I feel for anyone with newborn or very young kids

Got a 3 month old and a nearly 4 year old in the house, so no building character going on round here. It came with a Nest system so I’ve got that set at 18.5 degrees during the daytime and 15.5 overnight. About £10 a day at the moment, the insulation we put in the loft when we moved in at the tail end of last winter is already paying dividends I’m sure.

franksinatra – my statement is factually correct; the medical evidence is readily available.

Please link then?

I don’t think I’ve ever lived in a house that was heated to 22C! Are you sure you/they weren’t confusing ambient skin temperature or whatever it’s referred to as? I.e. 22C is the temp you can rock out in your birthday suit and neither sweat or start shivering.

Heating on just now as I can’t work but so glad kids all grown up and away. I feel for anyone with newborn or very young kids

Apparently the optimum room temp for newborns is actually pretty chilly 16C-17C (my brothers just become a Dad).

@frankconway
Full Member
oldfart – how true about the willy waving posts!
The crass stupidity of deliberately keeping a house at a temperature which is medically proven to have adverse medical effects.
That crass stupidity will put some people in hospital where they will take up beds which are needed for more deserving patients.
Idiots.

Thanks. Maybe you’d like to pay for me to heat my house?

22c!

Not a chance in hell I could afford to heat the house to 22c. It would be about £20 a day

I have been occasionally using my central heating. My house is cold, uninsulated kitchen was around 3°c the previous mornings before the sun rise. Bedroom around 8°c, living room similar.
If I go outside into sub zero temperatures I don’t automatically go to hospital so the 10°c difference is welcome when I return to the indoors.
I’m warm when in bed, in work, dressed with reasonably insulated clothing and warm drinks. The pub is also warm and welcoming.
I can afford to hear my house but it is a Victorian end terrace with all the problems that they have. I’m slowly working through the insulation issues, but some of the problems like high ceilings will always be there (a ceiling fan has helped with the heat stratification problem).
Currently standing in the kitchen in front of a far infrared heating panel which is warming me up and not wasting too energy heating a poorly constructed room which would benefit from being demolished and rebuilt with modern techniques. The whole house should be levelled and rebuilt but I don’t have that sort of money.
House is ok for the majority of the year.

Is it factually possible to do willy waving in a cold house?

Room temperature his words not mine, ok newborn will be tucked up in the suit but 3 year olds put duffle coats on indoors? I’d have thought 19/20°

Coats indoors for all ages is pretty normal at the moment. If you have the right house or the right funds to avoid that, then well done you.

@frankconway I think you are hugely missing the point about the choices that people have (as then perfectly said by @simondbarnes)

I am kind of in the middle. I have just had major surgery so I am stuck at home all day and am on long term SSP which amounts to less per month than my duel fuel bill will be this month.

Luckily for me I have some savings to rely on, but it has humbled me to see how quick it is possible to go from ‘comfortably middle income’ to hand-to-mouth for those with no savings.

NB – I am keeping the heating low’ish as the house feels ‘stuffy’ if leave it on 18’C all day/night. Monitoring. I am happy to wear an extra fleece etc, but will not resort to gloves and hat inside.

22C, blimey. Our’s is set at about 18 just outside the kitchen (open plan lounge/stairs). Upstairs is warmer.

It’s on if we are in during the day, but everyone out today. Last night daughter asked if heating was on, saying she was cold – her room is quite warm as there is also a gaming PC in there. I was sat in thin jim jam bottoms, no socks and a t-shirt ! Course it’s on. Slept on-top of the covers as usual. House wasn’t cold overnight (heating off)

Is it factually possible to do willy waving in a cold house?

As for babies, this is NHS advice for sleeping specifically rather than just all the time but given the amount babies sleep:

Babies do not need hot rooms. All-night heating is rarely necessary. Keep the room at a temperature that’s comfortable – about 16 to 20C is ideal.

If anything I could turn it down a tad. Great news.

@scotroutes

Is the boiler clicking and trying to ignite ?

Some years back ours started clicking more times than it should – you’d get the little tick tick, then the click to ignite, and it would take a number of clicks for it to fire. The cause was dirty earthing inside the heat chamber where the ‘electrode’ is that ignites the gas. I took off the panels and the front cover to get inside the chamber and cleaned up the earthing and soaked it with brake cleaner. Let it dry, put everything back and it’s been great since (years).

I ‘know’ you shouldn’t remove the covers unless you are an engineer, but they were all held on with tool-less clips.

Is it factually possible to do willy waving in a cold house?

😂

evohome setup here, so we don’t heat all rooms up (9 separate zones). The 3 bedrooms are heated up to 18.5degC every evening but dip down towards 10degC during the day. In current conditions – outside not above -4degC since Sunday – they’re hitting 10-degC quite quickly. All zones set up to keep them at 10degC minimum so heating kicking on more often, or possibly on all night, at the moment.

