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!

Sarah Beanie said don't let your house go below 12 and she knows her stuff. My home is cold gets to around 14, I try to do without heating as a protest to the greedy sods but that won't work if my home is damaged. I put the heating on for an hour in the morning when its particularly chilly and light a fire at the weekends

@MibsXX that sounds awful 🥲

and can’t be good for your health or house

did you used to heat your house

can you put it on for a little to warm house up by using the £66 pounds and then sole of what you would spend previous years

its heating oil for hot water and heating.. I stopped being able to afford oil when covid pushed prices over 1K for 500 litres!

Just put it on and set the thermostat to 18, and then wear warm clothing in the house. That’s what I’m doing and it’s not too bad so far.

I think you failed science at school.

Pretty much what I do except I’ve set my temperature at 19° as I have very bad arthritis and at 18° my knees were very stiff and painful. I wear my heated poncho in the evenings to watch tv - although not had to plug it in yet!

I am comfortable spending the same amount as I spent last year plus the £66 extra for the winter months, I’ve worked out that I just need to reduce my usage a little ( by the slightly lower temp setting ). I don’t have a smart meter so I’ll be giving my energy company a monthly reading to compare the bill to last years.

I appreciate that lots of things have increased in price but I have managed to keep my food bills steady by careful meal planning and cutting out some treats, like alcohol! Petrol is hard to manage but I am trying to think before just jumping in the car if I really need to use it and by combining journeys and only going shopping every few weeks ( I have food deliveries due to my limited mobility). This week, I’ve waited to pick up my prescription and buy some light bulbs until I needed to go to the post office instead of making three separate journeys.

I hope you can go and see friend and family who have warm houses

that is too cold

can oil companies do a payment plan or get less litres of oil

My house began to smell musty and damp so I turned the heating on

Don’t get a smart meter, ours was a lot more expensive since putting the smart meter in, not sure if it’s a coincidence or not but I don’t trust them

Smart meters can go wrong
If you really have a sharp jump in usage since it was installed - show them and get them to check it out

This is just not the case. Your smart meter literally measures your usage. That's all. Surge pricing isnt a thing (yet) so they're not charging more during peak use or anything. Eventually surge surging may become a thing but it isnt now. Getting a smart meter does not change your usage.

Smart meters can be wrong if sometbing has gone screwie when setting it up. If your usage has actually changed that much then get them out to take a look.

I switched the heating on when my clean sheets and towels actually felt damp from the cold.

Did this change in expense coincide with the huge price rises?

Or has the actual usage (kWh on the meter readings and bills) gone up?

I was keeping the heating off until.it was absolutely necessary. But after a few weeks of it being in, I have found its no longer working properly 🥶 so one room will only get luke warm radiator. One only has a hot pipe and one is freezing cold! It's an old consedensor boiler from 2008 and is firing up when the boiler says 50 until it reaches 80. So I'm presuming that's what it should be doing. But my god its cold! 2 hours of heating and my usage has definitely gone up! No other gas appliance turned on today.

IncessantNameChanger - do you need to bleed your radiators?

That makes three radiators. How many others do you have, and how many of them are fully hot, all over?

Put you heating on for at least 1 hour per day. I am so sorry that you are having to struggle like this x 💔

Hmm the other five work OK ish. They aren't hot to the touch but over the next 24 hours the whole house did warm up to 16 degrees as the heat disputed so I was happy about that. It felt pretty hopeless at the time but now I know the whole house did eventually heat up that's good. I do think the three radiators need looking at, as does my poor boiler.

As none of the radiators are getting fully hot, I can't think of a DIY fix you could try. Check if there is any temperature difference top, bottom and middle.

Have a look at the gas meter, see how many cubic metres it uses per day (a 24 hour reading is a start, but it will be better averaged over a longer period). There are about 11kWh in a cubic metre, so by looking at your tariff you can estimate the daily cost.

It is not yet bitterly cold.

P.s. you say your boiler fires until it reaches 80C. That is very hot, so either the thermostat is set to max, or it has failed and the overheat cutout has turned it off. How long does the boiler take to go from 50 to 80?

Unless hers is very old. Like mine.

i don’t understand about cubic metres etx

but for me one unit on gas metre is 32 khw

so 20 used is 640 which at 10p is around £64 in gas

Not long going from.50-80 maybe a minute? That's my reading for the day. No cooking so only the boiler using the gas. Everywhere on the radiators are like warm, we have bled them all twice now. The feeder pipe gets hot but only warm/ hand hot. I could hold it tight comfortably.

Yhe thermostat was set to 15 and the setting was one down from max on the boiler. It's an old condenser

Yes I think it's a 2008 condenser boiler. British Gas 330.

I found it's serial number but now for the life of me I can't find it again! It was OK a few weeks ago. At least I thought it was. Depressing using £3.60 on over two hours of heating the living room stayed at 13. But as I said it did eventually get warmer around the entire house.

Newer than mine

tbh not sure how old my boiler is but I’ve lived in house since 1999 so almost 23yrs and haven’t replaced it

must be a good 25yrs old +

Heating that fast it is not circulating correctly. The flow of water through the boiler should take the heat away. If you are find of DIY plumbing you could try a chemical clean that will loosen sludge so it can be drained out.