House on 16 + layers

[ByMyName]

I’m guilty of having the house on 23 because I like being warm. I’ve been saying to DH that I will make some changes.

Today I set the hearing at 16. This is what it will be say and night.

I had to wear a jumper around the house but it’s genuinely fine.

We can really make some habit changes and cope with the has increase. Or am I deluded?

@HootOwl these types of threads always do!

I must admit, I’d never have the heating on overnight as I’m perimenopausal and would probably just die. Ours goes off at 8.30 and when we go to bed we sleep under a 4.5 tog duvet with the window open. I do usually have a blanket on my side of the bed. When we do have the heating on, it’s on at 18-20 though.

I have mine 23-25 during the day and off when I go to bed at night (probably around midnight and up at 7). I want to turn it down in the day but DH would moan as well as kids. DH hates being cold (after growing up in a cold country and being poor and always cold). My gas bill is so expensive and I need to cut it down.

That's totally fine though if it's what suits you! Everyone is different. Age, medical conditions, all kinds of stuff affect how people can tolerate hot/ cold. It's the comments where people state that "14 degrees is perfectly comfortable" or "20 degrees is tropical" or whatever as though it's an objective fact for all of humanity that I find baffling, when the thread is full of empirical evidence that clearly that isn't universally true! 😆

Amazed by the number of posters who have their heating on at night! Just why?
I have been gradually lowering ours - we used to have it at 21 when it's really cold outside. Today it was mild, the temperature inside stayed around 18/19 with the heating off and I didn't miss the heating. If I'm sitting on the sofa, I use a heated throw - they're supposed to cost pennies.

I could NEVER live in a house as cold as you're describing. I also refuse to wear lots of layers in my own house- you're inside for a reason.

It's just not cosy at all. The lowest temp in my house is around 20 degrees. That's what it goes to when all the heating goes off. My ideal in just house at the moment is 21.5.

I could not live at 16.. etc

There needs to be a happy medium between 23 and folk with no heating all day, OP! I'm a cold person and have it at 21 degrees 6:30-8:00 and 5:00-10:00. All other times it's set at 17. It's a system that the radiators only click on if the radiant temp is below 17, which is quite rare. We live in an old house, but the big, steel, traditional radiators DH fitted (he's a plumber!) are amazing- heat rooms brilliantly and retain hear. We have quite a big house and energy bills are quite high, but we'd rather spend money on a warm house than other things.

Mine is always on 20 and I usually have a dressing gown, blanket and multiple pairs of socks on top of that. I am a cold blooded mammal.

@Puffalicious

There needs to be a happy medium between 23 and folk with no heating all day, OP! I'm a cold person and have it at 21 degrees 6:30-8:00 and 5:00-10:00. All other times it's set at 17. It's a system that the radiators only click on if the radiant temp is below 17, which is quite rare. We live in an old house, but the big, steel, traditional radiators DH fitted (he's a plumber!) are amazing- heat rooms brilliantly and retain hear. We have quite a big house and energy bills are quite high, but we'd rather spend money on a warm house than other things.

I don't think that's rare at all, in terms of the heating system, that's how thermostats work!

Maybe some people here are misunderstanding things if some people think that is a fair system. It's pretty standard for places I have lived.

So when I say I have my heating set to 20 degrees all year, it means that if the temperature in the house ever goes below that, the heating clicks on. If it is above that, it turns itself off. I want an ambient, comfortable (for me and my children with our temperature tolerances) temp in here all year.

One Christmas not long ago it was 13 degrees outside which was the same average daytime temp over the whole of July! UK weather is unpredictable. I do not wish to be cold summer or winter (and am lucky these days to have the choice).

It means the heating is on very rarely in the summer, obviously. It would only come on if the house got cold... and we don't enjoy being cold at any time of year, so why would we change it in summer? But last summer one day there was a hailstorm, so I presume that day it was probably on for a while! I didn't check so don't know.

Most people have a temperature they are comfortable at, and will use extra layers/ heating/ their fire/ open windows/ fans/ air con if they are in a climate that requires it to try to make their home comfortable, to them.

