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

[blanketseverywhere]

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!

Just look away if it's not for you.

That's the article I was looking for to quote - it says that below 10 degrees causes your circulatory system to work a lot harder and your brain to work slower.

That is the article I was referring to above. The subject of the experiment is wearing shorts and an unbuttoned shirt while being subjected to low temperatures. In the real world. Most of us would have the sense to mitigate the adverse affects of cold by wearing appropriate clothing. We have been doing for hundreds of thousands of years.

That would be just for heating. Electricity would be on top (which in our house would mean showers, all cooking etc), so probably double that. Plus increased standing charges.

So more like £250-280 per month. Quite a lot for many of us!

my electric is the same usage all through the year, week in week out. I have an electric cooker, lights, washing machine and dishwasher - don't use the tumble drier unless emergency for uniform. its around £15 a week - Thats with daily standing charge for the week

whereas my gas for the central heating is much higher (my shower is also gas)my gas is coming in at around £30 weekly now the heating is on, thats with daily standing charge for the week

take a reading each week or daily and see how much electric you are actually using, then see whether you can decrease the amount - better than than being cold due to not putting CH on

Using a slow cooker for cooking hot meals is far cheaper than using the oven and will reduce your electricity usage.

I have been googling around insurance companies and minimum temperatures. The only info I can find is in relation to unoccupied properties, which is generally around 14 degs. I therefore have presumed that they expect an occupied property to be warmer than that.

Our electricity bill might horrify most of MN, but the house is large-ish and wasn't built with energy efficiency in mind. I am trying to limit the pain by using the oven a lot less, and replacing it with an airfryer. But, of course, buying another gadget is money out that not everyone has to spend.

Our electricity bill might horrify most of MN, but the house is large-ish and wasn't built with energy efficiency in mind.

where is your electric wastage going? or what appliances in a big house are using it?

I think @blanketseverywhere 9 is too cold

and though it’s a huge cost think of spreading it over the year and the £66 must help a little

under 14 I think is unbareable and if day after day the house will start to suffer

plus once Cold it’s hard to reheat

can you do 30min am and hour or so in evening to take the chill off

I've had similar thoughts to you and I do believe it is in every homes interest to have some form of heating on at some point to prevent mould and condensation.

Martin Lewis did a feature on his ITV show last week and said to set your thermostat to 18 degrees and just let your heating come on/go off. I've been doing this and watching my smart meter with interest.

@WhatTeaspoon

I can remember my grandparents house was like that.
My Nana would put a hot water bottle in the bed at least 30 min before I went to bed when I slept over. Getting bed was not a nice experience as the rest of the bed was freezing! You could see your breath in front of you and the temperature difference between the lounge (only room heated) and the rest of the house! It never stopped me wanting to stay though and I remember it all fondly :-) Even having to use an outside toilet! We don't know we're born these days by comparison.

But surely, last year you had the heating on most days, if you put it on for an hour every morning it would be a lot less than in the past?
Just be mindful not to leave it blaring! Put it on then switch it off when you feel toasty. Then just wait till its cold again.

The house is sprawling and mainly south-facing but was built late 70s. It's all double glazed and well-insulated but the EPC quoted me a spend of £25k to get from a low D rating to a better D rating. As we shall be moving sometime in the next few years, we shall probably leave the decisions to the next occupants to make.

Can someone help me understand something?

our heating has to be manually put on, the thermostat is in a weird place so we were advised to put it on at a higher temp for longer to push the heating downstairs. Last year wasn’t so much of an issue, but yesterday and today for example, I put the heating on for 1.5 hours in the morning and 2.5 hours 3-5.30ish pm, at 23 degrees. My smart meter said I used £7.64 gas.

Would it be better to set it lower and keep it on from say 7am-7pm, or keep doing it as required? My kitchen was at 13.8 degrees when I got up this morning.

For what it’s worth, my house is a E rated Victorian terrace with no cavity wall insulation (so the heat disappears very quickly when it’s turned off!)

@blanketseverywhere

''blanketseverywhere · Today 15:36

I do have some of those ancient, massive, yellow cellular blankets - they are brilliantly warm although not very pretty Grin
The heating has now been on for about 30 mins and the smart meter is up to a pound already. Maybe I should just get rid of the bloody smart meter, it's making me anxious!!''

About 50p will be your daily standing charge and the other 50p for the heating (Gas). Mine is running at approximately £1 an hour and I'm with B Gas on their Standard Tariff. I've got mine set at 18 degrees. Hope that's of some help.

There is no minimum temperature for occupied properties for insurance purposes IME. Check your policy and you will find no mention of it, except perhaps if you are away for more than a certain number of days.

Have spoken to dh and we have agreed that the heating needs to go on more often to stop any issues with damp etc arising. The walls of the house are really cold which is bothering me, so we will bite the bullet money-wise and prioritise keeping the house warmer. We're not on DD so we don't have any credit built up, and it seems our heating and insulation systems need looking at, but unfortunately we dont have the money to do that right now. But there have been lots of good tips so thank you for those.

It's a shame, however, that some posters have felt the need to be personally insulting. I'm not a martyr, I'm not 'enjoying' this, nor do I have mental health issues (beyond some mild-ish anxiety around money and, clearly, some hangovers from my upbringing!) I can hopefully make some small changes to improve things a bit, but plenty of people are in a far worse position than I am. Tbh I didn't think my situation was that unusual. The disbelief that someone might be sitting in a cold house too scared to put the heating on has been really telling. And to the pp who said I must have mental health issues to be sitting in a cold house and working... go fuck yourself. Seriously. You should be ashamed.

But if you made a claim for damage arising from cold/damp and you had allowed the temperature to fall to a point it contributed to the damage then you're going to be viewed as having contributed to the damage through your neglect of the property.

How would the insurance company be able to prove that?

We're not on mains gas, in fact no gas except bottles for the hob cooking. We are on oil heating, plus a wood burner, burning seasoned dry wood.

No, the smart meter doesn't include the standing charge, unfortunately!

@ListenLinda

I'd move your thermostat (or get someone to refit one or buy one that works on wifi) in the room you spend the most time in. Mine is in my living room set at 18 degrees as per Martin Lewis's advice on his show last week. That means it remains a constant temperature so the boiler (a combi) does not spend an age having to reheat a cold house/room. From what I can gather it's cheaper to do this than set times where the temperature can drop drastically over a few hours. As I've just said to someone else... roughly 50p a day will be your standing charge and the rest your actual gas used. Mine's currently approximately £1 an hour. I'm with B Gas on their standard tariff.

I don't think insurance companies pay out for mould and damp damage anyway, unless cased by a leak?

From your energy bills. They're not stupid. They can calculate how much gas/electric would reasonably be needed to heat a property based on the weather.

Part of the issue you’ll have is that boosting the heating is actually a really expensive way to heat your house. Bringing the temp up from 9 degrees to say 15 degrees will use a lot of energy, probably more than if you kept the house at 15 degrees. If I were in your shoes I’d probably try and prioritise same way of sorting out your boiler/radiators (although appreciate this may not be feasible).

9 is too cold. I really can't afford to heat the house to 18 every day unfortunately. But at 14 it's tolerable. At 13 it's not so I can't imagine what 9 feels like.

I just watch my smart metre and try to make sure we don't go over £7.50 per day if at all possible. So on some days there's no heating. Some days it has a few 30 minutes or one hour blasts. However it's now decided to break so I'm not sure how this will pan out. Hoping it's just the pump or sludge or something.