Why is my home so cold??

[Freshstarts24]

I’m hoping someone might have some ideas as to what the issue could be. I live in a flat, have gas central heating. The flat is fairly old , but has double glazing and doesn’t feel particularly drafty.
No matter how long I have my heating on or what temp I turn the thermostat to it does not seem able to go above 21 degrees. Now, I’ve seen others mention on here that 21 is a reasonable temperature, but in my flat it still feels chilly. Whereas 21 in my office for example, would not be.
Surely it can’t be right that I can’t get the temperature any higher than this? It’s never warm. If I have the heating on for 5 hours, it stays at 21, and whilst no longer cold, it’s also not warm.

Sounds as if you're living in a hard to heat home. Do you have open chimneys? If you have a nice old decorative fireplace, can you feel a draught coming down it? If so invest in a chimney balloon or for a short-term fix get an old pillow and stuff it up the chimney.
https://www.chimneyballoon.co.uk/

An open chimney is like having an open window. Without spending major money on it (interior insulation, newglazing, new radiators and heating system) it will never be snug and easily kept warm in cold snaps. You can have elegant style (high ceilings, huge windows) or you can have warmth — lower ceilings, smaller windows and probably smaller rooms.

When a lot of these older buildings were constructed the expectation was that houses would be heated by a single fire in one room which might heat it to 16C.

And go out and buy an extension lead for your heated throw. I can't believe you haven't already done that!

You asked for advice but you're simply dismissing everything.

The reason a thermometer would be helpful is to help identify the problem and then find a solution. You can't find a solution when you don't know what the problem is. A thermometer on Amazon is about £3 and it will help you to understand if the thermostat is the problem, and if it then the solution is to replace it.

If it's not the problem then you move on to eliminating something else.

Re the damp - it doesn't have to be obviously or wringing damp for there to be enough damp to make the air feel colder. You can get a damp meter, again fairly cheap, maybe £10. In fact, my thermometer also shows the humidity, here's a similar one:

https://amzn.eu/d/dXSCji4

If it is damp, then your dehumidifier will help. Since I had my house dried out (I had zero idea it was damp, there was a leak under the floor that I didn't know about, and I'd never noticed the humidity level on the thermometer or if I had I hadn't thought about it) it definitely feels warmer.

Woolly socks are great but you need socks and slippers. Slippers have a sole which is more insulating than socks.

And use an extension lead for a heated blanket.

Keeping warm when the house feels cold is obviously useful. But surely it's more useful to find out why you have this problem and make 21 (which is quite high) feel warm enough for you.

Damp meters don't work on anything but wood so I wouldn't bother with that. They'll register damp even on something that is clearly warm and dry (don't get me started on so-called damp specialists. The only thing they specialise in is selling you shit you don't need!)

You can get damp meters that work on other things than wood.

But I probably meant a humidity meter anyway.

I answered another poster but the OP can simply get a hygrometer or a pack of 3/4 of them from Amazon. They aren't expensive.

They will give her the temperature and humidity in each room.

She can then reduce the humidity using her dehumidifier while doing the insulation measures others have mentioned. Then in summer she can invest in bigger radiators and a new boiler.

It would also help if the OP didn't dry clothes in the room she sleeps in. I personally don't dry any clothing in my bedroom as it my dampest room due to the direct it faces, the fact people sleep in there and the fact it is the only room where I haven't changed the radiator so it is hard to heat.

Oh and you can use Google maps to work out north on your road and from that work out the direction your rooms face.

www.wikihow.com/Find-North-on-Google-Maps-on-PC-or-Mac

Yes, I posted a link to one, it is £7.

My point was its harder to heat the house this year than previous years, I live in the north so its not unusual for it to be this cold. its not getting above 15deg inside even with the heating on constantly. Its noticable around the windows. UPVC windows do have a shelf life and its something OP can check too.

Look on Google maps if you don't know the direction.

It's more likely to be your central heating system than windows, I'd have thought. Unless your double glazing units have failed (you'll know because they'll be permanently misted up) it's unlikely that all your windows would have started to become draughty at the same time.

When did you last have your boiler serviced? How old is it? Is the boiler temperature turned down? How old are your radiators and plumbing? You can have the radiators flushed to get rid of sludge and crud that gums them up, but new radiators are much more efficient at getting the heat out into your room than older generations.

