To keep the heating off

[BelleMarionette]

The heating has not been on since last winter, and I'm determined to have it off as long as possible, given:
a) the cost and
b) that gas is bought from Russia, which then funds a war

I'm in London, so weather still quite mild fortunately.

Do you have your heating off? How do you plan to keep it off if so?

I had it on once or twice briefly but then it warmed up again here, for now. I don’t want to programme my thermostat and then do it again after the clock change, so mostly holding off until then!!

North west here
tradition in our household is heating goes on for bonfire night and goes off at Easter - unless it’s a late Easter in which case goes off 1st April

I have just swapped to thicker duvet and put electric blanket on though

SW, I've just shut the living room window and come to bed and put my fan on! (all windows upstairs are open)

It's not quite as simple as saying the UK gets no/little gas from Russia: brief research into the issue will reveal this. We bought a huge amount at the start of the war from Russia to form stockpiles, and high use risks either buying more, black outs, and also forcing other countries to buy Russian gas, as there is a shortage of gas in Europe.

Yes, a significant proportion of electricity in the UK comes from burning gas, and I am trying to economise with this too.

I’m on the West Sussex coast too. We’ve not needed our heating on yet, it’s very mild at the moment.

I've had to have it on this morning because it's been quite cold since yesterday. Can't afford to have my babies getting sick due to the cold. If it was us on our own I'd be patient but no not my kids.

I'm in the Scottish highlands. The house is currently 16 degrees I can cope with it being a few degrees cooler. I am pretty hardy and ok with a jumper or a blanket. My cat has bad joints. If he's sore I put the heating on. Even if it is just a plug in radiator near his bed.

The level of cold tolerance varies amongst people. Really fed up of some comments of people proud of the fact they haven’t turned on their heating because they love the cold/anything between 14-16 degrees indoors is perfect. Good for you. But don’t judge the people who aren’t the same as you. This isn’t ‘panic’, it’s just the turning of the seasons and some people feel the dip in temperature more than others.

I know I have felt colder at home the past week or so, and when you come indoors after being out, it can really be difficult to warm yourself up again regardless of the temperature in your home. Sometimes you just need that extra boost to start feeling normal again.

If you can afford to do so, and you feel cold then by all means turn it on so you’re comfortable. For the people who cannot and are really struggling because they are cold, some of these comments are in really poor taste.

Given that you'll be switching the heating on as soon as you feel you're cold enough, this thread reads like a load of virtuous nonsense OP.

You do you and yours.

I found the heat this summer incredibly unpleasant and really struggled with it, it made me feel ill at times. Plenty of posters were at pains to tell people like me to get a grip, enjoy it, that I would pay for heat like this on holiday, was being a snowflake. Etc etc. So I don’t have that much sympathy to people who like to sleep naked but now have to put pyjamas on. Or who usually like to have the heating turned up to 23/24 but might have to “suffer” through 18/19 degrees. I do feel for the elderly, housebound, disabled or other posters who might genuinely be suffering but that’s a different thing.

It’s very mild atm which is good

I've literally just put it on. Well, for the few days before I flew to nice sunny Crete for a fortnight. 😎 I get up at 5am for work, sometimes 4am, and it's been 7°C where I live so quite nippy.

However, I've got storage heaters which are impossible to turn off once heated up and storing energy, so it's definitely felt a bit decadent on some days when it's been mild and heaters are blasting out heat all day.

No heating on here at the moment. In fact I had all the windows, big and small, open yesterday to air the house.
The house does have central heating, but I currently have a slight fever (from covid ) so everything is making me feel hot.

I'd rather economise on everything else before being cold.

I do agree with you actually, it seems that whatever the weather there are people who are always telling you that you’re complaining either way, e.g. you’re silly for not enjoying the hot weather or you’re ridiculous to put the heating on when October has just started! My MIL loves to tell us about frost on the windows in the 70’s…

My issue is with people who are intent on pulling others down with their comments either way. I too struggled with the heat a few months ago. I have always found it much easier to get warm rather than cool down, and got many raised eyebrows from colleagues/family members when I told them this.

Don’t ask if you’re being unreasonable to put the heating on. If you’re cold do it. If you’re warm enough and are fine, that’s also great. Just stop telling people how amazing and tough you are to handle heat and tolerate cold, and the rest of us are idiots/snowflakes and that we are ‘panicking’. Do what you want, the world doesn’t need to know about it.

@NCHammer2022 Not aimed at you, just quoting for reference :)

A) It’ll cost far more if you end up with burst pipes and damp which you need to treat

B) Echoing PPs, we don’t import much gas from Russia. Don’t be cold just for your morals…no-one cares (sorry to sound harsh)

The heating can't go on until (at least) the end of October. We're still on British Summer Time, you don't need the heating on in the summer.

I find it odd that people take a moral stance against the small amount of Russian gas we use. Do they take a similar stance about avoiding oil use because much of it is produced by countries with less than clean human rights records? Places where women have few rights and there are public executions?

Mine's on when I'm cold, which means below 20 degrees (in the evening). I'm not bothered during the day as I'm out or do some stuff at home, so it keeps me warm.

interested enough to open a thread about it & post your non interest 🤣

if I'm not interested in a subject, I just don't open the thread. I don't feel the need to butt into a thread to tell everyone I'm so superior I'm not interested in what they're discussing.

There's going to be a lot of people who will have a damp and mould problem if they never use the heating during colder months.

The heating can't go on until (at least) the end of October. We're still on British Summer Time, you don't need the heating on in the summer.

It's currently 10 degrees here and it's raining. It has got to 6 or 7 overnight in the last couple of weeks.

I feel the cold - I have medical conditions.

It may be British summer time but I am not going to be in pain just because the calendar says I shouldn't have the heating on.

And before anyone jumps on me and tells me to layer up - I've thick socks, with a hot water bottle at my feet, tights, trousers, a vest, thin top and a jumper on.

My hands and nose are cold. I'll be pulling out the hat and fingerless as soon as I can.

Of course it's still off, it's only October. And we don't even have double glazing.
Keep active in the house and wear layers.

I don't really get all these 'AIBU not putting the heating on' threads.. surely it's your choice and no one else's, and who cares if you do or don't put it on.

What's comfortable for some isn't comfortable for others - our house is set to 21 degrees, and will remain so. Am I being unreasonable? Nope, because it's an individual thing.

Our gas comes from Norway through a massive pipeline?

could have dreamed it