"We don't have the heating on"

[Christonabike37]

Just reading another thread and seen this "we never have the heating on at night" and I've never really understood what it means, but now with energy prices I need to know if its really what people do.

Our thermostat is set at 15 always, in the evenings we up it to 20 for a few hours. I consider 15 off, and 20 on. Is this the same? Or do people just not have the heating on at all, like your house could be 0 degrees? How cold does it get at night? Surely it gets down to single figures most of the time?

We always have it off completely during summer, spring and autumn (except really cold days) and don't turn it on until its really cold in winter. Turned off completely at night ans when no one is home during the day e.g. at work. We don't have issues with damp. It saves a LOT of money. It's a common misconception that keeping it at a constant low is cheapest. This isn't correct as whilst you're using gas to maintain that temperature, it's costing you. Any usage is cost. Cheaper to turn off completely and only have it on as and when needed.

We also switch everything off at the wall so nothing is on standby including tv, oven, microwave. Only thing left on is broadband. It makes a difference to usage definitely.

The only time our heating has ever been on overnight was a particularly cold and snowy spell a couple of years ago. I set it to low after 7pm for maybe 3 nights.

Otherwise we never have the heating on past 7pm at night. In the winter we'll have it on maximum 2 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon/evening.

I've always been mean frugal with heating. Socks and hoodies before heating in our home. Always has been. Rather grateful now because our children won't suddenly think they're being tortured by the inability to wander around in short sleeves when there's frost on the ground outside.

Same our eco mode temp is 12. It’s never clicked on ( I can check the history on the nest thermostat) so I class that as off at night. I wouldn’t set it to come on

I like the warmth of Ch but not the dry air. So we already use it minimally ( not freezing cold! Just carefully)

Ours is always turned off at the boiler unless we are really cold. Then we may have it on for an hour in the evening. Live in South West and it's quite mild here normally

Quite. But it's always been the same on MN, way before the energy price rises.

In summer our heating is completely switched off. From around Oct (earlier when I lived in Scotland) it's turned on. Pre-pandemic/working from home, the heating was usually only on in the evenings (6-10pm approx). If very cold, also on in the mornings for an hour while we got ready. It's only relatively recently we've had the type where you can set a thermostat (Hive) - now it's set at 15 when 'off' and 20/21 when 'on'. But in effect it's no different to before as house very rarely ever falls below 15 even at night in winter. So don't think our radiators have ever been on over night (even in Scotland!).

Mine if off. Timer turns it off at 9pm and back on at 6am.
most of the year it only comes on from 6am-8am. Then 5pm-9pm.
During very cold spells if we are working from home or in at the weekend it’s on all day during the day.
It would drive me bonkers with the noise coming in at night and I would get far too hot in my duvet!

We might put our heating on for an hour as we go to bed but generally it won’t go on again until we get up in the morning. Our remote thermostat thing kept putting the heating up to25 without warning or need so we just manually our the heating on for an hour or so as needed. I will usually just take a hot water bottle to bed if cold rather than putting the heating on. This was before
price rises so I’ve no idea how we’ll do it if it’s cold this winter. It was quite mild
last winter.

These threads are so annoying and judgy. It's like you're all a bit too dense to understand that NOT ALL HOMES ARE THE SAME.
Some people live in homes which are much harder /costlier to insulate well, some are in rented accommodation with draughty windows their landlord won't change, some houses simply do not retain heat as well. If you live further north, in a colder area, in a house that retains heat very poorly, it may be that the temperature may drop as low as 12 or 13 degrees overnight if you leave the heating completely off. Yes blankets and duvets are lovely but actually air that cold on your face is quite unpleasant and can affect your sleep, plus it's not great for things like condensation/mould in houses if you let it get that cold.

So yes, those people might let their heating click on for an hour in the middle of the night. This does not make their house 'stuffy' or 'stifling', or overheated, they are looking after the maintenance of their home, plus ensuring the temperature is comfortable enough to sleep? Lots of people (women in particular, and older people) will still feel cold under a heavy winter duvet if the temperature drops to 13 degrees in the middle of the night, what is hard for people to understand about that?!!!

It's August though? We turn our heating controls off in mid May and back on in mid September.
Last Winter I changed all the valves on the radiators to be smart wifi controlled thermostatic ones, so one room being cold or hot doesn't affect the heating for the whole house, and I can control zones that change during the day or during the week. It has definitely saved us money on heating during the Winter.

We have the heating on 6am -8am.
Then 4pm -8pm.
Thermostat sits at 18 October to march zero in the summer months ( so off) we are in South Scotland.
Even in winter I would say the boiler is not on for that full 4 hours in the evening.
We are a well insulated mid terrace. I use the gas fire in the livingroom if I feel cold sitting in there in the evening.
Bedrooms have thermostats on the radiators which sit at 3.
I tend to have bedroom window open over night all year.

Off-off at night. In our old house there was no thermostat - it was on or off (stupid ancient boiler), so it was on for a couple of hours in the morning and evening. Here in our new house which is well-insulated I'm not sure what I'll do - there's a log burner too which heats pretty much the whole house, but I don't want condensation and damp so maybe I will put it on low at night!

