Central heating

MerylStreep

Our heating is never turned off. It is set at 21 so if it dropped below that in July it would come on. I don’t do cold 😟

Exactly the same as us, but we are set at 20° it has been clicking on the last few mornings tbh, but only for about 10/15 mins just enough for the bathroom radiator to warm the room up and a bit in kitchen which is fine. It hasn't come on in the evenings yet. Unless the weather is very cold January/February it rarely comes on for more than an hour morning and evening .

We live on an estate where the central heating works from a boilerhouse in the middle of the site. Our heating goes on on 1st October which is fine for me though I know that a few of the older residents would like it to be turned on earlier.
The heating for the hot water comes from the same source all year round, so most of us have heated towel rails and have warm bathrooms at the moment.
Personally I really feel the heat so don't really use much heating for most of the year. Our home rarely drops below 20 degrees even without heating.

I agree with others that it really makes more sense to set your thermostat at a temperature that suits you and just leave it alone. Since we moved here I've found I've acclimatised to a warmer house - our previous home was a Georgian town house on 5 floors and I kept the thermostat very low for obvious reasons.
It really does depend on the house you live in, we did everything we reasonably could to insulate our last house, draft-proofing the windows and even insulating between the bedroom floors so that we only heated the top rooms when we had guests. Even so it would have cost us more than we could afford to run it at more than 18 degrees.
The Energy Saving Trust recommends heating your home to between 18 to 21 degrees celsius during winter. And The World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests 18 degrees is the ideal temperature for healthy and well-dressed people. Both agree this is also the ideal temperature for sleeping.

kwal

I usually try to wait until well into October and this year I certainly will as I am dreading the bills. I'm already adding an extra layer so I should be looking like a Michelin man by the time I give in and switch on!

Same here kwal, I am dreading it. I do not have anyone to share the bills with as I live alone. Plus my bedroom is like an attic room, where it's boiling in the summer and absolutely freezing in the winter.

Hetty58

I'm more into door curtains, bubble-wrapped windows, wearing layers, electric blankets (and throws) - along with plenty of walks and hot drinks. Central heating is a last resort.

Same here. I have an oil fired boiler and it’s on for half an hour each morning for the day’s hot water. I’ll start having the bathroom towel rail and the radiator in the downstairs loo on when it’s going below zero outside but I’m very rarely inclined to have radiators on in living rooms, and never in the bedroom. I like a warm bed but a cold pillow and a cool room. I light a fire some evenings from around November.

Washing goes outside all year round when there’s a few dry hours, if I have to hand wet things indoors they’re on Sheila-maid sirens in the kitchen, where they dry quickly in the warmth rising from cooking and from the fridge and freezer. I do love a heated throw over my lap on the sofa, shared with at least one cat and dog, and it comes to bed with me too!

My Dad is £5,000 in credit to British Gas so I clicked the button on his online account to request a refund. Website refused as apparently he will need that money now the colder weather is coming

Try a site called :- Resolver.com

They are good at getting you refunds. Or try googling the email of the ceo and writing directly to his team.

Ours is set at 20 never off if goes below that automatically comes on.

This year has been completely upset. OH was in hospital in June , consequently he felt the cold so the CH was on in July.when the weather was cold and wet. He is now feeling sorry for himself as he has a cold and we had our flu jabs yesterday. Our solid fuel stove lit and are making use of the blankets I crocheted last year. I have just been outside and even though it is damp ,it is warmer outside than inside. I will have to get someone to check the level in the gas tank in case we need a top up before winter.

I am ALWAYS cold! Our heating is constantly set to 24C - and even then I turn it up on occasions. It doesn't mean the house actually gets to 24C as each room has a radiator with its own thermostat anyway.
I cant remember our central heating ever being set to 'Off'!

Still in shorts and T shirt here in East Anglia! We usually need heating from November to February. Very well insulated house helps. Grandchildren moan that our house is too hot when they come to stay - and that's without the heating on!

