To wonder how long the no heating brigade will last when it turns cold?

[womaninatightspot]

I’ve been contemplating how much I can reduce the heating and electric throws. It’s chilly here today, sixteen degrees, but grey and drizzly. I’ve lit the wood stove, I do have a cold so maybe I feel more susceptible to chills.

I feel like I’ve fallen at first hurdle. Definitely going to be keeping one warm room in the house so it’s not just really unpleasant for the dc. I’ve recently paid 365 for four cubic metres kiln dried wood but it’s going to cost 1K to fill the oil tank for 1000 litres. Was a third of that last year.

I don't have it on a timer or anything either. Just put it on when we're in and when we need it

I'm not sure where you are but I know in Scotland there are government grants that'll install a full new central heating system free of cost to house holder if you meet certain requirements disabilities/ income/ benefits. It's via energy saving trust here but there may be a similar organisation where you are.

I went for no heating in April this year and it was a bit cold but survivable.

From what I see in the UK the average October temperature is a bit higher than April, so provided temperatures are average if you can tough out April you should be able to tough out October. March/November are where the hard core come into their own.

I was also interested in the latitude effect (I'm up north therefore it's cold). in fact Birmingham is a bit colder than Glasgow on average, so that's really a myth. I suspect altitude (Scotland has a lot of higher up places than England) has more of an effect. London does seem to be quite warm compared to Birmingham and Glasgow, (summer mean temperature 2-3 degrees warmer), maybe urban heat island effect.

I am going to tough out October and maybe use the gas fire a bit when really cold rather than turn the CH on (which is less miserable than refusing to turn the heating on full stop like I did in April). It's about 6Kw vs. 25kw for the boiler, so I can have it on 4x as long.

I will do the same with the gas fire for March, in Nov-Feb the CH is going to come on 2x a day.

meteodb.com/glasgow/birmingham

In every single month of the year, daytime and night-time, the average temperature is warmer in Birmingham than Glasgow.

Well that's not what it says here :

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow

Birmingham daily mean temperature lower in 8/12 months.

I must admit I was surprised by that, so maybe it is wrong.

I’m already cold!..it’s not normally this cold in September?

You can look at the met office averages - which is more reliable but more effort because it won't let you compare at a glance, and you can see that all the averages are colder in Glasgow.

Yes, I think it seems cold for September. It was 7c, feeling like 5c, and I got the big coats out for the school run this morning.

I’m 66 and live alone in a rural semi, I dress in layers, I’ve plenty of fleece and wool throws, spare duvets and sleeping bags, and a dog and cats to snuggle with. I light a fire most winter evenings but I don’t switch the oil central heating on unless baby and toddler grandchildren are here, and even then it’s only set at 15°. It’s never (yet) gone below 9° indoors and that’s really not “cold”!

You can put boilers in bedrooms these days. Have you investigated whether you could get any help with a new boiler? There is some information here.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/housing-and-energy-grants/

It’s never (yet) gone below 9° indoors and that’s really not “cold”!

Yes, of course it's cold, it's cold by any metric of indoor temperature. It is a temperature that can jeopardise your physical health, your mental health and the fabric of your home.

You are hardcore and I salute you but 9 degrees would be freezing to me. I'm lighting a woodstove in the morning as working from home feels freezing first thing in the morning.

It was 6 or 7 degrees this morning on my sunrise dogwalk.

9 degrees inside is far too cold! Recently there was a news article interviewing someone from the housing health union (in my country) and they said its bad for the house to let the temperature fall below 18C, as that's the level which moisture and mould problems can develop, and that the best temperature to keep your house is at 20-21C. Not that I can afford that now, no heating on yet and its been between 17 and 19C inside and that feels cold enough for me that I wear two hoodies and a scarf and woolly socks! But its been raining all day so we've heated the boiler with wood and put the heating on from that just to get rid of any dampness in the air today.

south east town on outskirts of London here

Beautiful day… sunny and mild. My son in shorts. Very few people wearing coats or if they are - lightweight.

i feel the cold but absolutely no need for heating. My patio door is wide open.

always feeling happy to live here but never more to than now

I'm in SE, well sort of between SE and East Anglia and I've been toasty today. Usually like to have our patio doors open but big, tough, Scottish DH is moaning he's cold. I still have the bedroom windows open, but the kids asked for their duvets back on today having slept just with sheets over summer.

I dont like to be cold, but we spent the "coldest winter in 100 years" (2010) without any heating, with a toddler and a newborn and it was fine. We had oil radiators and timer plugs.

Our current house is a large 4 bed, rooms get toasty but we have an open hallway with marble tiled floors and fuck me it gets cold in there!! As soon as the lounge doors open I'm shouting for it to hurry up and be shut. I anticipate using heating about the same way as last year, 30 mins in the morning, an hour in the evening and a quick blast if it gets too cold.

To be honest my gas bill is always less than the "norm" it's my electric bill I fear.

Originally from the SE coast but currently live in the West Midlands and it's flipping freezing here! I've always felt the cold but even my DH has felt it and he's normally the complete opposite.

South east here

been dry and sunny but In Shade or by early evening you can feel temp dropping today

k

I’m in the South West and going to be 4 degrees here tonight! Dh was tempted to light the wood-burner but I’ve just got a heated throw so am trying that- it is toasty warm!

South West and forecast to be 4c in the night. Still 20c in living room. Might be a bit nippy tomorrow morning, but by the time I've done my online exercise class and the hoovering, I'll have warmed up. DH going to gym at 8am, so he won't be hanging around.

West Midlands and my OH is eyeing the thermostat up with interest! Don't think we'll see out October without turning the heating on. Maybe even September at this rate...

South West and I still have my bedroom windows open, not thinking about heating yet!

It's 16 at the thermostat by the front door. Feels cooler upstairs as both DS and I have windows open.

Me neither. Not even close. Its blissful to finally be cool after the hot weather.

NW here, and today is the first time I thought about putting the heating on. It’s nippy this evening.

I was thinking about this in the shower this morning.

I live in north- I have been really cold today despite layers, and it’s mid September so I’m about there in terms of when I’d put heating on. And it will then stay on till mid- late April in a normal year. 7 months

when I lived in south, we often wouldn’t have it on till October and off late March- so 6 months or slightly less

I’m guessing in scotland it could even be more that 7 months ?

yet,c we’re all getting same discounts from government - there’s no acknowledgement if you’re in scotland that £65 a month is barely going to touch the sides when outside temp is averaging 7-8 degrees for 7-8 months. Whereas it’ll go a lot further if your in south and averaging 10 degrees for 5 months.

don’t know why I hadn’t twigged that sooner. Surely rather than a fixed amount they should have done it as a % rate discount - funny that. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Tonight's a blip. It's back to 13°+ from tomorrow night. North wind today, so chilly!

DS' bedroom was 15.9° when I closed his window at lunchtime! 🥶🙈🤣