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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

"We don't have the heating on"

750 replies

Christonabike37 · 27/08/2022 16:04

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?

OP posts:
Fairislefandango · 27/08/2022 22:15

Sorry I can't get used to being cold overnight. I have had to out of necessity when heating broke down in winter. Couldn't sleep as I was so cold!

I never have the heating on at night but I'm never cold at night. The heating doesn't switch off until I go to bed, so I'm still warm when I get into my pyjamas and bed socks and under my nice warm duvet! I usually have the window open a tiny bit too. More than a tiny bit in the non-winter months!

pogostickplastique · 27/08/2022 22:16

I live in a 'cold house' but unless it was minus something ridiculous we wouldn't have the heating on at night - also we only give it a blast first thing in the morning and in the evening for bath time etc even in the winter.

I grew up in a council house without the central heating on (couldn't afford it), and there used to be ice on the inside of the metal windows and the outdoor loo used to freeze over so I am good with the cold. I can't stand to be hot whilst I sleep and love a cold pillow and stick my legs out of the duvet even in the winter.

Cyclemarine · 27/08/2022 22:17

@IvorCutler yeah the cold air used to aggravate my brother's asthma in the 80s/90s and I don't think we had central heating all the time, it was storage heaters if I remember correctly and a coal fire in one.

I seem to have asthma now too, but quite mild - generally dislike the heating on overnight, but if I know it's super cold I try and heat the room I'm sleeping in for a few hours in the evening and keep the door closed so I'm not breathing in cold air overnight.

I can understand why you'd have it on overnight and I just feel sorry for other people who need that, but are not going to be able to afford it from now on.

2bazookas · 27/08/2022 22:17

How cold does it get at night? Surely it gets down to single figures most of the time?

We live in the Highlands and the heating is always off between 11 pm and 6am even in winter . We always sleep with the bedroom windows open and bedroom door closed . The walls are well insulated and we have good quality double glazing so the rest of the house doesn't drop below 55 F/12 C even in winter so no risk of burst pipes.

Tip for health and a happy marriage; a warm man in a warm bed in a cold airy bedroom.

greenacrylicpaint · 27/08/2022 22:18

Sorry I can't get used to being cold overnight. I have had to out of necessity when heating broke down in winter. Couldn't sleep as I was so cold!

don't you have a blanket/duvet and pjs?

noworklifebalance · 27/08/2022 22:20

Heating is completely off at the moment.
Will switch it back on late September-ish and have it on timed so it: comes on before we wake; off whilst at work; back on just shortly before we return home and then off from about 8pm until next morning.

Rarely on overnight unless sub-zero and then only to stop the pipes freezing (not sure it helps with that anyway).
Happy to go to bed with a hot water bottle and a thin pyjama fleece over my pjs. Kids also like to do the same. DH sleeps in just his boxers!

noworklifebalance · 27/08/2022 22:22

It never occurred to us to have the heating on overnight!

nokitchen · 27/08/2022 22:24

Can't bear a hot house after about 7.30at night. It has to be cold in order to go to sleep. So it's off for us. Also, if the boiler is accidentally left on it wakes me up. The clicks the boiler makes if it's on is as annoying as snoring to me.

Polimolly · 27/08/2022 22:25

My heating is off day and night. I only put it on if I have visitors, as I don't want them to freeze. The rest of the time, I wear woolen socks and jumpers. It's not great but it's bearable

Mrsmch123 · 27/08/2022 22:25

We have ours set to 22, if it drops below that the heating kicks in.

HideTheCroissants · 27/08/2022 22:33

People who are saying they don’t have heating on at all/not much - or are planning to do that with what we’ve all got coming up… how do/will you dry washing?

Outdoor line when dry, airing frames and dehumidifier when wet outside. I don’t have a tumble drier. Never had trouble drying washing even when I only had a coal fire and then a gas fire before eventually getting central heating.

silentpool · 27/08/2022 22:38

I don't have central heating. So any heating comes from a reverse cycle air conditioner or a gas fire. Off means not switching on the air conditioner and turning the pilot light off on the gas fire.

Yes it has been cold but I grew up without central heating and am used to putting on warm clothes etc. I also sleep with my window open every night for fresh air. I just aim to heat the person, not the home.

