To say turning heating “off” will make the house unbearably freezing?

[HairyKitty]

I can’t afford the fuel bills with the price rises. But we are at home full time in an old poorly insulated terrace.
But surely, whether the heatings is hard off (or set at a low temp so it doesn’t come on) after 2 or 3 days of this in winter the house would be very very cold for us to live in full time, most likely about 14/15 degrees?
How do people cope in winter who actually have the heating off in old houses and are home full time?

It's hyperbole, you won't be literally freezing - even growing up in a house with no central heating we only had Jack Frost patterns occasionally.

There are plenty of threads in the topic, so you can look there for tips on how to live in a cooler house (if you want them, rather than just posting to sound off)

Though some useful things seem to have vanished - like the wall-mounted, pull-cord, bathroom-safe heaters, it's fairly easy to adopt other measures that make living in a cooler house not so difficult.

It's usually a case of attitude and habits

Your better of easing into it so you acclimatise. A lot of people put the heating on at the start of the winter, see the heating bills and then try turning it off. You need to just not put it on for any length of time, so you get used to it when it’s 8 degrees outside, rather than when it’s 2!
remember to look after your pipes and boiler though

There's not much worse than being really cold in your own home. You can be more prepared by wearing thermals, very thick warm socks, a hat, blankets. But you never really feel warm for a long period of time it's really unpleasant. I would look at cutting back on other things in order to afford heating, if you possibly can. If you can save £20 a month on other things it might be enough to put the heating on for an extra hour per day.

This is one time I’m glad I work long hours so leave the house at 7 and get home at 7.
same for DP. I can keep warm at work. Not sure on your circumstances and if you have little ones at home but I imagine places like libraries will be a popular spot to go to be warm on cold days

Are there any ways to help reduce the heat loss? Like blocking up draughts, hanging a blanket in front of single glazed windows (especially at night once the curtains are closed), getting the old-style snakes or similar to go in front of doors with gaps under them, hang a box behind a letter box to catch post but let less draught in through the letter box....

In winter, we tend to close off a couple of rooms that we don't use much - just leave doors closed so we don't need to heat them all the time. And only turn on the rads in there when we know we will be using those rooms.

But we take advantage of the heat of the sun keeping doors to south facing rooms open to heat the rest of the house by day. And if we do light the log burner, we often turn off the CH and just leave the door open from the sitting room to share that heat out to the other rooms (it is a very efficient stove!).

It does sound pretty miserable. I’m planning on trying no/ low heating but I have two wood stoves so they keep downstairs warm and stop upstairs from being painfully cold. I’m buying electric blankets for bed so that will also help.

if you’re at home all day I’d consider decamping to somewhere warm, library, you could charge devices there too. Electric blanket on bed and a hat for sleeping.

Oh, and another thing can be putting insulated foil from the DIY store (or even just regular kitchen foil helps) behind radiators to reflect the heat off the walls and back into the room (so it doesn't just get lost in the bricks). And make sure the radiators have a good gap around them to let the heat out (curtains tucked in behind them so heat doesn't just sit in the window space, couches not pushed back tight to them but leave 6 inches at least to let air circulate to the room etc).

Are you a spoof account with that user name?

Its awful being chilled to the bone

You power through. Praying for a mild one here. I live in an extremely cold, draughty house on a hill. It's never warm and I also can't afford big bills. I got through the last two winters wfh with:
Thermal socks, sheepskin (or similar) boot slippers.
Thermal layers covered with the fleece lined hoodie (I got gifted an oodie last year but prior to that y primark one did the job)
Compression fingerless gloves topped with additional fingerless gloves.
Hot water bottle.
Electric blanket for sofa
Oil radiator which moved between rooms. I would have this on for max 30m if it was a particularly cold day.
I'm not going to lie, it's miserable but I could only manage to afford 1h in the morning and 2 in the evening when the kids were home.
We've largely gotten used to it being cold but I still struggle with my hands and feet.

I’m in a terrace and I would consider 15 degrees to be an ok temperature. I’m at home all day and wfh. Heated throws, lots of layers, fingerless gloves, warm slippers. I’m not planning at putting heating on. In previous years it was on for an hour in the morning and two in the evening.

You need to insulate.

The government would be better off helping us all reduce our energy use rather than fritteriy away billions on subbing the energy companies.