Get a three pack of humidity and temperature sensors from thermopro.

Then you can get a good idea of what’s actually going on temp and humidity wise.

it takes a lot more energy to heat damp air, if you’ve got very high humidity you’ll struggle to get it to feel warm.

If that’s the case, then you can focus on running the dehumidifier in main room full time and trying to get the moisture to a level that’s easier to heat.

Have ordered thermometers and humidity sensors just now thanks

Is it a combi boiler or regular? Is your hot water on all the time? Is your hot water properly hot?

If you have very high ceilings, that’s probably the issue and not a lot you can do.

Have you got your thermostatic radiator valves turned up to 5?

Combi and yes

Yes

There are so many factors that can make a house cold it’s likely it could be a number of things.
-Firstly the type of construction of the flat- older buildings Victorian and older tend to not have cavity walls and this can make them colder and more prone to damp. Whether it’s brick concrete etc and type of windows will also make a difference?
-Level of insulation under floors/loft etc is another- this is worth looking into as is quite a cheap fix to put down insulation. If you have an older property with damp issues I’d do this with caution- they are designed to have air flow under the floors to stop damp rotting the floor joists/boards (only an issue for you if on the ground floor). If you find draughts from doors/windows- draught excluders/replacing window seals may help.
-The type of heating and how the system is running is also going to vary a lot. Even simple changes to the plumbing system can make radiators run more efficiently and lagging hot water pipes.
-The facing of the flat and whether it is blocked from natural sunlight from trees/other buildings etc can mean it doesn’t get warmth from the sunlight.
-As others have mentioned an EPC might be a good starting point to understanding what you have in place. Some things are cheaper and easier to fix than others but if it’s an old shaded flat it may be trickier to fix

Can you get it above 21 when the weather is warmer?

Actually, if you're in a flat you might also have cold bridging. We get this in our bedroom I believe because of the layout of balcony/window/balcony/window all across the back of the building. Outer facade is flat, meaning that the bedroom effectively has one full and two partially outside walls.

It is also worth putting your hand next to the windows and seeing if you can feel cold air coming in through any gaps. For example I have just found there was a gap on the outside of the window frame, between the frame and the wall, at the front of the flat. I filled in the gap with plaster, and it's already made a difference to the warmth levels. It should probably be filled with something flexible like silicone, but it's a start. Then I bought some of that rubber insulation stuff you can buy to put in the gap between the window itself and the frame. That has also made a difference. DH had previously done this, but used a mixture of cheap foam kinds, and that had gone all hard and gappy so it was actually making the issue worse. Removed that, replaced it with a silicone one that has a flexible shape and said it will last 8 years.

Agree with this too. Sleeping causes a huge amount of moisture from breathing.

What are the things it highlights as required before a better rating can be given? That can give you some clues.

I think a lot of the ‘feeling cold’ is temperature change.

Our house thermostat is at 18, all day. If I’m in I don’t get cold even wfh. If I go out and get cold though I won’t warm up at that temp. If you’re at work all day come into a cold house then switch the heating on it’s hard to get warm.

21 is warm. Assuming that is the correct temperature.

Just one other thing because I am in that temp all the time I think I’m completely used to it.

Firstly, bleed your rads. Air in the system makes central heating so much worse.

Next up, compare the temperature of the radiator nearest your boiler vs the one furthest away. Ideally they'll be at the same temperature. If they're not, you'll need to balance the radiators. Start with the radiator that heats up first. This is done on the return valve, not the flow valve. You want a drop in temperature of around 12 degrees C from the inlet to the outlet pipes on the radiator. It doesn't (AFAIK) matter what the temperature of the flow is at this stage, as long as you restrict the flow going back into the system to get that 12 degrees difference. By doing this, you'll be forcing more hot water in the other radiators. Do this on all rads and then crank them all up to max on the flow side - you might have a TRV for this.

See if this makes a difference. It may. Failing that, you might simply need to add more horsepower by cranking up the boiler to 80 Degrees, which may have a cost impact on your gas bill obviously.

I'm in the middle of doing mine right now. It's a royal pain as I don't know which side of each radiator is the flow and which is the return. I'm getting a sharpie and turning on both sides of the radiator at the same time and then feeling the pipes. Whichever gets hot first, should be the flow pipe!