KittyKel · 27/08/2022 22:42

We’ve got an old house and the boiler doesn’t have a temperature thermostat so you can set it to come on at a certain temperature only a certain time so it’s basically ‘on’ or it’s off. It’s timed to come on a couple of hours in the morning and same at night. And sometimes if I get too cold I put it on a bit extra in the day. It gets cold in between but I’m sure it doesn’t drop to single figures.

ThePumpkinPatch · 27/08/2022 22:47

Isaidnoalready · 27/08/2022 16:06

It doesn't get that cold at night your under blankets duvets etc also having hot water bottles or wheat pads

Where we are, it gets cold enough for noses to be painfully cold. Seriously, I'm not even being lighthearted I'm deadly serious

theDudesmummy · 27/08/2022 22:49

@Mrsmch123 that would kill me.

BirmaBrite · 27/08/2022 22:50

People who are saying they don’t have heating on at all/not much - or are planning to do that with what we’ve all got coming up… how do/will you dry washing?

I put stuff on an airer if not drying weather outside and then finish it off in the tumble dryer for 20 minutes, I generally only need to do this with uniform trousers or towels and underwear. Towels often dry overnight over the banister upstairs, same with duvet covers, as warm air rises. If I had the room I would invest in a spin dryer as they get so much moisture out of washing and it makes it so much quicker to dry stuff and use a fraction of the electricity of a tumble dryer.

BirmaBrite · 27/08/2022 22:53

@ThePumpkinPatch where do you live ? Plus side of global warming means you won't have to put up with it much longer ?

Blossomtoes · 27/08/2022 22:53

Mrsmch123 · 27/08/2022 22:25

We have ours set to 22, if it drops below that the heating kicks in.

Glad I don’t pay your gas bill. I’d be sweating like a pig in your house.

SirChenjins · 27/08/2022 22:55

Towels often dry overnight over the banister upstairs, same with duvet covers, as warm air rises

Not if you don’t have the heating on and your house is freezing they don’t.

BirmaBrite · 27/08/2022 23:07

Not if you don’t have the heating on and your house is freezing they don’t.

I do put the heating on for an hour in the morning, if it is cold outside, and my house has never been freezing as a result, so stuff does dry or dries to enough of a state to just need finishing in the tumble dryer.

Feelfreetocallme · 27/08/2022 23:09

I hate being cold. Heating always on unless we’re out. Turn it down to 17 at night but never off.

LivingDeadGirlUK · 27/08/2022 23:09

I dry all my laundry on a clothes horse and in the winter it must be by a radiator or it takes days to dry.

Feelfreetocallme · 27/08/2022 23:10

Don’t get all these folk that are proud to live in igloo.

Getoff · 27/08/2022 23:14

Liebig · 27/08/2022 17:37

You realise that the house doesn't heat any faster, right? This isn't a turbo function, it just means you're now making your heating system overwork to get to a temperature that will then be hotter than you'd like.

Why not set it to 40ºC and it'll heat even faster, yeah?

Show quote history

A lot of people seem to think that a thermostat is like a volume control. They don't understand that their boiler will (when it's burning) put out exactly the same amount of heat no matter what the thermostat is set to. All the thermostat does is change how much of the time it is burning, turning it up makes the boiler burn for longer, to heat the house to a higher temperature.

Normally I'd agree that people who turn up the thermostat when they're cold don't know what they're doing and are just going to make the house to hot. They should leave the temperature at the normal setting and just wait longer for the house to heat up. (There's nothing that will speed up the process.) But, actually, when it is snow-on-the-ground very cold outside, you do need to turn the thermostat up, because the air inside stratifies, so the air near the ceiling is much warmer than the air near the floor. The air at thermostat height needs to be warmer than usual in order to get the air at person body height up to the target temperature.

BirmaBrite · 27/08/2022 23:33

Don’t get all these folk that are proud to live in igloo.

I don't live in an igloo, I live in a 30yr old end of terrace that has cavity wall insulation, super thick loft insulation and UPVC windows and doors. It just doesn't get baltic as a result of all that lovely insulation. I know its quite new fangled but I am going to give it a thumbs up Wink

My thermostat is set to 22, which is postively balmy in my book, so when I put the heating on for an hour it usually achieves that, and it isn't trying to get there from 0 either.

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