Setting a thermostat to 20 and leaving it there does not mean your heating is on constantly summer and winter. It comes on only when the temperature falls below that!

Not "fair" system! Rare system. 🤣

@HootOwl
Setting a thermostat to 20 and leaving it there does not mean your heating is on constantly summer and winter. It comes on only when the temperature falls below that!

I've noticed at well there does seem to be widespread incomprehension of the way thermostats work on Mumsnet

[quote Daphodils]@HootOwl
Setting a thermostat to 20 and leaving it there does not mean your heating is on constantly summer and winter. It comes on only when the temperature falls below that!

I've noticed at well there does seem to be widespread incomprehension of the way thermostats work on Mumsnet [/quote]
Weird. Just like the UK thing that lots of people seem to think it your house is cold and you turn the temp up to say, 26 degrees, it will heat up faster than if you set it to 20. 😂

Weird. Just like the UK thing that lots of people seem to think it your house is cold and you turn the temp up to say, 26 degrees, it will heat up faster than if you set it to 20. 😂

My mum does this all the time. And basically uses the thermostat like an on/off switch. The house veers erratically from sweltering to freezing (which to her mind proves the thermostat isn't working) and her gas bill is astronomical

@Daphodils

Weird. Just like the UK thing that lots of people seem to think it your house is cold and you turn the temp up to say, 26 degrees, it will heat up faster than if you set it to 20. 😂

My mum does this all the time. And basically uses the thermostat like an on/off switch. The house veers erratically from sweltering to freezing (which to her mind proves the thermostat isn't working) and her gas bill is astronomical

Oh dear!!! And I suspect that no amount of attempting to explain to her how it works makes the slightest difference? 🤦🏻‍♀️

Savra

Ours is 22. I’ve got thick thermal socks on, a long sleeve t, a thick hoodie and a cardi. I’m still cold.
22 is about the July average high temperature where I am. Are you cold in the summer?

Yes I’m often cold in the summer. 20-21 is cold. 22 is ok.

We have 20.5 in the day and 14 at night. I WFH though and get very cold sitting still even with layers on because that doesn’t stop my hands getting cold meaning I can’t type fast enough and it makes them ache.

I don't think that's rare at all, in terms of the heating system, that's how thermostats work!

FGS, I think I KNOW, DH is a plumbing and heating engineer. If you read what I wrote, I said that it was rare that the ambient temperature in my house goes below 17. I think that was pretty obvious! Of course it's not rare to have a thermostat. How bloody patronising of you.

Setting a thermostat to 20 and leaving it there does not mean your heating is on constantly summer and winter. It comes on only when the temperature falls below that!

Exactly. Ours is set to 18 all year round. So obviously it comes on whenever the temperature drops below 18, whatever season it is. Again obviously, that happens more in the winter than the summer.
I was reading the post about the ‘rare’ heating system that only comes on if the temp goes below a certain level with confusion… surely that’s what the vast majority of heating systems do? It’s what a thermostat is for.

That was to Hootowl

X post.

Shall we talk about Bruno FGS read what I said. Obviously I know how thermostats work. Did you not think that was obvious when you said DH is a plumber (and heating engineer).

Sorry, when I said.

It wasn’t obvious, no, as I wouldn’t have been confused if it was 🤷🏻‍♀️.

@ShallWeTalkAboutBruno

It wasn’t obvious, no, as I wouldn’t have been confused if it was 🤷🏻‍♀️.

I think it's pretty obvious since I stated my DH's occupation that I know what a thermostat is. I'm an intelligent person who can understand basic heating function. I dislike that it's implied I'm a bit dim.

Alright don’t get your knickers in a twist. Just seemed odd to say ‘we have a heating system where it only clicks on when the temperature goes below 17’ when that accounts for the vast majority of heating systems, and saying ‘our thermostat is set to 17’ would have conveyed the same message.
But anyway, I profusely apologise. I’m sure you are very clever. Back to school for me to develop my reading comprehension skills, eh?

Ours is on 21/22 all of the time including at night. We do pay a lot in gas already so will have to change our ways with the increase. I don’t wear jumpers but guess I’ll have to buy some .