Several years ago I went to spend a weekend with a friend whos husband had left her so she had to turn her heating down serveral notches to save money. Her children were fine, I was freezing.
Ten years later I moved into a partialy renvovated barn in France (draughty windows and roof). I now have to tell visitors to bring extra clothes as it is cold to them but now not to us. Both my children had a shower this evening, only the wood burner going. Half an hour after their dressing gowns were thrown as they were to warm.
How much energy is wasted on heating a house in the UK when taking the temperature down a few degrees at a time can halp the environment?
having lived for 28 years with no central heating, I now appreciate the warmth..our thermo doesn't go above 15 degrees as it gets too warm for us ;D
My upstairs is hot ,my downstairs is cold, so in the winter I spend most of my time in my upstairs sewing/study and in summer I hardly go in there. If we heat the downstairs to comfy I can't sleep because it is a hot house upstairs and it holds the heat for hours.
XX Jeannine
Having grown up in what I'd call a relatively cold house (we'd pass the penguins on the way to the bathroom) I am happy to report that my gas heating is left on 24/7 usually between 6 & 7 ;D Although upstairs I only have the bathroom vent open and sleep with bedroom window open come winter or summer. Heating goes off at the first sign of nice weather though.
In my childhood home you would wake up with the frost on the inside of the windows.I have not seen those wonderful frost patterns for years.
We only have electric storage heaters as no gas supply to our property .I only keep two heaters on,so I can go into a cool room if I want to and the other reason is economy,they cost a fortune to run.
Im at home most of the time and rarely put the heating on before 4 or 5 o'clock in winter, unless Im ill or its exceptionally cold. My OH on the other hand would have the stat at 30 and sit in his shorts rather than put a jumper on >:(
...........and LIGHTS!!! Im always running round turning the darned things off coz he wont. Even in summer he will turn the b***dy lights on.........in the daytime >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
I do love ya :-*, but YOU DO MY HEAD IN ::) :-\ ??? :( >:(
Satr, that could have been me talking! Is it a man thing?!
Our house is old and quite draughty- We have double glazing and loft insulation but no cavity walls to insulate, etc. Every room is a different temperature.We spend most of the time in the kitchen as it gets the sun, plus heat from the oven and boiler.
Not always, my dad was a miser with heating and bills (maybe thats where I got it from). I know of a couple of females who do the same overkill with heating.
It really makes economizing for the health of the planet a very futile exercise, when, whatever you save someone else wastes.
I would love to have my old kitchen from years ago, it was enormous! We ate, sat watched tv, cooked......everthing except have a bath. I really miss it :( Lucky lady to have a kitchen big enough to sit in ;)
Lights...Oh yes!
Even in broad daylight spme people here can't go up the stairs without turning it on. ...and of course it stays on until someone else turne it off....and let's not go into constantly dripping taps, running taps while brushing teeth and central heating blasting away when the windows are open.....grr!
Loved the penguin comment ;D I thought about that when I went to the (downstairs) loo last night.
I must admit that it is a bit too cold for me at the moment, but heating one room then moving to a freezing one is awful. Being bought up the 'House of Tony' (my dad), I find that I am slowly turning into him. Scary thought. "Do you think this is the Blackpool illuminations?" was a frequent comment when I was growing up.
I stayed with my parents last week, and their very dark kitchen was always in darkness. After trying to read the instructions on a packet I swore to them that I will bring a miners lamp with me next time. Mum smiled and told me to put the light on.
They were both raised by families with little money, and even now when they are always off on holidays, old habits die hard.
I'm afraid our house is probably what most people would consider to be overwarmed, the thermostat is always at 20, sometimes (like now) it's at 22 because it's snowing outside! I cannot stand being cold.
I grew up in a house with no central heating only that hot air heating, and remember quite clearly getting dressed inside my bed as I couldn't stand getting out into the freezing cold bedroom :o
My hubby is also part of the "'ooh i'm cold shall i turn the heating up' whilst sitting around in a t-shirt" brigade, the number of times i've told him to put a jumper on :D
x
Mine is blazing away at 25 at this moment, but we have just got back from our first tryout in our caravan.
We went on friday and there was sleet and hail, stuck it out all day and night with really cold easterly winds. Huddled in there yesterday determined to stick it out and we got through another freezing night, but came home this morning, we were only 10 miles from home and have lots of 'Easter holiday' photos Eating out in the awning dressed like Nanuk of the north. Did not get washed or changed as it was too cold. So now I am indulging myself after a hot shower and lounging around in my jammys with radiators radiating. After this Easter if anybody mentions global warming I will chin them.
Oh you have made me laugh Ace.We have a static and this is the first Easter in seven years we have stayed at home for all the reasons you have mentioned. ;D ;D
House is 18.4 degrees at the moment but we only have the heating on 1.30min in the morning and 2 hours in the evening. If i feel cold i have a couple of throws in the front room which i can throw on. But usualy i have the laptop on my lap and it kicks out a fair amount of heat and keeps me warm.
All the Bulbs are eco friendly and the house is very well insulated.
(temp outside 1.2)
I think everyone would cook if they came into my house, I have the heating on at about 25-30 degrees c for most of the day. I love the heat, and hate the cold, but during the evenings when the kids are in bed I turn the heating off, and have a big blanket in the lounge and watch telly. I am orginally from South africa and guess I am still getting used to the cold even after being here 10 years lol
After living with no heating other than a coal fire in the front room as a child I am wasteful with the central heating that I have had for about 5 years now. I love it and have it turned on as high and as often as I like, I also like fresh air so have windows open too.
