9 degrees inside - is it now a false economy to not put heating on?

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I'm trying to get by without putting heating on. According to the smart meter, it's currently 9 degrees in the sitting room (north-facing). The house feels very cold, but if I sit in the kitchen (south-facing) in many layers, with scarf and fingerless gloves on etc, it's not unbearable for WFH. In the evening I can use blankets / hot water bottles etc while watching tv and have two duvets on the bed at night.

However, at what point will temperatures of this level start to damage the house - or me? I feel achey all the time which I think is from being 'tense' in the cold, if that makes sense. I also have a constantly red and running nose / scratchy throat although I don't really feel ill.

I'm not using the tumble dryer so drying washing inside most of the time, although do try and keep windows open for air circulation... but then that makes it colder! I don't think we have any damp but I'm worried about the house constantly being cold - is this an issue in itself?

Is it going to get to a point where it's a false economy not to put the heating on because it will possibly be doing damage to the house, or should I carry on trying to hold out if possible and just carry on layering up? I realise this probably sounds a bit daft but I really don't want to store up even bigger problems!

Even for babies it doesn’t need to be 18 all the time. Breathing in cold and damp air obviously is not good and I wouldn’t let it go as cold as 9, but overheating is often more dangerous. And in plenty of places babies are still put in prams to nap outside, I’m sure the air being breathed in then is a hell of a lot less than 18 degrees.

Do you mean you’re drying washing inside without heating when the house is only 9 degrees? Does it actually dry?! To cut down on energy usage you can iron whilst still damp, it does a better job and dries the item out. What many home workers have done is get a portable heater for the room they’re in. It still means the rest of the house is cold though so not sure about damage. A low temp doesn’t bother me overnight, heating goes on if we’re using multiple rooms. Is your dryer in the kitchen? If I was you I’d use it for the washing whilst working in your kitchen if you want to save money.

No I'm in an old council house, I think built in 60s or so. Semi detached as well.

I've built up a credit over the summer as didn't need any gas to heat water (electric shower). I just put the kettle on to wash up. So I've only been paying the standing charge. I turn the radiators off in the kitchen, bathroom and spare bedroom and just keep the heating on low with all the doors shut. I find airing the house regularly helps to keep it dry and warmer inside too. I've also found that if I put the heating on all day, it doesn't stay warm at night. But if I put the heating on low all evening and night, the house is still nice and warm the next day and I don't need to put it on until about 5pm.

WHO suggest 16.5 as a minimum for a healthy adult

Higher for babies , old people

Oh yes I appreciate the £66 isn't some magical figure that should cover the difference. I was just wondering out loud if there will be some people so scared to use the energy that they end up spending less. But I guess the prices are so ridiculous now it's unlikely.

Oh no no, I think you've misunderstood me. I've built up a credit over the summer, so at the moment I'm putting £40 a month on (since May when I turned the heating off) to keep building that credit and I'll use the government £400 to pay for any costs in Dec, Jan, Feb which the credit doesn't cover for. I'm using my smart meter to make sure I stay within budget.

With gas central heating the boiler will be working hard especially in the first hour to get the environment up to the temperature set on the thermostat as it will be heating up from cold. The first hour especially will be a disproportionate cost in comparison to keeping the boiler on for longer as it then only needs to maintain the temperature and will click on for only short periods.

For some people keeping the heating on all day at say 18 can be cheaper than having it on for an hour first thing and then on again later in the day. Note this doesn't work for everyone.

So whilst I agree with you in principle, the heating does need to be tested over a longer period of time to give a ball park of the cost.

Today is the first day I’ve considered the heating... Was going to string it out until 1st December. But my baby’s feet are cold.

Ffs if you have a baby put the heating on. Dec 1 is just an arbitrary date.

If you want to dry your clothes in your house, pick one room, shut the door and open the window. Or put them in the smallest room and shut the door and run a dehumidifier.
why the fuck would you sit in a 9’ house because you parents did? I grew up with that competitive coldness only heating one room and cried when I had to go back and stay it was terrible, and people who went on expensive cruises but wouldn’t pay for heating the whole house.
If you genuinely can’t afford heating then that’s a different matter, if it’s a choice of one less takeaway a month and heating it am hour a day then do so.

If you want to dry your clothes in your house, pick one room, shut the door and open the window.
Yes, we do that, using the bathroom, and so far we haven't had any mould in the room, although we've not had the heating on. (We will be putting it on soon, but we're down south, and it's not actually been that cold.)

Even when I was a child in a house without central heating we had a gas fire in the living room and a calor gas heater at the top of the stairs for the bedrooms. I don't think people have ever been completely without heating through the winter unless proper paupers. Before that we had wood or coal fires in at least one room in most homes.

Put the heating to keep it ticking over around 15-18c as a minimum.

I really can’t understand why people who can afford to put their heating on, don’t.

