To think 20 degrees is not ‘like an oven’?

[TimeAtTheBar]

It was c16 degrees in the front room this morning so I ‘boosted’ the heating for 15 mins to 20 degrees. The front room keeps it’s heat in very well with the doors shut so it only needed a boost.

DH has walked in the room and declared it is like an oven, he’s too hot, I’m wasting good money, it’s still only September and ‘we’ decided not to put the heating on until November at least (‘we’ decided no such thing).

AIBU to think that 20 degrees is a perfectly normal ambient temperature to be comfortable in my own front room? I’m recovering from flu and resting on doctors orders so I’m not moving around much, I have a jumper, fluffy socks and a blanket and I’m quite cosy thank you very much.

I won’t mention the fact that he walked out leaving the door open. I might boost the heating again just to spite him.

Im sitting here at home in 38°c heat on the tropical north coast of Australia, giggling to myself at the memory of my Scottish Dad telling me that our house in Scotland was "like an oven" when it was about 18°c.

I think everyone feels the heat/cold differently. You have been ill, so I vote YANBU and DH needs to lighten up.

Are you in financial distress? If so, I suppose he has a point, otherwise I would crack on and get trigger happy with that boost button 😁

I’m also on the receiving end of the comedy huffing and puffing and ‘it’s like a hothouse in here!!’ comments, when it’s actually (i.e. imo!) just pleasantly warm at about 20.

People get so weirdly extreme about temperatures. 20 is literally room temperature. Sometimes it might feel hot if I'm busy doing housework, but if I'm sitting watching TV or something it's probably about right. Likewise 16 might be fine if you were actively moving around the house but probably not that comfortable to sit down for long periods of time in.

The problem with 'just wearing a jumper' too is that it's my extremities that get cold: fingers, nose, etc. I draw the line at wearing a balaclava and gloves in the house so I have it warm enough generally that neither of those bits are cold Sometimes that's 17, sometimes that 20, just depends what I'm doing at the time and how I'm feeling.

So there's not really a right answer, nor is it a sign of virtue to claim you are not cold at 14 degrees inside 🤷‍♀️

Some people don’t need to be too warm, but 20 degrees is not hot. So if my partner said it was like an oven I would laugh at him because he’s exagerating just to make himself look good.

I’m on blood thinners, so 16 degrees is cold for me. I have blankets and hot water bottles etc but this morning I did put the heating on for half an hour to take the chill off the house.

Fortunately it’s just me here so there’s no-one to complain.

I have a portable heater in my office so I don’t have to heat the whole house, but when I’m downstairs then it’s the whole house which is heated.

It’s definitely raised the temperature; whether it’s actually 20 degrees I’m not sure, the thermostat is in the hall so it might be even warmer in here.

This half-answers the question I was going to ask. How do you know what the temperature is? Whenever someone makes a claim about temperatures on here, I suppose they are usually talking about what they've set the thermostat to, which might only be loosely related to the temperature in rooms they actually use.

If I went by my thermostat, I'd say my home is 18 in winter. It isn't, it's 22.

These discussions will continue to have people pointlessly posting across each other until Mumsnet makes it mandatory for all thread participants to have an actual thermometer to measure their temperature before they can join in. (I have one in my home office/third bedroom.)

An actual temperature of 21 or 22 degrees is ideal, neither warm nor cold. But no-one including OP has any idea what her actual temperature is.

20 is too cold for me. Your DH is being a twat.

Yes we have smart radiator valves so I can see the temp of every room in the house. There can be 3-4 degrees difference between rooms depending on where they are in house and what's going on. So it being 20 on the hall thermostat doesn't mean it's 20 in a room the other end of the house.

Radiator TRVs (non-smart) should moderate the temperature somewhat. 20 degrees is setting 3, IIRC.

It's also horrible being too cold.
No fun trying to wfh wrapped in blankets and with fingerless gloves on for example.

To be clear, when my thermostat is set to 18, the temperature in the air within inches of it is 22. So the thermostat markings are just wrong. The thermostat is a 30 year old analog device. I suppose modern digital thermostats might actually be accurate.