This is the one thing I wouldn't give up for the environment. If you can't get old and have some pleasures in life there's no point in getting old ;D
Glad to hear about the man's thing, light's and dripping taps, I thought it was only mine, there's hope yet for him to live a bit longer ::)
Sinbad
I dont feel the cold so much hence sitting here in short sleeved teeshirt,jog bottoms and no socks.
My wife is on the sofa with two layers on and a quilt wrapped around her.
Ive told her to go outside to the outhouse and turn the boiler on earlier than its set....but shes says its too cold to go outside and that the heating will kick in soon anyway.
You may well ask why I dont go outside to put the boiler on.....simple....Im a man.....I dont know how ;D
My house drives me mad, you put the oven on~the house overheats~you put the drier on, the house overheats~ the sun streams through for ten minutes~the house overheats.
Eldest sons friend always complains,lol ,hes just been round and had a moan about it, but he could smell the lamb cooking and knew I would hit him back with a reason why its so warm in here....lol
.... today i have been mainly hoovering.
We have not had a hoover for the last month and we picked one up late last week so today i have been stripping bed sheets and the washing machine and dryer are both on. Hoovering the house like a demon and washing the paintwork down.
All this with the heating off and every window in the house open.
Just stopped to have a coffee and some home made brownies (chocolate, brazil nut and pecan) yum feet up watching murder she wrote for a short break before i go back upstairs to finish up.
Temp in the house its 15 degrees and its 11 outside.
OH has ours sitting at about 20 degrees when we are in. This is too warm for me, 15-16 would do. I am usually in shorts & t-shirt whilst she says it is about right ::)..... It gets turned down to this when we got to bed. When we got to work or leave the house for the day then heating is turned down to 5-10 degrees.
There's a fairly constant unwinnable winter argument between me and my wife - I always think it's too hot, whereas she feels the cold more than me. Ours is probably the only house I know without central heating, but the electric heaters we have are very efficient. And I sometimes think that being in a mid-terrace helps as the heat doesn't seem to escape very much.
However, after a weekend at our respective parent's houses, we both agreed they were way too hot for comfort! So we can agree on something...
Cheers,
Rob ;)
Our heating clicks on at 6am, goes off at 8am, then comes on again at 5pm and clicks off again at 10pm. It is set usually around 18. During the summer monthes I turn off all the rads manually, except the ones in the bathrooms as they keep the towels warm. I can't stand heating on through the night, what a waste!
We also have energy efficient light bulbs and do make sure that lights are turned off as you leave a room.
Living in an old house near Avignon, we don't have central heating - just a wood burner in the living room and two of these electric "split" heaters that do heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer (though thanks to the thick walls of the house we hardly use the airco). Even with heating the temperature rarely gets above 18, (except when the in-laws are here!) and we certainly don't heat at night time, just turning heating on as and when needed. Mind you, in January and February it can be on quite a bit as it does get cold!
Also - no lights on when not needed.
We also subscribe to the electric company's Tempo service. This means that for most of the year (340 days) we have cheap electricity. 40 days of the year we pay almost twice as much for what we use, and 22 days we pay 12 times as much!!! (Needless to say these 22 days are usually the coldest days of the year, brrrr!) But it does make you sit back and analyse just how much electricity you do really need to use and how warm you really need your house.
I use thermostats on the radiators to regulate room temperatures and keep doors shut. 18 is good for me but unfortunately not enough for my very sedentary FiL. The other day I woke up in a sweat and, on investigation, discovered he had turned the main thermostat up to 24. The house was like a sauna.
Because he is at home all day the heating is on all day but very soon it'll be the time of year when it's off for most of the day.
Our central heating is set for 17 degrees, and it will kick in maybe twice a day, and even then not for long.
Most of the time we are in the lounge and if you shut the door and put the fire on low for half an hour it's plenty toasty for me (maybe not Sparkly, she has a blanket).
When friends come round they complain its cold... that usually earns them a 'look' ::)
The problem is that over the generations, women have evolved genetically to be most comfortable near an oven. Once out of the kitchen, they feel normal temperatures as unnaturally cold.
Look, I read this somewhere and thought it funny. I don't mean it, honest!
Yeah I bet >:( ;)
I guess you also heard that women have smaller feet to enable us to get nearer the kitchen sink?
I thought it was quite funny too lol ;D ;D
Our heating is set to 22 at the moment - I turn it down but it mysteriously turns itself back up - usually within the space of a couple of hours. Its not the missus apparently, but as the switch is 5ft high and our boy is only 15 months - I'm a little sceptical. Unless he has unusually long arms? - half man, half orangutan - oh no- orang-a-man....
The only warmth in this house is the welcome!
16C near the AGA in the kitchen.
12C in the next room.
9.4 on the first floor.
Even colder on the next floor!!
And those are with today's Spring temperature outside.
Wow Tim - you must keep active with those temperatures! mind you, having said that it's pretty cold in my house in the rooms thare not regularly used and 18 is the max temperature for living areas rather than sleeping areas. Beautiful morning here. I am lying on my bed with my MacBook basking in the spring sunshine before going out and getting busy.