It's like people don't get that some people's house loses the heat within an hour or two, never mind overnight 🤦🏼‍♀️ DBro lives in an older house and he and his wife have to have the heating on most of the day in winter to keep it at 17/18 - it can easily drop to 13 overnight if unheated, and it can then take 4-5 hours to get back to 17/18? So some people put the heating on at like 4-5am in winter because they have to if they want it to be above 13 or 14 degrees when their young children get up!

I have ours off completely from May to September, unless it's unseasonably cold, and then set to come on for a couple of hours in the morning and from 3pm to 9.30pm I'm the evening during the week and I turn it on and off manually at weekends. We NEVER have it on at night. It's fine.

My heating is on a timer it comes on about half an hour before we get up and then goes off again just before I head out for work. It comes on again for a couple of hours in the evening. On top of that there is the thermostat so it wont actually come on in those hours unless the temp is below 18. It does have a safety setting so that if the temp drops below a certain temp (I think it’s 6 degrees) it will come on. DH works from home and IF he feels cold then he can simply pop the heating on for a bit using his phone, the thermostat or by telling Alexa, but the first thing any of us does if we feel chilly is pop on a jumper. So through the summer we don’t actually turn our heating off but it never comes on. The first we know that the temp has dropped enough for it to feel cold is when we notice the radiator is warm in the bathroom when we get up - we don’t need to do anything ourselves.

18/19 during the day. 14-15 at night. We both work from home, but are sitting still for much of the time. I have an electric throw, and plenty of warm layers.

@category12

I think it's all semantics really, but yes, it would appear some people DO have their thermostats set so that the heating would come on in summer if the temperature dropped to say 12°, but as that's not likely to happen, is their heating really on?

mine just goes OFF OFF. 💁🏻‍♀️

@Christonabike37

AGAIN it's semantics!

I'd say mine is OFF at night (as I can't sleep with any heat coming off of the radiators) but technically it's ON,but it's on a frost setting for the pipes (5°). In the normal course of things it will never come on, but it's the default to protect the pipes from freezing.

lots of people say it's either ON/OFF when their default is say, 15 degrees. It's semantics because technically the system is ON, but the heating isn't coming on.

I think most people have settings that mean there's no heat being given off at night.

some people with babies/small children have it properly ON at night for when they have to get up to them. I never have as I hate the noise & waking up with a snuffly/blocked nose!

I have a 7 day programmable thermostat, I'm always fiddling with it as my timings in/out of the house change all the time. But the default setting is 'Frost' at 5° so that even if I've been fiddling with it and fucked up the timings, the pipes won't freeze!

it also has a button for a boost (1hr) & a 'party' setting so you can put it in the temp/length of time you want it on without changing the programmed times. Im
going to use both of those more this year.whilst setting the program for shorter periods of time.

This place is quite well insulated & not a particularly cold place now, BUT before I had the CH installed, I hated coming home from work knowing it was going to be bloody freezing! The oil (radiator type) heaters warmed it up nicely, but by then I was thinking about going to bed. So I LOVE being able to program it to come home to a warm house!

We sent the programmable thermostat so low at night that it never comes on. I hate a hot bedroom. I haven't read the thread, but most people do that, don't they?

Our heating is set to 20 in the day and 15 at night. Looking at the Hive heating record online the house temp has never gone below 17 at night, even when outside temps have been below freezing. So heating never comes on at night.

A house would have to be very badly insulated, or not be heated much in the day, for it to get into single figures at night.

Mines off completely. I'll put it on low overnight once winter hits and it's cold enough to risk pipes freezing.
Other than that we are just going to have to do without because the October raise is going to take it above my ability to pay so everything that can be turned off will be turned off.

Our heating is currently off due the warm weather, has been for quite awhile now. However during autumn/winter I have the thermostat set to 17.5 at night (after 9 p.m. - during the day I fix it at 18.5 or sometimes down to 18) so if the temperature falls to below that the heating will come on, which it does during winter, we are very grateful for the warmth! I couldn't sleep with the temperature much below that, but might need to drop it half a degree.

I only heat the room I'm in. My heating is never on overnight. I'm the one who wears a hat, woolly socks and pjs to bed (probably why I'm single lol). My duvet is 13.5 tog. I think there were a couple of nights last Winter where I turned the heating on in the bedroom for an hour before going to bed as I can't sleep if I'm cold. I also have a weighted blanket to go over the duvet lol and I have fleecy duvet covers (they are brilliant). My bed is kingsize but I live alone so I'm considering getting a single electric blanket.

Oh, I do also heat the bathroom constantly in cold weather as I hate getting cold.

It's interesting to see the variation in the overnight temperature of people's homes. I have a reasonably energy efficient house (rated C), and the overnight temperature is generally a lot lower than 15 in winter. It was 16 when I got up this morning, and it's August!

The kids bedrooms are often 12 degrees by the time I go to bed in the winter (heating would go off at their bedtime), and if so, I'd put it back on for another hour.

That's why I get so annoyed by people saying "just stick a jumper on", irregardless of whether the OP is in rural Aberdeenshire or a top floor flat in Central London.

Ours is never on overnight - clicks on about 6 so the house is warm when the kids get up.
Hot water comes on for an hour too and does shower snoring or evening - only put it on again if there’s a one off bath required.

Same here, kids always have slippers and dressing gowns and are used to wrapping up in the cold.

We only ever put ours on at night! (Not all night) ds has asthma and cold nights cause him to have flares. He had an attack once and it was terrifying. Thankfully we live in a very well insulated apartment so it’s only needed in the dead of winter!