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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What is the 'thing' with putting the heating on?

197 replies

CatchersAndDreams · 30/09/2022 19:57

Surely just because you put it on doesn't mean you have to keep it on. I've never understood this thing that people have about not putting or putting on the heating as if you're stuck with it on once you put it on!

OP posts:
WimbyAce · 30/09/2022 21:06

With us we leave it as long as possible to put it on as in it is switched off completely at the moment. Once we put it on it will be on timer and also thermostat. But what I find is that once we turn it on that it is it for winter and will be switched on until spring.

lannistunut · 30/09/2022 21:07

CaptainSamCarter · 30/09/2022 20:04

I don't get the weirdness on MN about it. If you live in the Highlands of Scotland in an old stone cottage you are probably going to have a very different view about when it's time to put the heating on compared to someone in London in a well insulated flat. People get fixated on the date as though we're all experiencing the same temperature at any given moment.

I don;t think it is just a MN thing, everyone at work discusses it every year, even more so now there is more WFH.

Comefromaway · 30/09/2022 21:07

My heating is on 365 days a year. The thermostat is set to come on if it drops below than 19degrees during times we are in. (Used to be 20 degrees but I’m economising). Overnight it comes on if it drops below 15

Bunnyfuller · 30/09/2022 21:09

Putting it on, regardless of for how long, will cost. Cost a lot more than it used to. And cost a lot more than some can afford.

HTH

JellyfishandShells · 30/09/2022 21:09

5128gap · 30/09/2022 20:02

Putting the heating on is a sign that the weather has become cold enough to require it. Usually this is then pretty much a one way street until the next spring. The longer people can stave it off the better it feels psychologically.

Exactly. We were still in ‘it’s not quite cold enough’ mode on Wednesday but Thursday was the tipping point. We’ve just had a discussion about food for next week - lighter casseroles and soups, if not quite yet deep winter food.

BlackCatTabbyCat · 30/09/2022 21:12

I don't have a thermostat I have to switch my heating on and off at the boiler. Can anyone advise me how I would go about getting a thermostat fitted how does it connect to the boiler? I'm in a private rented house.

mogsrus · 30/09/2022 21:12

When it’s cold en it will go on, as of yet the house is too warm for it

SuperstarDJsherewego · 30/09/2022 21:12

Ours is ‘on’ all year, it’s set to 17 overnight and 18-18.5 during the day. It’s clicked on a few times in the day and early morning in the last week. But I think it came in one cold night in august!

butterfliedtwo · 30/09/2022 21:15

Twillow · 30/09/2022 20:22

There's nothing weird about it. Once you start putting it on you're going to be paying for it. Pretty sure that's what everyone is referring to. The longer they hold out, the cheaper the bills are.

This. I don't understand the confusion.

CasperGutman · 30/09/2022 21:16

Having the heating "on" doesn't cost a penny unless the thermostat actually calls for heat and the triggers the boiler to burn gas.

We've "had the heating on" ever since last winter, and we haven't even turned the thermostat down. It hasn't actually warmed the radiators up since, I don't know, April or May?

Woolandwonder · 30/09/2022 21:17

BlackCatTabbyCat · 30/09/2022 21:12

I don't have a thermostat I have to switch my heating on and off at the boiler. Can anyone advise me how I would go about getting a thermostat fitted how does it connect to the boiler? I'm in a private rented house.

Snap. I have thermostat envy on this thread Grin

Hepwo · 30/09/2022 21:17

BlackCatTabbyCat · 30/09/2022 21:12

I don't have a thermostat I have to switch my heating on and off at the boiler. Can anyone advise me how I would go about getting a thermostat fitted how does it connect to the boiler? I'm in a private rented house.

A hive might work. I have one.

www.hivehome.com/shop/smart-heating/hive-active-heating

It's really helpful for reducing the amount of power used because it tracks the actual temperature on a graph. This means I don't put the heat on early morning as I know from past tracking that by 9.30 the sun will heat the room I'm going to use for work anyway.