I agree that you will need some kind of heat source. Being cold is miserable, being cold in a damp house is even worse.

I know from experience that a house that is never heated at all during winter gets damp, so you will need to put the heating on at some point.

We have ours set to 16 but only put it on for a boost in the morning and again in the evening. Warm clothes, good jumpers, layer up (thermals are good), a good dressing gown and a good tog rated winter duvet make it okay l. When it gets bitterly cold then yes we have it on for a bit longer, but if the oven is on or the dryer is on don’t waste that heat

They haven't vanished, we have pull cord wall mounted electric heaters in our kitchen and bathroom. They aren't cheap to run but are good to take the chill off quickly.

There is some really good advice on this thread. Thanks all.

During the coldest winter for 50 years (was that the Beast from the East?) I was unemployed with no savings living in a flat with huge single-glazed windows. My fear of getting a gas bill I couldn’t afford to pay meant I only switched the central-heating on for one hour a day, that meant only the radiators in the living-room and bathroom. After that hour I used the warm bathroom to bathe and change clothes. Before the heating went on the thermostat used to show 9 degrees centigrade. Electric blanket on the bed for twenty minutes before retiring with a winter-weight duvet and one of those fancy American comforters on top. A bonus was my little cat getting under the covers with me as a living hot-water bottle.

I wore so many layers I probably looked like the Michelin Man. It was pretty grim but I managed because I had to. I still only have those two same radiators on in the winter months now.

Think about it like this: 9 degrees outside is brisk but not unbearably chilly, so dress like you would when going out. Woolly tights under thermals, multiple long-sleeved layers on top, silk scarf, fingerless gloves, jacket or coat, blanket if needed. I’m currently eyeing up those electric throws

Since that time my landlord has installed double-glazing which I thank my lucky stars for, so I’m hoping I might not have to resort to having the heating on only one hour a day this winter

OP do you rent or own?

You need to improve the insulation in your house and there are schemes for getting help with this. Apply asap.

Loft insulation is a cheap but effective improvement with a short pay back time. Draft excluder strips on windows and doors, and brushes on the letterbox too. A tube of expanding foam filler to plug any draft gaps is worthwhile.

Then get thermal curtains at every window and at your external doors. Snake draft excluders for internal doors.

Bigger investments may not be possible for you but do check for grants and help as you may be able to make your house warmer.

We had no electricity for four days during storm Arwen last winter. DH and I would have been ok; inside temps were around 7/8C but as adults we can layer up/sit under blankets/generally be sensible.

Really tricky with small children. Too little to keep hats or gloves on for any length of time (they were 6mo and just turned 3yo then) and those are the body parts that seem to suffer in the heat. We ended up taking them for lunch at Wetherspoons in our nearest market town three days in a row to get some warmth and hot food in them.

I think adults would manage, but I strongly recommend fingerless gloves and hats, and warm meals where possible. Sharing beds helped too!

It depends on the winter we get, but it could sit at 8 degrees rather than 14 for quite some time.

I worry about pipes as we had a burst pipe during a cold patch when i was young. It caused so much damage. Depending on the house, pipes can run through cold spots like in the loft above insulation, or under the floor. You can lag them if you are fit, able and can find them all. There is lots of different advice from setting the thermostat to 5 degrees to as high up as 14 degrees to prevent this. I guess it depends where your thermostat is located.

It’s worth remembering that 15 degrees is “cool”, not cold or very, very cold, if you look on a thermometer that has such gradings. “Cold” starts at 12 degrees and under. Obviously, some groups will need different temperatures, but these are standard for most people.

So did I. I used to stay at work as late as possible, come home and go to bed.

15 degrees is wishful thinking. It will be a lot colder depending on the outside temperature.
I don’t see how people think not having heating and just layering up is a feasible option long term. It’s not just feeling cold - it’s also damaging for the structure of your house. You can cause serious problems with damp and mould which can be costly to repair.

Jeez! I'm not that old (60), but even when I was young not many people had central heating: no one died.
We wore lots of clothes, as kids we played outside a lot, I guess my DM kept warm by doing housework, DF would be at work, and we had a coal fire in the room we had the TV in from about 4 or 5 onwards each evening.
We were reasonably well off too. It was the way most of my friends lived.