To think that 17 degrees is not warm enough?

[Maybebaby10]

Staying with a family member who is refusing to agree that 17 degrees in a drafty living room is too cold!! I have a small child here with me and the said family member decided to sleep with the window open as they like the breeze. They also do not like to shut their bedroom doors so draft under our door into the ‘make shift’ bedroom all night. We are in England and it’s freezing at the moment. I am fuming and freezing but don’t want to ruin the day.

Aren't we advised that we should heat our houses at a minimum temperature of 18 degrees?

I would be shivering at 17 degrees OP. I couldn't stay there and would have to go home.

The thermostat in my living room is currently showing 23 degrees and I'm wearing a thermal vest, with a light top and a thick jumper on top with jeans and socks.

I'm not doing a lot at the moment, obviously, if I'm doing housework them I lower the temperature but for sitting in the evening 23 works for me.

I never have my heating on at night though as I'm under a 13 tog duvet.

Everyone is different but if you've got guests I do think you need make sure they're warm.

It's 22.8 in my living room. I'm layered up and have cosy blankets around me. I'd still be happy if the temperature was a nudge higher.

Just shows how different we all are. It's 18.1 in our living room right now and DH is in joggers and a t-shirt. I'm wearing leggings and a light jumper but I'm quite warm.

See your outfit is what I wear to work when it’s 16c - I do add a cardigan but I’m usually thermal vest, thin jumper, cardigan!

Yes. Overly heated houses, central heating with no fresh air, makes me feel ill. It's horrible.

But that's my personal preference. We're all different. People should try to make their guests feel comfortable.

I would just go home. My child can’t be feeling miserable and I wouldn’t put them through it

I get warm when I move, and cold when I sit.
I keep a thermometer in my lounge at knee height. The thermostat in the hall is no use as a guide. I can tolerate 18⁰C in the daytime if I'm busying around, but in the evening, it's frigid. There are cold draughts at floor level so feet get cold very easily as outdoor air leaks in through poorly sealed patio doors.

There's layering and there's layering. Still having a dripping nose despite being layered up and getting static shocks every time you touch metal is bloody miserable if that's not unavoidable. I've learned from winter marathon training and winter cold water swimming that layers are only useful when you are already warm. Once your skin is cold, adding layers is basically insulating the cold in like a cool bag. Cooling down is far easier- while cooking Christmas dinner I've ended up stepping into the conservatory to and opening the doors to reduce the cooking heat. 19⁰C in the lounge feels very fresh after that!

The final time I stayed at MiL's was miserable as she was resisting the heating being turned on at 15-16⁰C which after several days had me utterly chilled to the core and struggling to warm up. How she did not have hypothermia I do not know.
For BiL's I have to wear about 5 layers including a fugly heated gilet to not sit there shivering for 6 hours while they turn the lounge into a wind tunnel and keep re-opening the bloody windows. I don't think wearing a balaclava or doing a 5 min HITT workout each hour would go down that well somehow.

Being outdoors is fine because it generally involves more movement (unless doing something like supervising small children on a playground) and it's socially accepted to wear a heck of a lot more clothing all over the body without risking it looking passive aggressive.

For night time it’s fine. Day time it’s bit chilly unless you’re busy moving about cooking/hoovering etc.

OP put your coats on and ask for a blanket to wrap over yourselves. Maybe the poor host will then get the message that you’re cold.

When I am in reception rooms I like to be warm as I’m not under a duvet. I like a cool bedroom as I’m wrapped under a duvet. There’s a big difference.

The crucial difference here is 'wandering about'.
Generally if you are outside you are walking, moving.
Often indoors you are sitting down so 17 degrees will feel very different to if you were moving

17 degrees also feels hugely different outside depending on whether the sun is shining on your skin warming it or if it's a breezy grey day.

I work in healthcare and it should always be 20°C.

22-23 is the best temp for a room in the winter. I would be miserable at 17!

Have you considered that the relative is struggling with paying their heating bills? Maybe this is all due to their cost of living and them having worked out at 17 degrees they can afford to pay their heating bills but any more and they can’t but they don’t want to say that to you 🤷‍♀️

put another layer on! Warm pyjamas at night and sleep with your child if you are both too cold as each others body temp will
keep both of you nice and cosy

I dunno, isn't it true that we need a lower temp at night when asleep? Do you mean a baby?

it's their house..

My daughter likes having the heating on at 25! Try that, sweat your tits off.

Everyone runs differently. Hosts should be willing to turn heating up or offer blankets/hot water bottles to guests running cooler or open windows for a while for guests running hotter.

I keep my house at 20C in winter if sitting about but turn it down when doing house work or house jobs. It’s usually kept at 15c over night or when out so as not to use too much fuel. I turn it up/down to accommodate guests.

Yes, that's correct.

When we bought the house we didn't know it was going to be cold and difficult to heat though, so in that sense we didn't choose to be cold. But having bought it, we choose not to spend money trying to heat up the whole house, which we feel is unnecessary, preferring instead to have lower temperatures everywhere except the living room.

It's currently 15.6° in my kitchen, where I am sitting having a cup of coffee. It's about the same temperature throughout the house (except for the bedroom where the window is open and the living room where the woodburner was alight until 1.00am), so not really cold, just a bit on the cool side.

I'm wearing a long-sleeved top, a fleece jumper and a fleece jacket and feeling toasty. I guess it might seem odd to other people, but it's perfectly normal for me. 😊

This temperature is actually hazardous for your health. It can cause breathing and cardiovascular problems.
Now, while your all young(ish) fit and healthy, its likely ok, but as you age, if you dont stay warm, the cold will kill you.
Go and look.at the numbers of people dying of cold. Those numbers aren't small

I work in someone's home, this is the difference in temperature from my flat, to theirs. At theirs, I wear a thermal Base later, a hat (indoors!) and a heated throw 24/7
The top is theirs, the bottom is mine. The room thermometer is mine that I bring to ensure tbe temp doesn't drop i to unhealthy levels. At 15° i insist the heating goes on

17 is fine for overnight. I rarely have the heating on at night.

But you have to admit that is going from one extreme to the other.

Some people have their air conditioning set lower than the heat in your house.

Yes of course its extreme opposite. My flat yesterday was warmer as we were cooking and there were more people than usual.
But it doesn't change the fact that 15° is far too cold for an indoor temperature. And in fact l9w temps like that kill thousands of people a year

It’s not a case of not standing warmer places.
We also have an old Edwardian house which costs a fortune to heat so keeping it at 17 hopefully is keeping the bills down. Extra layers, thermal underwear and throws help a lot.

This a a great point. We have a house in Spain, and we never have the air on lower than 26, except in the bedrooms where is around 19 for bedtime. X

My house is between 17 and 19 degrees downstairs. Cooler upstairs as none of us like a warm bedroom. Bedroom window is more likely to be open than closed as I do overheat at night.

currently 18 degrees downstairs and I'm in a short sleeve T-shirt and not cold. It's when it's damp outside I'm more likely to feel cold, but also have a dehumidifier.

id put heating on for guests but wouldn't have it over 20 degrees as that's just far too warm for me.

i can't hide when I'm too warm as my face flares and goes bright red and hot.

Neither of these temperatures are good though.

15 degrees in the daytime I would agree I'd feel cold. But 26 degrees is far too hot. I would be unwell at that temperature.