Is competitive underheating the new competitive undereating?

[DucklingDaisy]

I don’t mean people saying they’re trying to minimise it because of the cost, more people insisting that 17 degrees is actually sweltering and they don’t see why anyone could possibly need more. Is it unfair to assume they’re the same people who insist they’re stuffed after a small salad?

Mumsnet - the place where 50% of what is stated is either

A lie
or
Grossly exaggerated

Seen on everything from wages, house value, weight, anything about a MIL/teacher, use of heating etc etc.

It’s one of the reasons it’s so entertaining at times.

I agree some people seem to revel in talking about how low their heating is due to the cost of living crisis, but I honestly do find anything over 18 degrees to be too hot. I'm most comfortable at 16-17. Always have been, even back when the cost of my heating wasn't even really on my radar.

My husband is even worse, and our 1yo son seems to have inherited the warm gene... 18 degrees in the house will have my son sweating if he's dressed in more than two thin layers, unless he's sleeping.

I dream of moving to a colder climate!

I think it's a different of opinion. I need 19/20 in my house but my husband says that's freezing and has it 23/24 degrees.

For me below 18 and I find it too chilly.

Looks like the competitive underheating has joined the competitive undereating on MN.

Any more often than you have to drop to one teaspoon of water and share the flannel afterwards.

Horses, private schools, 3 mandatory holidays per year and ad hoc spa days.

Yes, there are some posters who always like to boast about their wealth then spout incorrect advice about other subjects they can know nothing about due to living in their ivory tower of privilege.

I like a laundry thread and I’ve several times mentioned on these that I have some really good airer things that clip over your radiator and that’s how I dry my clothes in winter etc etc and the radiators are coming on anyway so it saves me using my tumble dryer.. so many people come on and sanctimoniously say they don’t have their radiators on. I’m like, yeah what… never? The whole winter?

Get your point.

But a lot of the 6 figure income earners living in 15 degrees also imagine they live in a country vicarage in the middle of nowhere. Only they don’t describe it accurately and that sort of gives the game away.

@Heronwatcher genuine question because I don't get it, surely 18 degrees is 18 degrees? I agree that heating to 18 degrees will take longer/more energy in a draughty house than an insulated one (trust me I know, my house is old and awfully cold. Keeping my house to 18 takes a lot of energy compared to new builds!), but if the thermostat says it's 18 degrees in my house and the thermostat says it's 18 degrees in a well-insulated house, surely both our houses are the same temperature? What am I missing here (something no doubt!)?

Some of the stuff on the threads is also downright dangerous (and I think some of it is said on purpose)

I enjoyed the show me your bedroom thread last week

there were a few posters who got rumbled 😂😂😂😂

I eat half a fish finger, then light the other half like a candle (put under a flower pot, heats the whole house for a week!).

It's not the competitive undereaters, it's the overcleaners: spending all day every day scrubbing every surface in the house is keeping them lovely and warm.

My dh told me the other day that FIL had yet to put his heating on this autumn/ winter. He's a pretty well off pensioner (mid 70's) and will get the normal winter fuel allowance and the additional. It's ridiculous. His 4 bed detached gets damp at the best of times. Thank god he's coming to us this Xmas.

I can't believe you eat processed food it's so easy to cook everything from scratch! 😉

Really? What people were posting pics of rooms that weren’t their’s?

Humidity and draughts will make a difference to how we percieve that 18⁰C

If a themometer halfway up my wall says 18⁰C, I'll still have icy feet from the ground level draughts from the way the house is constructed and poorly sealed low down. Upstairs, 18⁰C feels warmer. I keep the themometer in the lounge at knee height because it better represents the temperature in there at the level we sit at.

Damp air tends to feel colder at lower temperatures and hotter at higher temperatures because of the way it either evaporates off our skin taking more heat, or obstructs sweating to cool down.

The one time I was perfectly warm sitting around in a 15⁰C house was the winter of 2010 when I'd outgrown most of my maternity clothes and had a spare 8-9lb of human inside me 😂
DH kept coming home and saying "you can put the heating on you know!" but I was genuinely comfortable enough.
Next pregnancy I had to buy winter clothes to get me through the second half to a rather belated spring that didn't happen until after the birth.

I've still got heating on, but probably a bit more reduced than usual. Still using the tumble dryer as usual. 18-21 is my comfort zone depending on how active I am. I'll heat the house more in the evening when we're all in and more sedentary. Just me moving around in the day needs less/ lower end of the range.

Yes, people are certainly different. A dd* is always ‘boiling’ in our house, and wanting to open windows. I always have to wrap up extra warm in hers - though last week - oh bliss - they did have the wood burner going - and all cats flaked out in front of it. Rest of the house was usual temp, though.

Dh used to be the same - internal central heating. A bit less so now, but will still not* wear a coat or jacket unless it’s seriously bitter outside. I can almost guarantee that when we’re out in winter, he will be the one bloke out of at least a thousand not wearing one.

18 degrees is 18 degrees if measured properly on a thermometer in the room you are using. 18 degrees on your thermostat is likely wildly inaccurate.

The thermostat only measures the temperature in one place in the house. If it is located in a drafty hall it will be heating the rest of the house well above 18 to ensure that hall is at 18. If it is in a small warm upstairs room then the downstairs rooms will be much colder.

You also have to account for the efficiency of radiators in each room, and whether they get sun.

Often thermostats aren't terribly accurate either, the old ones are often basically a dial and the numbers could be anything to indicate higher or lower. Some are much better, but this is one of the problems.

Even if you are using a proper thermometer things like humidity, drafts and radiance from the sun will make the temperature feel different to a person.

yabu
people are fearful of the cost, all over, not just on MN

dd in her flat share is upet for the climate that her flatmates have the heating on day and night

I'm not a warm specimen, but our house does get too hot when I set the thermostat to 18. 17 is pleasant and 16 is too cold for me.

I've not made any attempt to save money on my heating yet. I hate being cold.

A lot of people seem to miss the fact that houses aren't all the same.

Insulation, double glazing, whether you have open chimneys (usable or not) are all contributing factors. Also in a flat or a terrace it makes a noticeable difference if your neighbours have their heating on. Not to mention the number of people who claim to do without heating but later turns out they've got the aga or an open fire going.

Tell he she needn't worry. If at leat 20% of people who say sit in 5 degree houses actually do, there eill be lot lesss pressure on planet's resources next year🤷🏻