It's saved me a lot of money

TwoWrightFeet · 30/09/2022 21:19

I just put it on if I’m cold. But I live in the uk. By the sound of most people on here I can only assume they live in the Antarctic pre global warming.

johnd2 · 30/09/2022 21:21

I think the confusions is that some people think it's like a light where it costs x per hour, but it's actually not, you can be using a few pence a day when it's still 15c outside and sunny, but if it's -5 could be paying 10 pounds for the day to get to the same target temperature.
If you're going to switch your heating off for a week, it saves way more to do it in January than in September.

BlackCatTabbyCat · 30/09/2022 21:22

Hepwo · 30/09/2022 21:17

A hive might work. I have one.

www.hivehome.com/shop/smart-heating/hive-active-heating

It's really helpful for reducing the amount of power used because it tracks the actual temperature on a graph. This means I don't put the heat on early morning as I know from past tracking that by 9.30 the sun will heat the room I'm going to use for work anyway.

It's saved me a lot of money

Show quote history

Thank you will look into this just now!

Stopsnowing · 30/09/2022 21:23

Because it is easier to go cold turkey and have a policy of no heating before x date.

MurderAtTheBeautyPageant · 30/09/2022 21:24

CasperGutman · 30/09/2022 21:16

Having the heating "on" doesn't cost a penny unless the thermostat actually calls for heat and the triggers the boiler to burn gas.

We've "had the heating on" ever since last winter, and we haven't even turned the thermostat down. It hasn't actually warmed the radiators up since, I don't know, April or May?

when people talk about 'putting the heating on' they're talking about warm radiators.

MinervaTerrathorn · 30/09/2022 21:26

johnd2 · 30/09/2022 21:21

I think the confusions is that some people think it's like a light where it costs x per hour, but it's actually not, you can be using a few pence a day when it's still 15c outside and sunny, but if it's -5 could be paying 10 pounds for the day to get to the same target temperature.
If you're going to switch your heating off for a week, it saves way more to do it in January than in September.

I'm well aware that it wouldn't click on nearly as often or for as long in October than in January. October is easily doable though, January not so much. Anything I can save by not using it in October I can use in January when I need it more. Even if the whole month of October only buys me a week of January.

Psychonabike · 30/09/2022 21:28

I live in a really old house in the North of Scotland.

Putting the heating on is a big thing I suppose because switching on and off doesn't really work. It'll be a few days before the house has really properly warmed up, and the usual twice on settings aren't really adequate. We tend to keep it on and lower the temps at night versus day. Not really worth turning it off for the odd mild day as it would lose a lot of heat and take a lot of energy to get it warm again. So the longer we can live with it off, the better. Once on, it's staying on till March at least.

Sirius3030 · 30/09/2022 21:30

I genuinely don’t get it. I turned my heating on in May 2016, and haven’t turned it off since. It’s on a thermostat so it only generating heat when the room temperature drops below 18.

Original poster
CatchersAndDreams · 30/09/2022 21:32

@TheFormidableMrsC have a look on your local councils website. A lot of councils are giving grants out to low income households for bills. Also apply for a low income warm home discount through your energy provider and get £140 for your gas bill.

I'm obviously not strange to think it's strange to wonder why some people on here are obsessed with 'putting the heating on' on x day or strange that for some people they don't just use it as and when but put it on and keep it on as there's a few of us on here. I just find how other people do things fascinating. I use my thermostat to control my heating.

OP posts:
mogsrus · 30/09/2022 21:33

Black cat tabby cat. Needs to be wired into boiler, not difficult but if you cannot attempt yourself get professional to f do i it & please if you get one put it in the lounge not the hall or other silly place You live in the lounge nowhere else.

AsAnyFuleKno · 30/09/2022 21:33

Sirius3030 · 30/09/2022 21:30

I genuinely don’t get it. I turned my heating on in May 2016, and haven’t turned it off since. It’s on a thermostat so it only generating heat when the room temperature drops below 18.

Yes, so your heating is 'on' when the temperature is below 18c. If you wanted your heating 'off' you'd turn your thermostat down till it was at or below the unheated temperature of your house.

Heating on = radiators warm
Heating off - radiators cold

picklemewalnuts · 30/09/2022 21:34

It's because it's not continuously cold at the moment. You probably can endure a few days cold when it's going to warm up again in a day or two.

Once it's continuously cold, you have to have it on- you can't wait it out if that's not until April!

woodhill · 30/09/2022 21:35

We put ours on tonight for the first time , it was cold