Turning on the heat

Just an aside - I've noticed rooms in different houses with the same themo setting feel different? Do thermostats all read exactly the same. Sancimonious friend has hers set at 18 and it is comfy - ours is 21 and feels the same...?

Surely all but a very few people can keep one room in their house fully warm. Many older less modernised houses still have gas fires. I have a friend who uses that to warm her living room, and keeps the heating very low. The main thing is not then to over draft proof the room. If the fire isn't burning well, open the door. An oil filled radiator will keep a room warm and not be expensive to run. Only a very few people cannot afford to keep even one room warm.

There are schemes to help people with inefficient heating houses, not all of which are income related.

Helpful advice here www.ageuk.org.uk/our-impact/programmes/safe-and-warm

Cambsnan

You don’t other people to tell you if you are cold. Turn the heating on if you feel cold!

You can feel cold but may not realise if hypothermia is setting in because it can cause drowsiness and confusion.

If people are scared to turn on the heat and are unable to move around much it can be dangerous, especially if they live alone.

pen50

petra

Our heating is never turned off
It is set at 21 so even if the temperature drops below that in July it would come on.

Same here. However, we do have individual programmable thermostats in each room, so we don't heat any space unnecessarily.

Yes mine is the same, set at 21 and is never off, with different thermostats.

You don’t other people to tell you if you are cold. Turn the heating on if you feel cold!

petra

Our heating is never turned off
It is set at 21 so even if the temperature drops below that in July it would come on.

Same here. However, we do have individual programmable thermostats in each room, so we don't heat any space unnecessarily.

I think the psychological effects of being cold and/ or feeling cold are a bit grim.

Just come out of hospital again and still not feeling too good. Oh how I wish I had a husband to share the heating expenses.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not getting all nostalgic about growing up with ice on the inside of the windows at all, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But for those of us who live in old, hard to heat houses, it's often simply not possible or practical to keep them at that kind of temperature. There were days last winter when I was genuinely so cold, even with layers and gloves on, that I could have cried, but I had to 'get on with it' because there wasn't really any alternative.

HelterSkelter1

I have a friend who lives with her DH in a house worth £1million + because of the land and the position and they do not turn their heating on until much later in the yrar...and seem so proud of it. But it is the coldest house I have ever been in. Last time I kept my coat on all afternoon. Another friend went for supper and had to have a hot bath when she got home to warm up.
The friend suffers from asthma, osteoporosis and heart problems so living in such a cold house cannot be doing her any good. It really is crazy. And those saying we grew up in cold houses. Yes we did, but we were youngsters as were our parents. Not in our 70s and 80s with not such good health.

Yes we did, but we were youngsters as were our parents. Not in our 70s and 80s with not such good health.

Not all youngsters were hale and healthy though were they?

I remember staying with my aunt in a cold house - the only warmth was around the coal fire in the sitting room. My two male cousins were thin and weedy with, it seemed, permanent chest infections - they coughed and sneezed throughout the winter months. Hardly surprising - when we went up to bed we had to cover them with coats to keep warm.

I'm not a fan of the nostalgia surrounding the ice-on-the-inside-of-the-windows-but-we-just-got-on-with-it mentality.

Pensioners can put on as many layers as they like and then cover themselves in a blanket on the sofa - but they will still be breathing in cold air, and if they are frail, immobile, or have asthma, cardiovascular or respiratory diseases - or diabetes - it is dangerous.

The WFA is not a princely sum, but removing it from those who are only just above the PC cut-off point will make a bad situation even worse. The energy price cap will rise again next month, and then again in January. And what about families with young children also suffering from various medical conditions?

I don't know how it was done, but France mitigated the huge energy price hike to consumers. Obviously, they will pay in the long run anyway, but maybe in increments that they can afford without freezing to death in the process? When our energy costs in the UK surged by, I think, 51% - France capped it at 4%. We should have done something similar. It's scandalous.

Whatever I feel about temperature I am mindful of others in my house. This afternoon, I will be caring for a one year old grandchild. Tomorrow I am entertaining a friend who is unwell.
My heating will be on for them for the first time today and on Tuesday. Wednesday, tbc.

We put the heating on as necessary. Try to hang on until 1st October but we have used it over this weekend. We do wrap up in fleece blankets and use hot water bottles if sitting about in the day but try to keep active and on the move.

When we grew up in cold houses life expectancy was much lower, only 71 in 1960. It is now 82. I am sure almost universal central heating and much warmer houses has played a major part in that increase, along with medical advances.

I can remember a time when there was an enormous seasonal variation in death rates, but the number of older people dying from respiratory diseases, has plummetted since around 1980, and respiratory diseases are the ones most caused and exacerbated by underheated houses.

I have a friend who lives with her DH in a house worth £1million + because of the land and the position and they do not turn their heating on until much later in the yrar...and seem so proud of it. But it is the coldest house I have ever been in. Last time I kept my coat on all afternoon. Another friend went for supper and had to have a hot bath when she got home to warm up.
The friend suffers from asthma, osteoporosis and heart problems so living in such a cold house cannot be doing her any good. It really is crazy. And those saying we grew up in cold houses. Yes we did, but we were youngsters as were our parents. Not in our 70s and 80s with not such good health.

Georgesgran, thank you. I’m off to Amazon to take a look.

petra

Our heating is never turned off
It is set at 21 so even if the temperature drops below that in July it would come on.

We are the same. The heating is on all the time, but the thermostat is set at 18.5 and comes on for 3.5 hours in the morning and 6 hours in the evening.

Occ asionally in very cold weather it needs a boost during the day, but very rarely.

watermeadow I hope you will heed all the health warnings from others on this thread

Helpful advice here www.ageuk.org.uk/our-impact/programmes/safe-and-warm/

Thank you Welbeck, I appreciate your reply.

What heater do you have in your bathroom sodapop ? I don’t mean to sound patronising , but I hope it’s not a free-standing one.

MissInterpreted / dogs keep you warm as well x

No central heating here, just a pellet burner in the living room and a heater in the bathroom. Fortunately neither of us feel the cold too much and I'm much more uncomfortable when it's hot.
So far we haven't lit the pellet burner.

I'd go without any heating whatsoever rather than give up my dog - he's as much a member of the family as any other!

My central heating clicked on this morning, it’s set at 20
I lit the woodburner about 5pm. Four logs, back of the house snug. It’s dying off now but will stay warm. I’ve no washing to dry tonight but if I had it would be dry in the morning despite the fire dying

MissInterpreted

Marydoll

A temperature of 15° is not good for anyone with heart or lung issues. I have both and would never dream of having a temperature of 15° in my home. Ours is usually about 20°.

That's all well and good if you can afford it. I'm not sure our house temperature ever gets much above 15 degrees.

I would eat a bit less food, and cheaper food. I would go out less. I would not have a pet.
I would do any number of things personally, before compromising my health by being too cold.
But that is just me. Others have different priorities. Up to them.

What a range of replies, but all our homes are different. I’ve got £400 excess in my account with Octopus but won’t get the Winter Fuel Allowance this year. The state pension has gone up a lot (Tories after the old age vote) ad gas prices have fallen from last year’s, so a better prospect than recent years.
With the heating on it’s lovely to be able to dry wet coat, gloves and dog harness after a walk.
It’s colder than usual here for late September, let’s hope for an Indian summer in October then the heating can go off again.

We have built up a biggish credit balance too Georgesgran. Not on purpose - it just occurred.