degrees isnt 0 degrees, but thermostats tend to be somewhere central and warm in a house, and pipes can be in much colder spots.

We don’t have it on overnight either, we have an hour in the morning and then turn on for a burst of heat as and when, (probably 3 hours across the day/evening). Never after about 9.30pm - just snuggle with heated blankets etc. 1000l of oil lasts us 14 months.

We are also a family that turns it on or off as needed. General pattern is one hour in the morning if it’s very cold and then two hours in the evening. If it’s on past 9pm the house is too warm for me to sleep.

I have a movable heating thing. So I keep it by my bed. I put it on ten mins before I get up. Leave it on for half an hour then turn it off.

If I’m in I don’t tend to have it on during the day. If I’m not sitting down I’m doing housework so I get hot. If I am sitting down I sit under my heated throw ( which is 2p and hour to run).
I may put it back on again around six. But mostly not.

Never at nighttime. I have a 10.5 tog. So cosy under there. And a hot water bottle.

I only have a radiator in in rooms that are in use, and not at all overnight. I put the bedroom radiator on for an hour before I go to bed.

We never put the heating on overnight either

I have mine on at night but I turn it down as I go to bed.

I get up at all different times from 1am to 3pm depending on shifts. So I don't have it set for a few hours here and there as it would change daily

Heated throws are the best friend u didn’t know u needed.

People gave heating coming on over night???!! Really? You learn something new every day.
I’ve always had mine programmed to switch off at 8 or 9pm and come on at 6am all through the year.
If you are cold at night, your duvet isn’t thick enough or you don’t have enough night clothes on!!

I would be freezing in those temperatures. My house is at 21C during the day, 18 at night. Anything under and I can't function.

Ours isn't on overnight. At the moment it's on for 45 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes when ds gets home from school.

If it's particularly cold, it'll go on for half an hour lunch time.

Do none of you ever need a wee in the night? I’m at a point in my life where I’m up 2-4 times per night or more if my DH is in a snory mood if my sleep is otherwise disturbed as I can’t go back to sleep unless I empty my bladder. I sleep in cozy PJs and socks with a fleece dressing gown and slippers next to me but when the temp is below about 16 I really struggle to get out of bed. I end up wasting 30+ minutes lying awake or dozing in and out until I’m absolutely bursting, then I literally run to and from the toilet but by then I am wide awake and it takes a while to warm up and fall back to sleep. Multiply that a few times and it really impacts on the quality and amount of sleep I get. In the warmth light of day I know it’s stupid to put it off but my half-asleep self doesn’t get the message. We could let the heat go down a bit more it would save a good amount of money but I can’t function well on broken sleep. Am I the only one with this issue? We are far north and have old windows so without heat overnight it would easily get down to 12 or below.