Keeping warm

I am having to put on extra clothing as I have severe financial problems. You are lucky if the rise in heating bills does not bother you. Only trouble is if you keep your central heating off all the time your pipes will freeze and you will get a burst. Can't win when you are poor like me.

Our boiler broke last winter and we were without CH for a month. I can assure anyone that an unheated house overnight with temperatures of minus 15-17 outside and a foot of the snow on the ground is deeply unpleasant.

No 2 son used to have the heating up at tropical level. Now with his own large house and family, his home is kept at a very cool temperature. If we stay there in winter, we have to sneak in fan heater for our bedroom. And he’s in a very good financial situation.

I believe experiments have been done to try to establish whether, in the long run, it’s cheaper to keep the central heating on low all night rather than it going off at bedtime.

The thinking is that, particularly during a very cold spell, the house gets so cold at night if the heating is off, that a lot of energy is needed to warm it up again.

By leaving it on very low at night the thinking goes, the whole fabric of the house remains reasonably warm so it’s not starting each day from a low temperature.

I am not sure what the findings were but I do have friends who do this to make the inevitable night time loo visit a bit less of a shock temperature-wise!

I agree with a lot of what has been said about warner clothes instead of turning the heating up, but, what you also have to bear in mind is the producers and sellers of heating to you.

After all, it is your "money" they are after.

I follow the guideline of "Heat the person, not the room/house" until the weather gets really cold.

I asked about a heatpad on GN years ago as I badly feel the cold, and someone recommended an electric "gilet-type" thing which I bought from Amazon. It is absolutely brilliant, keeps me toasty warm while watching TV, I add a furry throw over my legs and voila! No heating on yet.

With underfloor heating, controlled by thermostat, it’s during the night, when the temp drops, one degree below it’s setting, that the heating comes on. It very often doesn’t have to come on again that day. The theory is that by having it work like that, the heating isn’t required to work so hard as it would if it had to come on in the morning in a much colder house. So the experts say, anyway.

Thanks GillT57, how nice of you! I will turn down the unused rooms to 1, just in case they don't work on the 'freeze' setting, thank you.

Unfortunately no porch, but I do have a door curtain in the hallway and will leave the two doors ajar.

I have just been sticking bubble wrap to the windows in the extension. I was sceptical that it would stick with water, but it does!

I can’t add anything new, but I also saw the lady on tv complaining about having to wear a cardigan and I was surprised as it’s normal in our house to get our thermal undies out as soon as we feel a chill in the air. We can afford to heat our home but I don’t like the house too hot plus as others have said we need to reduce our carbon footprint.

Guilty as charged. Otherwise I wake up with a freezing cold nose.

I see some of you have heating on overnight!!! Unheard of in my family . Why g the be heck would you want to heat the house when you’re in bed.

Hello Shandy, lovely to hear you are safely and cosily into your new bungalow! As to your questions, we leave the radiator thermostats in the guest bedrooms set at 1 and turn them up if the children are coming to stay, there is no risk or harm to the system by doing this. If you have a warm hall, it can be worthwhile leaving the doors of the unused rooms open as it airs, heats them and stops it being such a cold shock when you open them! That's what we do anyway and it works for us as we have a non draughty hall with a porch so effectively an internal hall. I hope you are settling in well and enjoying going out and buying stuff for your new home.

I heard on the radio a woman stating that she refused to wear socks until October so therefore had switched on the central heating. It's almost beyond comprehension!

Shandy57

Some of you know I've moved into a new bungalow, and I finally have a thermostat and central heating controls. At my old house the boiler was on or off with a spring/winter setting, and none of the radiator controls worked.

I've asked around a few friends and they keep their individual radiator controls at 5. One friend doesn't think her radiator controls work at all. I don't use the two front rooms, could I turn them down to the 'frost free' setting? If my thermostat is set at 18 degrees, does it mean the frost free setting radiators don't get much water?

Our bedroom one is set at frost free or 1 if the temperature plummets. Neither of us like a warm bedroom.

Why do radiators need venting every autumn?