I feel the cold so my central heating thermostat in the hall is set at 20 the gas man set it when I had a new boiler two years ago I never change it and the heating has been coming on automatically for the last few days so it must have gone cold. Yes I’m worried about having a big gas bill but I would rather be warm and I’ll economise elsewhere.

i was ill mon tues last week shaking with infection,put the heating on for 2 hours in evening,on a low tarriff,not beening ill and cold.evan my hubby said god you must be ill to put the heating on, i dont usually feel the cold

Another one who just leaves the heating to come on when the thermostat tells it to. DH felt the cold latterly, so since he died I have turned the temperature down , but there are also thermostats on each radiator too. My living room is quite cool, which was a boon in the hot summer days. I have just put extra layers on and a throw as required.
Octopus sent me an email yesterday about reduced charges in October, so I am not worried about winter bills. I economise on cooking, using air fryer, microwave or slowcooker rather than the oven, and I have just got rid of the second fridge- freezer, which should reduce the electricity bill considerably.
I could do with an additional method of topping up the heat in the sitting room when needed if we get a very cold spell.

biglouis thank you for your advice.

Never have it on upstairs unless have visitors as I like bedroom to be cold. Have already had it on downstairs a couple of times but only for shortish periods, thermostats in each room so only in used areas. Underfloor heating everywhere so takes a while for heat to come through. Started having bathroom radiators on for a couple of hours in the morning a few weeks ago to take off the chill.

When I was younger I didn’t feel the cold too much but I can’t bear to be cold now. We have log burners downstairs and they’re good at warming the upstairs rooms. Log store has been replenished over the summer months. If needed, the heating goes on.

Our boiler is in the loft so the heating is "on" permanently.
The thermostat had been fitted at the bottom of the stairs, ie the coldest spot in the house, so it wasn't very useful.
I took it off the wall, keep it in the lounge during the day and take it upstairs with me at night. The thermostat connects to the boiler via radio waves. I can turn the heating on and off as required and also manually adjust each radiator to suit.

Our thermostat is set at 18.5 and we only have heating on for 3 hours in the morning and 6 in the evening. We do not have any heating on at night when we are sleeping.

This keeps the house comfortably warm except in exceptionally cold conditions when we sometimes put it on for a couple of hours midday.

However, although our house is old we have made every effort to put insulation where we can and double glaze where we can, sometimes with standard double glazed windows and elsewhere with internal secondary glazing.

At my age and lack of mobility the last thing I worry about is the heating cost.

I've just filled in the form for the government insulation scheme. I didn't think we were eligible but it seems our small 1970s semi should qualify us for some sort of discount. It should help lower our bills a bit.

www.gov.uk/apply-great-british-insulation-scheme

In the winter, when it does get cold, mine will be set to 18 C daytime and 16 C at night. That's the temperature I feel most comfortable with.

If I have guests, I'll turn it up, as I know others tend to feel the cold more than I do. I am frugal by nature (and habit) but I'm not worried about the cost - it's just that I'd rather spend on luxuries than bills.

I'll get the gas billed again soon - having saved that £10 a month standing charge since March.

www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/how-much-youll-get

There is an extra allowance again this winter.

It’s very high up where I am so we catch the cold winds. I have the heating set at 19 to kick in automatically. You can always turn individual radiators down or off in rooms you don’t use much.

I like my living room to be cosy and warm and the bathroom to be a nice temperature when I step out of the shower in a morning. I’m quite nesh so I’d rather spend a bit more on heating than be miserable sat here shivering. Once the cold gets into your bones it’s hard to get warm.

We got a refund from British Gas some months back... but we did ring and speak to a human and we are also down on their records as vulnerable. Of course if we tried now we may not be so lucky.

£5000.00 is a lot to be in credit. Try ringing their customer service team??

What is the point of switching CH on in the morning for one hour only and then switching it back on again later on.?
You then have to reheat the house again as it’s probably cooled down.

Surely it’s more cost efficient to turn the thermostat down in order to keep an ambient temperature.