"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?

But not overnight. Thick wet bath sheets and duvet sets for a family just don’t dry over a bannister in cold house that way - leaving aside the size of the bannister you must have to dry all that washing, or indeed if you have a bannister at all, unless you’ve got the heating on throughout the evening you can’t dry that amount of laundry in a cold house in one night.

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

I don’t live in an igloo either - no heating overnight, it’s warm in bed with a duvet and blanket no need for heating
Its also warm when doing housework you don’t notice - very different if sat working or watching TV
Jumpers and slippers keep you warm enough

Whats wrong is people turning the temperature up instead of a jumper
blading heat overnight instead of a blanket

Some people have to budget and know exactly what they're spending each month 🙄

You could save a fortune by just having a higher tog duvet and turning the thermostat down to 15.

I don’t understand that. In winter, I put a jumper on when I get dressed in the morning. Because it’s winter.

Last year, during March and April, I was WFH and trying to keep the heating off. I had it set at 17°C. I wore a vest, a base layer, a thin jumper, a sweatshirt and an oodie over the top, then wrapped myself in a fleece blanket from the boobs down and wore an extra pair of knitted socks, a scarf and fingerless gloves. I had a hot water bottle at my feet, and one in my lap. I could hardly move, and I was frozen. My hobbies are gardening and dog walking. To go out, I took OFF the blanket, the oodie and extra sweatshirt and just added a waterproof. I was fine outside, because I was moving. I was fine with my usual bedding at night. But sitting around makes you cold.

My house has unheated rooms that sit at 14°C. We are 20 year old detached newish-build. My Victorian terrace sat a bit higher at 16°C when the heating broke for a whole month one January. I’ve no idea what’s healthy (in terms of the heat people NEED to survive and stay well on the regular) but both were VERY uncomfortable. I don’t relish the thought of having to do it again one bit. I don’t need 22°C, but 18°C is the minimum I personally find tolerable.

Electric throws are ideal for those who have to sit still working from home. I don’t have the heating in in the winter during the day since the house is quite big and it’s just me and the dog at home until the dc get back. I sit for hours at the computer perfectly toasty with a heated throw, sheepskin slipper and wrist warmers. A cat on my feet helps too.

I tend to wear those big chunky long cardigans, generally bought from Next clearance and a Seasalt handyband around the house in the winter even though heating is about 19/20.

@theDudesmummy @Blossomtoes I'm always cold🙈love a good roasty toasty house. Although this year we may have to turn it down a degree or two!

I have heating come on at 16 for an hour in the morning and two in the evening. Off is off, it doesn't get to single digits.

Thick wet bath sheets and duvet sets for a family just don’t dry over a bannister in cold house that way

I don't have thick bath sheets, ours are big but thin, and when they come out of the washing machine, they are damp not dripping wet. I also don't wash all the bedding at the same time, so would only have to dry one duvet cover/bedding set. I do think I might look at a spin dryer though, as it will reduce drying time even more.
As I said the house never really gets cold, and retains heat very well, so two hours heating is sufficient for us 99% of the time.

@Elllicam where do you live?

im in England in the SE & it was quite warm here yesterday

@Notplayingball Are you in the U.K.?

what happens in the night at your house that you choose to have the heating on all night?

will you be able/choose to afford that this year?

Yes but I still feel the cold🥶

In the UK yes. Scotland.

Heating is on a thermostat set to 19oC and a timer so it can come on between 5am and 10am if it drops below 19.

That's more or less how we operate here too. Need to sometimes set it to 23 though if still a bit chilly. But will be using a hot water bottle during the day when kids at school this winter and switch off heating as waste of resources when one person in a big house themselves for six hours. Will see how it goes...

@Blossomtoes

21° is nothing like 'the tropics' 🤣🤣

people saying what they have their thermostat on is utterly pointless. It totally depends where their thermostat is in their house.

the 'oooh I have mine at 16°, anything else is too hot/a waste/other sanctimonious claptrap' is meaningless. They might have their thermostat in a draft, near a window, in the coldest part of the house.

someone saying theirs is on 22/23° getting grief because it's 'not necessary' might have their thermostat, in the warmest room of the house, not near a window or draft.

the person setting theirs at 16° is highly likely to be the one using a lot more energy.

Interesting! Ours is usually on for a few hours am just before we wake up and goes off at 9.
Comes on at 5 and stays on till 10pm ish.

If we are at home then we use the boost function which heat's the house for an hour then goes off again. I've always found this boost function to be sufficient to take any more severe chill off . Eg even with us all at home on a weekend, we dont need the heating on all day.

For us I guess we could reduce our hours it's on even more but I don't think it's on that much,.maybe 8 hours a day!!

There's being sensible with heating and those PPs sitting in 5 layers of clothing and 2 pairs of socks, unless absolutely necessary that's hardly comfortable or ideal.
Do houses get that cold or are people just intolerable of the slightest cooling of temperature?
21 degrees heating through the night, that is wasteful.

I don't have the heating on at night, I live in a new build flat so it's not really cold. I set it to come on around 5am ready for when we get up and then it goes off about 7, then comes on again at 3pm so the house is warm by the time we get home.

@UpsideDownDownsideUp I'm sorry, that sounds miserable. I presume you've asked the LL about putting in double glazing?

have you considered buying some of the stick on secondary glazing? It's apparently very good & not very expensive. I'm sure it would pay for itself pretty quickly.

I assume you have big thick lined curtains?

I only have it at 10C in the night when there is snow or heavy frost around, which it only happens very sporadically here.
Other days, the timer goes on just around 30 min before we get up and it is nice by then. I keep it around 17C. Then it turns off 1 hour after start and the house is perfect for getting up easy, getting dressed, breakfast and out.
Timer goes on 30 min before we are due back. I up the time is on in the evening as the days get colder.
So it is off most of the week, bar during covid!
When the weather is changing, sometimes is easier to leave the heating panel on and adjust it at the thermostat, so I will turn it up or down as needed, usually around a cold autumn or early spring. But I will not be doing this version this year. I will only turn it on if it is trully cold, not just for comfort.
It does not trully get proper cold here for more than one or two weeks of the year. So for the rest, the thing will be off.

The secret in our home is that it gets lots of sunlight, so if it is a bit sunny or light enough, it warms itself nicely in the day and it keeps the heat in the evening quite well.

Unfortunately, with the massive shortage of energy, it will need to be a case of turning the heating off/ turning the thermostat down if your health and other needs allow. And of course, there’s climate change.

I've just replaced our five year old towels with new cheap ones, £2.50 on offer at Tesco. Probably the smallest size you could call a bath towel but they wrap around and do the job. They take up hardly any space in the machine and dry quickly. Could be an option for those struggling to dry thick bath sheets? We wash bedding monthly and not both beds at the same time.

Thanks for looking at the bigger picture here. Our house is just draughty and so you feel coolness if there's no heating on at all. It's unbearable for myself, others in the household don't notice quite the same. This winter though I will be trying different things to keep heating off during the day when no children around. Only thing that is affected is drying washing but we have a heater plugged in to dry that if heating is off.