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How many hours a day is your heating on?

94 replies

bigfishlittlefishtupperwarebox · 20/11/2025 21:36

I work out of the home. Mine is on for an hour in the morning and 3 hours in the evening but I'm finding it feels even colder than last winter at the moment (in northern England)

How many hours is yours set to go on at the moment?

OP posts:
goingtotown · 21/11/2025 19:20

This week it’s been cold so 14 hours 7am-9pm

ChachaIntheLongrun · 21/11/2025 19:36

happy20218 · 20/11/2025 21:43

Mines set on 22 ( I like a warm house ) on a thermostat. I was told this was a cheaper way

my flat is on 23 and I put it few more times per day if I need to. That depends how many on how I dress.

Friendlygingercat · 21/11/2025 23:16

Mine is 22 during the day and 16 at night. Running a business at home I can (legally) claim back 30% of my utilities as a tax deductable expense. I have currently £850 credit in my account with Eon.

Notevry1ishonest · 21/11/2025 23:22

Posted this on another recent thread.

We have 3 thermostats. One in the open plan downstairs area which controls the underfloor heating (gas not electric), one in the hallway downstairs and one in the hallway upstairs. The 2 hallway ones are Nest ones.

Upstairs is set to 15°C, downstairs is set to 16°C and the underfloor one is normally set to 16°C, but this week we've turned it up to 18°C.

The downstairs Nest one also has a set time to come on for 1½ hrs in the early morning (40 mins before we get up). This is set for 2 hrs later on the weekend. This temp is set to 19°C.

This thermostat is also set to come on for 2 hrs at night, to 20°C, and comes on around 9pm, so that it's warm when we go to bed.

If it wasn't for our downstairs bedroom being considerably colder (5+°C less) than the rest of the downstairs, 9 times out of 10 we wouldn't need to have it on at all at night.

We added underfloor insulation last year, but it's not made much different, tbh, and this is one of the only 2 rooms left from the original house.

The other is the entrance hallway, which is also usually quite cold.

They both have earth floors/foundations with raised joists and a wooden floor. We've added good underlay and carpet, and added 100mm celotex directly under the floorboards in our bedroom last year, but I think our next step will be to add cavity insulation as well to completely fill the spaces of both areas.

The downstairs Nest is located just beyond the cold entrance hall, on the other side of an internal door. During the day, it's set to 16°C, which it almost never reaches, and even at night it's rare for it to drop to 16°C.

Upstairs isn't used atm, so it's set to 15°C all the time, but once dc are home, that will be set at 20°C for 2hrs early morning and again for 3hrs between 8pm and 11pm. It will also then revert back to its minimum temp.

Once dc is home this minimum temp will be set to 17°C during the day and 16°C between midnight and 6am. When the outside temps are 1°C or less, our upstairs does drop below the minimum temp of 15°C, and so will switch on as needed.
This usually means it may be on for a max of 2/24hrs spread out over the 24hr period.

Once upstairs is being lived in, it generally doesn't drop below 16°C, except maybe overnight in severely cold weather.

The open plan underfloor hearing is normally set to 16°C overnight, but this last week it's been set to 18°C, which it does reach at some point.
During the evening, say from around 7-8pm it is raised to 20°C, and this is lowered back to 18°C when we go to bed.

We have gch.

Our gas bill is already ridiculously high, and we're not even heating upstairs yet.

The Nest heating is on for 5hrs/24 in total (looking at the history) and the underfloor is on for abt 3hrs per day and our gas usage is already hitting £7-8/day.

Last winter, our gas and electric was costing us £100 per week. It is scary, really.

I'm actually very naturally energy-saving conscious, so I dread to think what our house would cost most people!

PigeonsandSquirrels · 21/11/2025 23:24

One hour. Heats the living room up in the evening and then we trap that.

Sadly there’s no point with the rest of the house. It’s new to us and old and drafty… all the heat gets sucked straight out it’s awful. Currently 11C in my bedroom while I’m in bed 😭

We’re getting it reinsulated soon and replacing the drafty region with a new extension.

mondaycando1 · 21/11/2025 23:25

I have electric rads in each room so each one is set for different times /temps but I reckon kids room about 7hrs as there was an inset day lounge about 5, rest of place 3hrs. I don't measure times or temps though, I just cry at the smart meter £££ readings.

ErrolTheDragon · 21/11/2025 23:49

programmed thermostat - DH sets it, I think it’s 20 in the day, 17 at night. I turn it down a degree or so if I’m doing active housework like hoovering, or cooking.

cinnamongirl123 · 21/11/2025 23:59

In these temperatures, even if it was on permanently the house wouldnt get above 16/17C. We have it on in the morning, then during the day off but DH WFH has a small electric heater. Then we have it on after school and for the evening. Even those amounts cost a fortune and we’re still fucking freezing 😫😫😫

MCF86 · 22/11/2025 00:13

I don't very often put mine on - I like a cold bedroom (my window is still open) and much prefer a heated blanket to a radiator. I did keep meaning to for the mornings this week but then would forget until waking up again.