From the age of ten (1958), I let myself in after school, and had to light the paraffin heater!! Since my mother had started working, the coal fire hadn’t been used. I was the one who had to go to the shop to get the paraffin can filled, as well as doing all the shopping after school. The heater, only in one room, would have been on from when my father got up, then put off when my mother and I left for work and school. The one other room, where I slept, was never heated. Now, I live in a new build bungalow with underfloor heating. We were advised to leave the heating on 24/7. The bedrooms are set at 19deg, and in the five years I’ve been here, the temp has never dropped below that, so the heating doesn’t come on. If I have visitors, I heat the bathrooms for a short while. The living room is large and open plan with a lot of glass, and is set at 22 deg. It usually comes on during the night in winter. As 22 deg doesn’t seem to feel so warm in a large room, I always wear a cardigan or fleece in winter, and in the evening, usually resort to wearing an extra pair of (fleecy) socks with my trousers tucked into them. That heats my ankles and keeps my feet warm. My old botany wool cardigans and jumpers are the best. Glad I’ve kept them for twenty odd years!

Having poor circulation and Renalds disease and not very mobile I find that putting extra clothes doesn’t always work. However even though I keep the living room warm I only put on a heater on when I am in the kitchen and bathroom. Have no heating in the bedroom but have an electric blanket.
I remember before the days of central heating and insulation waking up with a frozen drip on the end of my nose and frozen patterns on the windows.
If we complained about cold hands Mum told us there was a bowl of hot water to do the washing up.
Re Liberty bodices when I was three in 1936 my dad put my liberty bodice on back to front whilst dressing me in order to take me into the bedroom to see my newly born sister. When I went to school my stockings were hooked on the liberty bodice buttons.

Some of you know I've moved into a new bungalow, and I finally have a thermostat and central heating controls. At my old house the boiler was on or off with a spring/winter setting, and none of the radiator controls worked.

I've asked around a few friends and they keep their individual radiator controls at 5. One friend doesn't think her radiator controls work at all. I don't use the two front rooms, could I turn them down to the 'frost free' setting? If my thermostat is set at 18 degrees, does it mean the frost free setting radiators don't get much water?

The problem is that DH and I have different body thermostats. He's always too warm and I'm always too cold. If I complain he tells me to put something warmer on, (I'm already wearing a thermal vest, jumper and scarf). "Feel my hands" I say. His are as warm as toast while mine are like blocks of ice. It's a well-known fact that men's body temperature is different from women's so I don't know how we answer the question as to what the temperature should be in the home.

If you dress appropriately you don't need to turn up your heating put a cardigan on it's not hard

I totally agree I thought her remark was ridiculous as I wear a cardigan both on summer evenings and in the winter. The thickness will vary and the addition of a blanket helps too. This is in a reasonably well heated house with no real problems about paying bills. I think the media find the people who make the most extreme and ridiculous remarks and use them to show on broadcasts. There are not many measured responses to media questions.

I control my heating with the thermostat on the landing. If I wake up feeling cold, I might turn it to 20 or I might just put on a thick fleece. I'd never keep it up at that temperature overnight. For a good night's sleep, I need a cool bedroom and a warm bed. Teenagers don't seem to feel the cold as we did at their age. My DGD used to cycle to school in blazer, skirt and ankle socks even in winter. I'd have been wearing a cardigan, blazer and top coat at that age!

On the radio 4 this morning a lady was asked at what temperature did her heating switch on. She replied that it wasn’t regulated to the temperature outside but to the time of year, in her case October.

Because of health problems I keep the thermostat at 20.5 early morning & late evening unless very cold when I put it up to 21. If I still feel chilly then add more layers to the thermal t shirt & leggings under thick jumper, thick trousers & thick socks inside warm slippers. Cannot afford too high bills on top of everything else to pay for on pension income!

I love a warm long cardigan and thick socks during the day, as long as my feet are warm I'm happy. I have to have a hot water bottle in my bed for that reason, I don't like my bedroom being too warm and stuffy for sleeping. My heating is only on after teatime for a couple of hours and then I sit in warm PJ's with a throw over me while I'm watching TV or reading.

I also saw the interview. She said it was wrong that she had to wear a cardigan to keep warm I found this so strange I put a cardigan on or an extra pair of socks if I feel a bit cold...that is how I was brought up.