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.

DH has the house around that as he gets hot and narky at any more. He gave me two oodies for Christmas so I'm not cold.

I would get a migraine if I had to sit in a 20 degree room all day.

I'm someone who is constantly moving, even if it's just shifting about in my seat, getting up to let the cat in etc. so I rarely sit "still" for long periods.

I agree the sun makes a difference but I've never, ever needed a thick fleece and thermals at 17 degrees, which is what other people on here apparently wear.

I wear a full thermal Base layer until the indoor temp at work is at least 20° at home i don't need it as I heat my flat properly

I expect as I get older I'll probably have the heating on more than I currently do.

I've always been a person who feels the cold more than most other people, so I do like the living room to be nice and warm during the evening when all I'm doing is sitting and watching TV.
I eventually remove my outer fleece layer in the evening, usually when the room temperature hits 25° or so. Sometimes I even remove the inner fleece, but that's rare.

I will happily wear a fleece in a room where the temperature is 26° in the winter. But in summer I would only be wearing a t-shirt or a sleeveless top if it's that temperature inside - there's no way I would be putting a fleece on!

It very rarely gets as warm as 26° inside the house in the summer, it would only be a couple of days during an exceptionally hot heatwave (I think the last time was in 2022, when outdoor temperature was 38°)

Curiously, I need to wear gloves outdoors when I go out for a walk if the outdoor temperature is below 16°, as I have reynauds syndrome and the circulation in my fingers shuts down. But indoors my hands can cope with lower temperatures (though I do wear gloves when taking things out of the freezer).

Make of that what you will! I guess I'm a bit of an oddball! 😂

This is me. I rarely have heating on. I work from home when it is 14/15 indoors. That's fine for me. My windows are open all day until late afternoon. I put the heating on for an hour or so in the evening and that's set to 17. Any hotter and I feel sick and have a headache. If I visit my MIL I'm really uncomfortable as her heating is whacked right up. Can't stand heating on.

You aren't odd at all, just someone who can regulate as different temperatures and tolerate both xx

Please stop scaremongering - or at least give a balanced view and tell us how many people die from excess heat. You do seem to be slightly obsessed with cold but as an asthma sufferer I fear heat far more. With cold, you can wrap up, have a hot drink, with heat you can do nothing. I am as phobic about the heat as you are about the cold.

Our house is currently 15.9 and perfectly comfortable. We have windows open, because the fire was lit last night and it felt stuffy. I couldn't live at the temperatures you do, I would suffocate.

I'm wearing leggings, a long sleeved t shirt and a dress, no sweater, although I do like my feet warm so I'm wearing socks and sheepskin boots.

Am I young, fit and healthy? Not really. I'm almost 62, I have neurological illness, but I walk with my dog for 1-2 hours a day during the colder months.

I'm 75 my tolerance to heat gets lower every year. I can just about tolerate 21c in summer, when it hits mid twenties, I feel ill. We have now put on the self covered duvet, because it's easier to wash top and bottom sheets in winter,it's a 7 tog. Just taken the dogs out,there is a cold wind,I did wear a thermal vest and leggings. I like some heat in the morning,to shower/dress. I get hot very quickly, would rather have a throw in the evening, I can chuck off. Well,as for being dangerous below 20c, my uncle is well into his late 90s, never ill, and a heating set at 16c. He's not short of money. My generation and his didn't grow up with central heating

This is it. I grew up in cold houses, so did my parents and grandparents. They lived well into their eighties, my nan got to 93. All of them seemed to complain more about the heat of summer than they ever did about the cold of winter.
I'm like you; layer up, have a lap throw at night. I dread summer; for me it's asthma and headaches in June, July, August. Today we've wrapped up well for a two hour walk, back to a comfortable house at 16/17. I could not walk into a wall of 25 degree heat after being out in the cold, that to me, feels unhealthy.

15.6°C is a colder indoor temperature than most people would like, but it is NOT dangerous to a healthy adult (nor healthy children over two years old).

An indoor temperature would have to ve under 12 degrees to actually be dangerous to healthy adults and children.

Some categories of people can't regulate their temperature well - under two year olds (and more so babies under one year old), elderly people, people with restricted mobility and people with certain health conditions are at risk with temperatures under 16°c yes, but most people are not remotely at risk (comfort is a separate and personal thing).

Ok, here's your balanced view. Its only 1 source. All sources say the same or similar. Cold kills at a much higher rate than heat

It depends on the individual house. For example, our house is never set to more than 15 degrees. It's definitely warm enough. Saying that, we have retrospective insulation on the outside of the whole house, so rarely need the heating on for more than 15 minutes.

😂😂😂

Guess I should have looked that up 😳

Ah well, not the first time I've made myself look like an idiot on here and I'm sure it won't be the last. Might be just as well if hypothermia does get me...though it's far more likely to be heatstroke.

You are absolutely not an idiot, not by far. It seems that not many people don't take the cold seriously. The heat in the probably wont get you tho, it might feel like its boiling your eyeballs to you! But its most likely not!

Thank you everyone for replying. We did end up going home earlier. It was (albeit subjectively) too cold to enjoy the stay and my child started coughing pretty bad. We got home and the cough stopped. So obviously the right thing to do

17 C is uncomfortably cool if you are sitting about. It’s fine if you’re zooming around doing housework. Being cold is miserable.

Heating this morning managed to bring the temperature up to 15c so I added a couple of hours to bring it up to 17c. Too hot now with the log burner going in the sitting room.

It depends on the person. Some people are comfortable a far wider range of temperatures than others.

For me, no way is 17 cold, and it certainly isn’t miserable.

I would say to everyone just look at WHO (world health organisation) recommendations on temperatures for heating rooms and that will tell you everything you need to know.

The benchmark of the absolute mimimum and I mean absolute mimimum is 18c for health, with 21c for comfort in the rooms you use. Bedrooms 16-18c for sleep quality for healthy adults

I'm fairly active but as soon as I stop for a few hours in a property that has a poor Energy efficiency rating of D, 22c if it gets there is about right.

17c feels absolutely biting, drafty and freezing if property is poor insulated, is old etc.

A thermostat set between 18°C and 21°C is often suggested for overall savings.

I agree. I would find that too cold. I have to keep my flat at 20 C. I have arthritis and fibromyalgia and if it goes much below that for long,my muscles start to seize up.

I've never lived in a house with central heating. Sometimes, when I'm at friends' houses, I feel like I'm suffocating.

Of course. For quite a long time I had a house it was very difficult to heat. DD and I got used to living in chilly conditions but in our case, we didn’t relish it. Everyone is different. For me, 17 deg if I’m sitting around is miserable. Hands and feet get cold and then all of me, thermals or not.

Perhaps the critical factor here is for the host to take care of the comfort of their guests. If someone said they were chilly in my house I would put the heating up (unless it’s a teenager in a t shirt). Just good manners.

Yep, I’m currently at my friends for the evening and she’s had to turn the heating off, it’s fucking roasting and I was sweltering 😂

Hmm,Op, 17 would be cold for me. But I keep our room between 16-20! It never gets to 17 though. We have a 12 month old so have one of those egg things in her room. To keep her warm I have one of those padded suit things for nights Not helpful now you are there but maybe for next time. It’s so useful it You can cover feet and hands or leave them undone / nappy changes are a pain though! Although has the two way zip thing. I would definitely crank up the heating if I was hosting…