We don't usually raise our heating to 20. It's usually set at 17/18. We only have it set to 15 at the moment so it never comes on. We're not cold.

If ‘we’ have decided that the heating wasn’t on going until November (stupid idea. Temperature is not measured in dates) and the reason is you genuinely need to cut back, and there is no other place to cut your budget, then he isn’t being unreasonable (except even if that were the case, he should cut you some slack for being ill. Also 20 is a perfectly normal and acceptable room temperature, and not in any way ‘like an oven’!)

OTOH if HE has decided to cut back because 20 is too hot for HIM and YOU don’t like (especially having been ill) and you can afford it, then he’s an arse. Whack it up and tell him so.

I find 16 too cold. 18 is bearable if I layer up and am moving, or have an electric blanket while working at my desk or chilling on the sofa. In The Before Times, my heating would have been set at 18 in the kitchen, hall and my bedroom, and 20 in my study, sitting room and the bathrooms (when in use)

I have NO idea what temp my house is.
The thermostat is a million years old so I doubt it's accurate.
If I'm cold I put the heating on, and if I get too warm I'll turn it down - I know, I know...I'm just way out there!

The responses on threads like this always make me think that some posters’ thermostats must be broken! I can’t fathom thinking 20 degrees is ‘excessive’ and boiling hot. Especially not for just 15 minutes! (Could your radiators even get hot in that time? I have underfloor heating so it takes hours to heat up!)

Everyone is different though and we all live in different parts of the UK so we’ll have different standards. Personally I’m trying to keep mine at 19 when it’s on, except for the bathroom which is at 21 for an hour in the morning. 19 is just about bearable in thick jumpers but it’s hardly toasty warm.

I hate the ‘put a jumper on’ crowd as no matter how many jumpers and blankets I wear, the feeling of cold air on my nose is what makes me feel freezing. Can you buy nose warmers?!

I go off the knee-height themometer in the lounge.

20⁰C is a good general purpose temperature, not too cold for being sedentary, not too hot for movement.

At 18⁰C my extremities go cold which involves a dripping nose. Moving after sitting is annoying as the cold blood from the extremities then hits the core and it then becomes a fine line between moving enough to warm up but not enough to get sweaty then end up colder in the long run.

I'm fine with putting on a layer or two and using blankets before switching the heating on and I'm definitely not a put it up to 25⁰C while wearing a t-shirt, but I do find it very miserly and Scrooge-like when people who can afford it penny pinch over normal ranges of temperature.

Actually, you can.

I got this for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. It's so warm I'm having to take it off after 30 minutes or so at the moment.

It's such an individual thing, dependent on house/personal preference etc.

We rarely have the heating above 20 even in the thick of winter, just don't like a hot stuffy house. Would rather put layers on. I'm wfh today and our thermostat says it's 15.5 degrees in the house, that's fine for me with trackies and a hoodie on.

NOSE MITTEN

If the thermostat is located somewhere colder then 20 degrees will be too hot in a warmer, more insulated room or where there is sunlight coming through.

In my house where my thermostat is located 20 degrees is perfect. I've actually reduced it to 19 degrees to save money but it feels a bit too cold.

We usually have the thermostat set at 21C and I've turned it down to 20C now to save money. I'm with you that 20C is not like an oven.

Yes I think this is the root of a lot of mumsnet debates on temperature. Some people state their house is 25 degrees and then say they are in fleece with hot water bottle etc. everyone is different to some extent but if your house was actually that warm it would indicate you aren’t well if you needed so many layers on top of it.

my room thermometer reads 17 degrees and I am cracking out the electric throw but don’t really want to turn on heating yet.

We have our thermostat set for 20 during the day and 21 early morning/evening.

I dont think I'd be comfortable at 16 🥶

I put the heating on last week as I'd been away. It went up to 19.5 degrees and I found it too hot. I've not put it on again. It is a bit on the cold side at times so I've put socks and a jumper on.

Just checked the temperature and it says 15.9. I sitting on the sofa with a jumper and a blanket on my lap and I'm fine.