Posted in housekeeping but AIBU is the only place that gets replies 😜

[Waitingforthecold]

We moved in to our home this year (up until this point always been in house shares and not got involved with heating 🤣)
we generally run warm so in terms of a personal need for heating to go on we probably have quite a high threshold but we want to make sure we are looking after the house right (it’s old, probably prone to damp etc.)
so my question is, what’s you’re heating schedule? What temp do you let it get to outside before putting it on? How many hours a day? When in the day? What temp? Feels like a minefield!
I have set the heating to come on currently (it’s sitting at between 12-16 degrees outside where we are atm) thermostat set to 20 degrees, comes on 6.45-8.15am and then again 7-8.15pm. Does that sound about right?

YABU - change the schedule
YANBU - it’s fine how it is

20 is far too warm. 17 during the day if we're in, off at night.

In terms of helping your house, good ventilation is what it needs, and making sure it is well maintained with suitable materials.

Depends when your home,but if no children or elderly I'd set ut at 18 not 20, the times look fine

Should’ve probably said we do have a young baby!

20 would be too cold for me, so depends what you are used to. Our heating comes on as needed, we don't have assigned heating times.

20 is a bit hot. Haven't got mine on yet but when it cools down I will set it for a few hours every evening to take us to about 18 or 19 degrees.

20 seems warm for me too but I guess it depends on your home.

If it's cold at night then I would put the heating on for baby.

When ours were babies we just had a heater in the nursery to avoid putting the radiators on but to keep baby warm especially when it was freezing outside.

Current temperatures are still mild I'd say so a suitable sleeping bag should be fine without putting the heating on.

We just put the heating on for a few hours when it's really cold, no set times/temperatures or anything like that!

This would be ideal for me!! But the house is a very old Victorian terrace and we are trying to do everything we can to mitigate damp! So it’s advised to keep it between at least 18-20 degrees at all times as well as the usual ventilation etc etc advice

I run warm and 17ish is plenty for me. I never have heating on overnight as it's way too hot. Also sleep with window open unless it's minus 10 or something.

I will turn it down to 18 as a start anyway! Thanks!

Do you have a dehumifier?

It's a really personal thing. 20 would suit me. I like a quick hour to warm up house before I get out of bed then prob same again at about 4 to warm
Up for the evening .
My house is new though and heats up fast so that will change by the house type.

That's how I'd have it with it on for a bit at midday if home and possibly 5ish

Just stick on a constant 17/18 for the day, 14/15 at night. It's thermostatic, no need for schedules other than day/night

We have the heating on constant at 18 during the day and 15 at night. It only comes on for a few hours a day. It's meant to be a cost efficient way of doing things and means the temperature never drops really low.

Personally we didn't put the heating up with a baby, just made sure to dress baby for the temperature. Although actually it subsequently turned out baby was far too warm following the guidelines as he also runs hot. The minute he could start objecting to wearing a sleeping bag he did, and even now at 5 he largely just sleeps in pyjamas and kicks the covers off, even in the winter. Wish I'd realised sooner as I think being too warm caused a lot of his night wakings.

Anyway, that heating regime has been fine for our old house. We also make sure to open a few windows for a good half hour or so a day year round.

We do, humidity actually seems well controlled at the moment. We dried clothes outside when possible in the summer and have a heated rail / tumble dryer now that’s not possible. Open the windows a lot too. We haven’t noticed any condensation yet which I’m pleased about! (I’ve become a bit obsessed with damp😂) we had a damp survey done and they had no huge concerns and advised us to let the house breathe, use a certain type of paint, keep stuff away from the walls etc. so I think so far we are doing okay but we haven’t had a winter here yet!

If it's not got them already, look into getting air bricks. It can do wonders for damp in Victorian houses.

Ours was set at 18.5 for all day until 5 o'clock and it barely came on, thermostat said 18.7 when I looked, it then went up to 20 at 5 o'clock for the evening until 10

My thermostat is set at 18oC and the heating is timed to come on for 2 hours in the morning and another 2 in the evening. We also have a log burner that I light some evenings and a dehumidifier I switch on for a couple of hours most days in the winter.

I’m in an old Victorian. Make sure air bricks aren’t blocked up or covered. Almost all ours were when we moved in.

Apart from that, I set my heating to 19 constant. When it drops below 19 it’s comes on day or night. I have a little one and don’t want her getting cold in the night… it wakes her up 😂

We too live in a similar property and would spend an absolute fortune if we kept it at a constant 18, unfortunately they just don’t hold the heat well, it’s a real ball ache in the winter trying to keep everyone warm, stop the condensation and keep energy bills down

Make sure you either turn off the dehumidifier when windows are open, or that it is running in a rokm with doors and windows closed. Otherwise it is pulling the damp air from outside through, and is pointless.

Depends on the house. Our old 30s semi was set at about 22 and was on all day pretty much but because the house was damp and poorly insulated it was never warm. Our house now is set to 17. Comes on for an hour at 2am although now dc are older and don't wake up at night can probably get rid of that, the comes on at 5am, off about 8 and back on mid morning if we are home and just turn it off if we don't need it.

You just have to find out what works for you in the house.

We have the heating on constant at 18 during the day and 15 at night. It only comes on for a few hours a day. It's meant to be a cost efficient way of doing things and means the temperature never drops really low.

Ours is like this, we have Nest which tells the boiler when to come on and go off from a thermostat in the hall. Our settings are different from @Wibblywobblybobbly but it's the same idea - the heating is kept between a range of temperatures and therefore doesn't fluctuate wildly from very cold to getting too hot. Our heating bill actually dropped by about a third after installing Nest, rather than going up, and the house is more comfortable day to day.