To ask how cold your house gets with no heating?

[JaceLancs]

Quite a few threads recently and I am wondering how cold peoples houses get without heating
Im in the damp north west and quite near the coast so can be windy
3 bed semi built in the 60s
deep loft insulation plus boarded out, cavity wall insulation and double glazed windows and doors
We use draft excluders and thick curtains including door curtain
Without any heating on at all it rarely gets below 12, my old boiler had no thermostat and could only set by timer so we used to leave switched off between bonfire night and Easter or 1st April if a late Easter and although I have a newer boiler now still do same
DP lives in a terrace house further inland and has no heating at all - he benefits from either side and it rarely drops below 9-10

Sixties mid-terrace. 11.9.

Oh yes, we gave a couple of super-cold rooms. One sitting room is like an ice box year round, no matter how long the heating is on for (it needs fire on in addition). Lovely in summer on those horribly hot days.

No problems with mould or damp though as you might think.

13° degrees downstairs, 11° in the bathroom upstairs. When it gets colder outside, I'm sure it'll get colder than that inside.
I leave the windows open during the day, and about 4pm put the heating on enough so the rooms get to 16°.

I can't believe people saying they are heating to 19° and acting like that's cold....

I can't believe people saying they are heating to 19° and acting like that's cold...

My parents do that with their houses (divorced not multi house owners). It's always around 20 degrees and stifling.

All the things you identified, especially cooking. Plus heat from adjoining property - even if they're unheated then they're at the same temperature so it stops the heat leaking from you. If the sun is shining and low in the sky (which it is this time of year) I get huge solar gain in the morning through a large bay window. That can give me about 3 degress extra in my living room.

The big one that everyone overlooks is body heat. It's a constant approx. 100 watts per person. Much more if you're on your exercise bike or doing something active. Four people and a large dog watching the tv will kick out around half a kilowatt. That soon has an effect. And if your home has half-decent insulation then it keeps the place well above outside temperature.

When our boiler broke for a weekend in February 2021 and it was snowing I think I saw 9 on the thermostat.

Detached stone farm cottage

Naturally it will sit at 9 degrees (maybe 7/8 if it snows).

During the heatwave it didn’t get above 18.

Long local history that it’s haunted so maybe it’s that 🤣

Absolutely freezing (old house stone built c 1800) It has double glazing, internal solid wall insulation but it's an old building. It maintains 6/7 degrees above outside temp in winter but is lovely and cool in summer. It needs to be heated tbh

If you don't have any heating source at all your house will be the same temperature as outside surely. It's going to get a bit of heat from bodies, maybe sunlight, and cooking, but with nothing at all it will be the same as outside minus the wind chill factor

Brick apartment building. We haven't turned on the heating yet and it doesn't get below 20.5 (it's 8 degrees Celsius outside today). I do air out every room in the morning, but we do have an open plan kitchen / living room and cook everyday so it's generally very warm.

I don't know what it gets to with no heating for days in midwinter. We use heating for two hours in the evening and the lowest it gets to now is 12.

The coldest it's been recently is 15.5C but it's really mild at the moment. If it hits freezing for a prolonged period outside I'd imagine it could get down to 10C but that won't be happening. The thermostat is now set to 16C.

South east, semi detached 30's build. The lowest I've seen is 14 but haven't left it to see if it would get any colder. I find it interesting what temperatures people can comfortably manage with (without cost issues). If not active I feel very cold when the house is at 16 even wearing a jumper or two and having a fleece blanket on whereas I've seen people on here saying that's not cold for them. 17 is okay, 18 comfortable and 19 toasty. If I'm active then I can feel too warm at 18.

Same. The whole house rarely gets below 21. Once it got to 19. I can go days and days without putting heating on.

If if I do put it on its 10-20 mins a day. 4 bed detached. Se

Without heating on it still barely drops below 16, modern terraced townhouse though. Evening heating doesn't usually kick in because it's over 18 degrees already

@missbunnyrabbit

I've never set my thermostat above 18 degrees, ever, nor do my parents. We wear jumpers in the house if required!

Semi-detached, old property with no outer insulation. Double glazing and central heating. When our boiler broke down nearly 2 yrs ago in mid-winter we only heated our bedroom (upstairs) with a single electric oil-filled heater, the rest of the house became very cold, single digits. It was painfully cold and I spent the entire time in the bedroom apart from having to cook or use the bathroom.

I need the temperature to be at 18-19'C. I have hypothyroidism and can't regulate my body temperature well.

We have regularly left our house unheated for a month in winter and it drops to around 12. Presumably it would get lower if we left it longer.

Solid stone walls and single glazing.

At the moment about 18 degrees but wecare in a flat and surrounded on all sides by people who probably have the heating on! We never have the heating on in our bedroom and it doesn't fall below 21 as the hot water pipes go up the inside of the wall.

Years ago I made the mistake of renting a very sweet (damp and smelly) cottage. It got ice on the inside of the windows on some days in winter. So below freezing!!!

Not too bad I reckon for most people. It's 90s property, well built with double glazing.
It certainly stays warmer than my childhood home (a large Victorian detached with v high ceilings and single glazed wooden frames - I lived in coat and hat even in bed!)

However, I get very unwell if I get too cold (I have a rare autoimmune condition) so I have an oil filled radiator and an electric blanket so I can ensure I never get cold. This is why it's important to be careful about saying that people should be able to cope without heating etc.

I once lived in a Victorian flat about a couple who had just moved over from Australia. They must have had the heating on full blast all winter so I never needed to turn ours on at all!

3 storey 2006 townhouse sandwiched in between two 2 storey houses garages (terraced?). Draughty front door (need a new one ours has shrunk). Draught excluders on front, back and patio doors.
Solar panels that can divert surplus energy to heat hot water (saves on gas during summer). We use individual oil radiatiors in our home office rooms.
Kitchen usually warm due to cooking (slow cook during day), dishwasher and tumble dryer being on as well as solar gain in South facing kitchen and lounge windows. Default is 16 degrees without heat. If we go away for a week house goes down to 12

Four bedrooms and an office, house that was a bungalow. When we built upstairs we built to passive house standards, so masses of insulation even by today's standards. We have no heating upstairs and only a small 3.5kW wood burner downstairs. We let the wood burner die down at ten pm. All the upstairs rooms are currently above 19 degrees, downstairs about 18.

Early 60's semi-detached, in South Wales near though the coast today we do get battered with weather. Loft insulation, cavity wall insulation. We do have double glazing but it's old aluminium framed so doesn't help much.

We had no heating (and couldn't use the cooker as the gas was off, so no heat from that either) at all for part of last week, lowest I saw the temperature was 16.1. I'm sure in January it went down to about 14.