"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?

Only if you stand there naked for long enough to feel cold. If you just had a hot shower, you’re not going to suddenly freeze. The bathroom
will also be significantly warmer by virtue of the shower humidity too.

No. Still too cold and miserable.

Please don’t attempt a snarky put down, it does you no favours.

Hanging out washing really shouldn’t generate that much heat. Have you been checked out?

You obviously generate a lot of heat - a thin thermal or a jumper does very little for me. Some people simply feel the cold more than others - surely this can’t have only just occurred to you before your claims of a parallel universe?!

Are you telling me doing physical movement doesn’t keep you warm?

I direct your question back, because again, metabolically doing something > sitting still for heat generation. For most people, exertion and keeping busy is more than adequate to not need layers and layers. I’m 6’ and 78 kg and walk on average 6 km daily just at my workplace keeping busy. Never have any issue with feeling the cold unless I’m sat still doing nothing since I’m pretty low in body fat. b

Some people - a lot - are going to have no choice.

@etulosba that makes no sense.

anyway, you've taken part of my posts, directly to a specific other poster, completely out of context.

Are you telling me doing physical movement doesn’t keep you warm

Hanging out some washing (esp on a cold day) isn’t physical movement to the extent it keeps you warm, no. If you mean physical exertion then you need to say so.

We've always just had the heating and hot water on for 90 mins in the morning and 2 hours in the evening. We aren't poor but I've never liked spending money on gas and would rather wear extra jumpers and sit with a blanket on.
I find that people who live in overly heated homes are never really my cup of tea. Same with people who insist on having new cars every few years.

@HideTheCroissants

thats lovely for you.

I have absolutely no idea what us has to do with my post though.

(& give me back my croissants!!)

@Bestcatmum

that's great!

I wouldn't have them with cats myself, mine were always too nosy and seemed to forget the had tails😂

im worried for all the people that do have kids/pets and haven't really used candles much before. I think there are going to be a lot of house fires this winter. Many which could be avoided by using cheap as chips LED lights.

We only heat the house in winter, generally late Oct to March. As we both work out of the house it comes on 7pm --9pm and never overnight.
Due to peri-menopause I genuinely radiate so much heat at night we don't even a winter duvet let alone a heated bedroom.

@MinervaTerrathorn

Having it at 16° out of necessity is entirely different to what I said though isn't it!!

however, it is still meaningless because houses & people are different. Your thermostat on 16° & mine in 16° does not mean our living areas are the same temperature or that someone with theirs on higher is being more/less 'wasterful'

I swear people are being wilfully obtuse!

personally I don't find making lunches or sorting out laundry/kids uniform, bags to be either 'housework' or heat generating activities!

all of this 'sitting under a blanket drinking cocoa' is all 'super cosy' if you don't actually have stuff you need to get on with that means you're pottering about the house going from room to room.

nor do I want to look& feel like the bloody Michelin man if I don't absolutely have to.

it's not actually a crime to have a temperate home if you can afford it. It's not a medal worthy pursuit to see your breath in every room in the house.

it's bloody awful that some people have no choice and it's great people are making suggestions, but there's simply NO need for the 'no one should put any heating on & be a comfortable temperature in their own home garbage being spouted by some.

Yes, it's out of necessity, but if money was no object it would be at 18 (also sitting room temperature), no higher as I'd be uncomfortable.

@mountainsunsets I hardly think that counts as 'housework'😂

Anyway, I've already explained. I prefer MY home to be a temperate climate so I can move from room to room doing things that need doing. Not stuck under a blanket because the house is freezing.

No I don't want enough layers on to resemble the Michelin Man or start hoovering & mopping floors to keep warm

i simply prefer to put MY heating in to a comfortable temperature.

I lived here for 4 years before I put the central heating in, I heated one room with an oil filled radiator when I didn't get home from work so late it wasn't worth it.I've done my time off huddling under a blanket, putting many layers & freezing going into another room.

obviously I'd do it out of necessity, but not while I can afford my bills. I'm not asking anyone else to pay them, so I don't see what the problem is.

Absolutely agree @TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination I always find these threads so depressing - it seems that some posters have a very simplistic and completely unsympathetic view of people who are going to really struggle this year, with all sorts of ridiculous claims about how easy it is to keep warm. Putting on a jumper or some thermals, or sticking the family washing over the bannister to dry it overnight just isn’t the answer - is it posting for effect perhaps? A cold, damp house is miserable and there’s absolutely no reason for people up and down the UK to have to worry about whether they eat or heat their homes. We just have to hope and pray we don’t have another brutal winter this year or many people will literally freeze to death or develop all kinds of respiratory diseases - in 2022 ffs.

I don't know how you tell if someone I being 'sanctimonious' for saying their heating is at 16. There could be many reasons, financial or just their preferred temperature. Every thread comparing temperatures seems to have those who set their thermostat at a lower than average temperature labelled as competitive or sanctimonious or similar.

@Notplayingball yep that's what I hated most before I got the GCH, moving out of the living room was too bloody cold & I resented how little I got done in the evenings, it's like a half life.

yes, of course, you do what you have to do & if you don't have CH or you can't afford it in often/at all, then you snuggle under a blanket, wear 83 layers & contemplate knitting a nose warmer.

Exactly. My approach to heating isn't sanctimonious, it's the way I was raised and it's how I'm happiest dealing with heating myself.

Fortunately given what's coming up that's a frugal approach.

I really feel for people who need their heating on more with the current price situation. What's right for me and mine won't be right for everyone.

Very true

Not sure why posters do that sneery thing

My thermostat has never read below 13 at any time of the year and with no heating on. I can't understand why people heat bedrooms, isn't that what duvets etc are for?

I presume people do have different inner heating settings and I don't want to encourage people to put up and shut up if they're suffering, when I write about enjoying the cold at night.

I think it's worth sharing different reactions because some people can acclimatise. Not everyone, in every way, every time. But when I've lived in much hotter countries, I've got used to the heat. When I've lived in much colder buildings, I've got used to the cold. There wasn't the option of switching on central heating or air conditioning. It took a while, and some sensible changes to routines and habits, but it didn't make me miserable in any way. If people have always lived in well heated houses, they may not have experienced this.

I'm struggling to understand how you can be cold at night with electric blankets, or cold stepping out of a warm shower if you wrap yourself in a towel or fluffy dressing gown. Your choice to spend your money on heating to your preferred temperature, absolutely. But I think there are some relatively painless choices if you can't afford that.

Totally agree! Are people actually sleeping in the minus temperature or are they inside, where it's warmer???

lol, imagine thinking having the heating at 18°C or so is cold.

No one here is telling you to make sure ice is forming on your windows. Christ, some people absolutely are going to have a bad time when this lifestyle is mandated because it literally cannot be paid for, regardless of income.