Allotments 4 All

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.