We have had several years where, due to dh being made redundant and both Ds and myself being disabled we’ve literally had to have no heating whatsoever. Simply couldn’t afford it. And in the midst of one of those years we actually had water dripping down from our upstairs light fitting in our bedroom and couldn’t afford to fix that either so had to turn the electrics off to upstairs (we own our own home and weren’t entitled to any more help than we were getting at that point, benefits don’t go far when you’re already on your knees!) So we spent the winter with no heating, wearing coats indoors and creeping around upstairs with torches at night time. Now that is fucking miserable and why anyone would choose to live like that when they don’t HAVE to, I have no idea.

We have 2 showers, cook on gas cooker in the evening, sometimes twice a day and heating on for half an hour in a morning and hour and half in the evening and are on about £3 a day....

How? How? Are you one of the lucky few who are still on a fixed rate, arranged beforethe prices went crazy?

I live in a stone 1920s house. I've doubled up on the insulation in the loft, and sealed all the obvious drafts. The chimneys are all closed off and the windows are double glazed; I pull all the curtains when it gets dark. The combi boiler is only 2 years old so reasonably energy efficient. I have a gas hob. I live alone., and I'm not on a prepayment meter.

Yesterday it was about 4-6 degrees c outside for most of the day. I had a shower in the morning. It was barely 15o when I got up so the heating went on, but because I didn't have it on for long enough to warm the house properly, the temp dropped again as soon as the boiler went off. The thermostat was set to 17 for the day and it clicked itself back on a couple of times during the day as the house kept cooling. I cooked tea on my hob, and the heating went back on with the therm set at 18 in the evening. (Even then the house cools down dramatically overnight, so that it takes ages to get up to temperature when the heating kicks in in the morning). The heating went off about an hour before I settled in bed.

Gas alone cost me just over £10 yesterday. I dread what it's going to cost as the weather gets colder.

Do you have a fireplace? Get some wood from garden/park/etc and burn that.

Maybe ok for the odd evening but unlikely to be a long term solution. Heating just one room eats through firewood at a surprising rate.

I can’t see if it’s been asked but I am intrigued as to where you live? My house is a draughty (but terraced so that helps) Victorian cottage and yesterday it was 15 degrees. Think it was about 8 degrees here yesterday. 15 was cold enough so we lit the fire.

I assume you must be somewhere pretty cold.

You could get hypothermia- turn the heating on!

I worked that out yesterday, I am with Octopus and they have started to do a "forecast" of projected energy costs based on your previous usage and suggests what your new direct debit should be. Mine is £283 per month, I actually had a panic attack when I read that, crying, and couldn't breathe. There is no way I can afford this, I have just retired, I live alone and simply do not know what to do other than not switch the heating on. I used to run it for 90 mins in the morning and 3 hours in the evening. Am guessing that I could cut this down to an hour am and an hour pm but it will still cost me a small fortune now. I did all my calculations before I retired and worked out that I would be able to have an ok life (I have no debts and the mortgage is paid in full). With fuel now being around 4 times what it used to cost and food going up all the time I feel trapped and so worried. I will have to use the savings I wanted to spend on having a bit of fun and maybe a holiday on just covering every day expenses I have my state pension and a small NHS pension, all the increase means for me is to put up the amount of income tax I pay. I feel very down and see this last phase of my life being a time of stress and worry. Have been considering rying to get some work but after 45 years of working I really don't want to.

No, I am on top up.
It click on when hallway falls below 16, which is 2 degrees less than rooms. Twice a day. In the evening I put it little higher. Quick showers, cooking, waahing up once aday just few bits and pieces

I don't know, maybe my meter is broken. 🤷🏻
Used to be up to 45 in winter and 18 in summer🙄

This makes me so sad. People, in this country, in 2022, freezing because they are scared to put the heating on. I'm so cross. We are 'ok' at the moment but are still being really careful and not having it on too much; but sitting in 9 degrees worrying about not affording to be warm enough actually makes me want to cry

It's a good thing you've put the heating on Op. It's unfortunate that we have an energy crisis right when more people are WFH more than ever. There'll be more news stories of mould-affected illnesses in the near future I reckon.

I would sooner live on whitebread toast than be cold but I guess I am lucky to say screw it. I have on thermals, my clothing a dressing gown and two pairs of socks the heating is set at 22 but never seems to get there and I am freezing. The hot water bottle burst and burnt hubby's legs yesterday so we don't have that anymore.

Move heaven and earth to finance the heating. My house is 9 degrees. I used to be fit and strong and very active. I now have asthma that appeared from nowhere - now so severe that I am steroids and all sorts other things - all from living in a cold house since lockdown March 2020 when I lost all my work and couldn't afford any heating at all. I can't walk even a quarter of a mile, now.
Don't think it won't happen to you - I didn#t think it would happen to me either.

Your body starts to shut down when the temperature goes below 18°C. at 9.5°C you will feel really cold. That is why people die at temp we think is quite mild

Put the heating on, at that temperature you are putting your health at risk.