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.

For me too, l like 20/21 l won't stay anywhere where l am cold.

I like my house 16°c in the day and more like 12°c overnight otherwise I sweat to death

God, I hate visiting people with cold houses, so miserable

Of course having a small child is relevant. Children can't regulate their bodies like adults. Say you don't have kids without saying it...

Hothouse flower here. I am never comfortable with a temperature below 20°. Putting on another layer does not help me at all. My face and hands are still cold.

Citizens Advice says 'health bodies recommend maintaining at least 18°C to avoid risks like increased blood pressure or respiratory issues, though it might be acceptable for active, healthy individuals in warm clothes, but prolonged cold below 18°C can lead to dampness and health problems.'
So, basically, borderline.

Our thermostat is set to 21. We do sleep with the window open.

@Maybebaby10 They also do not like to shut their bedroom doors so draft under our door into the ‘make shift’ bedroom all night.

In a bedroom? I would have thought cooler temperatures were preferable when trying to sleep.

@Maybebaby10 So those who say 17 is perfect presumably cannot stand warmer restaurants, friend’s houses etc?

I don't sleep in restaurants or in other people's houses.

17 is too cold to sit down in for long periods inside - it is fine outdoors as you would be moving and wearing a coat over your jumper and have shoes and possibly a hat and gloves too, but it is unreasonable to require that much clothing (or lap blanket equivalent) inside.

A child won’t be actually harmed by a Christmas visit to 17 but when I was growing up my parents kept our house at 17 and my feet were deformed by chilblains in winter throughout infant school, to the point that I had to go to school with the ends of my shoes cut open so that they would fit, so it absolutely is too cold for kids.

Hrft but I think you Hit the nail here, it's a range that's different for alot of people.

But also I think depends what you are doing and how you dress. Also drafts make me cold, even if it's a warm draft.

We heat to 16 for us, 18 for DC in the day, at night it can go as low as 12, not so much a cold issue but it creates condensation as cold air doesn't hold as much moisture and everything feels damp.

Done some heating improvements and hopefully alot better.
Early morning we manage at 15 BC we have Pjs and then straight into outdoor clothes. Doesn't feel cold tbh, but 15 in the evening is chilly.

Our Xmas rental accommodation is at 20 BC otherwise upstairs is freezing but I turn it down in the day as we don't need heat upstairs so much..

I live alone and my thermostat has usually been set at 15, but with AC and DGC popping in through the school holiday I’ve had it up to 17, though using only one of the two living room radiators. I wear layers and jumper, socks and slippers, it’s warmer than I’m used to but quite comfortable.

I visited AC on Christmas Eve and the DGC (3 and 4) were just wearing pants, DD wore a short sleeved dress, DSIL was in a t-shirt. DD said their house is very well insulated so it’s always warm - heating at 24!

Don’t blame you OP. It’s miserable being cold. Poor hosting in my opinion. Glad you’re warmer now.

13.5 man myself. Been gradually decreasing it over the years owing to the rising cost. You do acclimatize.

Minimum temperature to stop a house becoming damp is 18°.

What does everyone do when the electricity goes off?

I rarely have the heating on but when I do, it's set at 14°. My house it bone dry, has been for years and there's not even the slightest sign of damp or mould/mold.

What do you mean? Do you mean a national outage? Doesn't really happen any more, plus most houses are gas central heating.

You might acclimatise but you're risking damage to your health and your home (the latter might end up being a lot more expensive to fix than the cost of heating it properly - my ex refused to heat the cottage he was living in properly, just heating during the day with fires but no heat at night, the walls ended up riddled with mould, he had to move house and I think the owner ended up having to demolish it because it wasn't worth fixing by that point as the damage was so bad)

Gas CH needs electricity to work.

Even our over 50 year old gas central heating system needs electricity to work.

If you live in a rural area, the electricity going off isn’t that uncommon.

That isn’t a magic temperature. There are a lot of contributory factors to damp.

Exactly, my workplace is 16 or so, my house is usually 16-18 and not damp. But I open windows, use a dehumidifier etc etc

What kind of workplace? One where you do moderately heavy active work or an office? An office in my country would not be allowed to have such a low temperature, would break working conditions, but a factory can be cooler.

An office sort of. It’s underground so no heating

If the building is attended, such as your house, you can rig a generator outside, running a few essentials like lights, freezer and boiler, off an extension lead.

Boilers are usually fed from an FCU to remove the risk of somebody unplugging them by mistake. Some people point to the manufacturers instructions specifying the minimum gap in the isolator. A plug that is out of the socket meets and exceeds that gap and is perfectly safe.

Less trouble, for short periods, you can get an Uninterruptible Power Supply, as used in computers. You plug one end into the mains, and plug the boiler into the other end. Most of the time the electricity just flows through, but in the event of a power cut, a battery inside keeps the appliance running. I have not needed to buy one for years, old ones used to have a lead acid battery inside, like a miniature car battery, but Lithium batteries are now widely available, much lighter, and keep getting cheaper.

Boilers use very little electricity. I haven't measured mine, but the background power usage in my house, with 2xFridge Freezers, boiler, emergency lighting, radio and phone chargers, is about 250watts.

Ordinary solar inverters are required to switch off in a power cut, for safety reasons, but some have an emergency socket to power your freezer or boiler.

You must not feed a generator or standby power into your house socket or other circuits. It must be separate.

That is too low for the day.
It should be at least 18 when guests are staying. I can understand people thinking 20 or 21 is too warm, but 18 or 19 is a totally reasonable expectation.