I have to say I don't really understand the keeping it on low all day though, doesn't that just mean it switches on and off constantly as it reaches/drops temperature? (that's a genuine question, I really don't think I know how it works!!)

TransAdmiralsAreAdmirals · 22/11/2025 00:19

1 hour.

Toooldtopretend · 22/11/2025 00:26

200 year old house. I put the heating on today at 2pm as the thermostat was it was 11 degrees on the landing. 10 hours later it’s got to 16. It’s going to be a long, cold and expensive winter!

OSTMusTisNT · 22/11/2025 00:28

Due to DH being up at either 5am/6am and me WFH 8am-5pm it's on more than it's off.

Generally pay around £160 per month for gas & electric for my 2 bedroom flat 😱.

I won't be cold though, spend a Scottish 1980's childhood of nothing but a coal fire in the living room, no double glazing etc and am happy to pay for the luxury of full central heating.

ProfessorDrPrunesqualer · 22/11/2025 00:38

At the moment there's no point us setting our thermostat as the house won’t reach the temp
Currently averaging 10.5
Only heating rooms we use and the room with all our books which has the dehumidifiers on aswell

Heating on when home
Four/five hours no point at night
Wearing thermals and have the wood burners running

Old 14/early15th century single glazed house. Not allowed double glazing and secondary glazing rots the old windows and frame

🥶🍻 beer works wonders

Ponderingwindow · 22/11/2025 00:39

It’s just on a thermostat and runs as needed. Some days that is very little. Rare days it barely takes a break.

Judystilldreamsofhorses · 22/11/2025 00:49

Ours is timed to come on 6.30 - 8, then 4.30 - 11. Radiators set at different temperatures in different rooms. We’ve had snow here since Wednesday and I’ve been WFH (usually in work on a Thursday) so it’s been bumped on in the morning and on all day. We live in an old granite property with high ceilings and it is hard to heat. Usually the cat is in and out which lets cold in, but he’s been firmly parked on the heated throw during this cold spell.

StruggleFlourish · 22/11/2025 11:54

My furnace is "on" all the time, but the heat only kicks in when the temperature Falls below what I've pre-programmed.

I've programmed that after 9:00 p.m. the temperature of the house is allowed to go down the 10° until 5:00 a.m. and then the heat can come on, it usually runs for about an hour in the morning because my pre-programmed daytime high between 5:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. is 14°. If someone is coming over to visit then I'll put the heat up to 18 and it'll have to run for a while to get up to that, but I'd say it runs very little (and yet, the heating bills....)

LBOCS2 · 22/11/2025 12:10

It’s programmed so it could come on for an hour in the morning when we get up, an hour around lunchtime to boost the temperature (I WFH) and then four hours in the evening. I keep the thermostat between 17 and 17.5°c so if it’s already that temperature then it won’t come on, but it has been over the last couple of weeks.

If I get cold in my office I have a small oil radiator I switch on under my desk and keep my legs sort of wrapped around it, and we have blankets on the sofas so if we’re keeping still we snuggle down.

We pay £140 a month across the year and are currently in £360 credit, which will be whittled away at over the next couple of months as we use the heating. We replaced the whole heating system when we moved in here about 5 years ago so the boiler is quite efficient and the radiators have a decent BTU for each room. When it comes to needing replacement I’m hopeful we’ll have solar set up so we’ll move to a ASHP with solar feed to offset some of the running cost, but ideally that would be a few years away yet!

Mikart · 22/11/2025 13:23

Today 7 till 5pm. Then log burner on

DiscoBeat · 22/11/2025 13:34

All day, it goes off between 11pm and 6 am.

TheWiseAmethyst · 23/11/2025 11:19

1-2 hours in the morning when I attempt to get through any household tasks needing done.
Maybe an hour or two in the evening. Apart from that I'm out or under my heated blanket. Electric blanket on the bed which don't seem to cost much according to the smart meter.
I have two sets of thermals, gloves, socks and a snood which was given to me by a church. So kind. It also included a flask and electric blanket. Bless them for thinking of me. 🥶🙏

CuriousClaimant · 24/11/2025 11:03

Mines been set to come on when it gets cold

Touty · 24/11/2025 12:37

I haven’t put it in yet I don’t think it’s cold enough

Augustus40 · 18/12/2025 13:57

I have it on nearly all day but the thermostat is rarely over 16 degrees. I work at home. On c 5am off c 7pm.

Lemonlimonade · 18/12/2025 13:59

It’s on constantly. Set to maintain 20 degrees.

Crystallllll · 18/12/2025 14:00

2 hours. One first thing then one in the evening. We are in the southeast though so it’s been really mild.

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