A couple of weekends ago I relocated my home office from large 4×3.5m-ish room with 3m+ high ceilings, big windows and 2 external walls, to the small 1.8×1.9m ‘cupboard’ upstairs under the eaves with partial sloping ceiling and a small single-glazed roof window. So much more comfortable and cheaper to heat using the same small oil-filled rad I used before. Great timing to have done it!

Mine sits about 14 between heating

In daily use.

When I turn it to frost mode for the Xmas hols when we hit the inlaws we can come back to 8 degrees or lower.

Insulation only keeps heat in when there is heat to keep in .

Yea, that’s about what I’m finding, just living in the house seemed to get it to 16. I know we probably ‘waste’ a lot of energy through the TV being on most of the evening, WFH on a laptop + 2 monitors etc.

frankconway I think you are hugely missing the point about the choices that people have (as then perfectly said by simondbarnes)

+1

I’ve always had the heating on the cool end of ‘normal’, and like most* people I could afford to turn the house in to a sauna if I really wanted to at the expense of other things, but:
a) I quite like wearing a jumper
b) I try my best to minimize my carbon footprint
c) This year has been a good kick towards being more energy efficient. The house is significantly more insulated, I’ve changed the boiler controller, I bought a 2-probe digital thermometer to balance the radiators properly.

*the difference between the previously average years ~£1500 energy bill for average temps and turning the house into a sauna for 12 months is probably less than the cost of a new bike, couple of months car finance payments, or some other luxury.

Do people actually heat the WHOLE house?

We have an open plan living room and kitchen, it has underfloor in both areas, when it’s cold like this, the kitchen thermostat is at 20C and the living room is off. No heating upstairs, apart from the bathroom for 30 minutes before a shower.

We have a separate front room and a small entrance hallway/lobby, both have radiators set on a “trickle” heat, this stops any nasty cold draughts.

We do have a big stove in the living room which is on at night, this gives enough ambient heat to ensure no radiators go on upstairs.

We don’t have zoned heating so have to rely on TRVs. So yeah the whole house gets heated when the boiler is on.

@gobchul – In my case it is all or nothing. No fancy/modern stuff and only the gas fired Central heating to do the job. I suspect many people are in a similar position. Classic case of ‘if you have the money you can modernise and save yourself money’.

No fancy/modern stuff and only the gas fired Central heating to do the job

Same here, just the valves on individual radiators and no thermostat. And an old, leaky house so if I do heat it up the heat soon disappears again.

Yea, I’m pretty sure that ‘normal’ isn’t underfloor heating, a woodburner and zoned heating controls.

Our’s just relies on the the TRV’s in the spare rooms being on 2/5 (~16C) where the rest of the house is on 3/5 (~18C). They come on first thing in the morning when the house is cold but stay off the rest of the day. I did consider turning them off entirely but didn’t like the idea of warm (damp) air from the rest of the house circulating upstairs, condensing, then leaving damp.

@gobchul – In my case it is all or nothing.

Even if you don’t have TRVs, you can still turn off radiators.

BillMC 😬😬😬😬

Yea, I’m pretty sure that ‘normal’ isn’t underfloor heating, a woodburner and zoned heating controls.

Not saying it is. Are basic TRVs “zoned heating controls”?

The point I’m making is that I have always just heated the rooms I use. I currently sitting in a south facing spare bedroom with no heating. I am wearing 3 layers and a pair of salopettes.

I can’t see how you need to heat the whole house when you switch the boiler on. Just turn some rads off. I’ve always done this, even when in a house without TRVs.

Even if you don’t have TRVs, you can still turn off radiators.

Are you really suggesting people turn off individual radiators two/three times a day? I guess if I was more mobile that might be an option, but even so it’s not exactly a user friendly experience and in the past has upset the ‘balance’ leading to more issues, something I am keen to avoid at the moment.

For the majority of people its an unrealistic suggestion.

PS – No TRV’s fitted in my house 🙁

Same here, just the valves on individual radiators and no thermostat. And an old, leaky house so if I do heat it up the heat soon disappears again.

yep Victorian terrace here, leaks like a sieve!

We heat to 18C in the kitchen for an hour in the morning and a couple in the evening. Temp seems to drop back to around 14/15 during the day, probably similar at night. Currently -5 outside now. We heat the bedroom in the morning, but not the evening – just doesn’t seem worth it given you’re under a duvet all night.

No TRV’s but we have turned off two radiators (son’s room and ours) as there is usually enough heat for the rooms, but this week, those rooms have been switched on. We’ve only 7 radiators, 3 downstairs and 4 up, all pretty small, but more than sufficient.

when I’m alone in the house I only heat the room I wfh in (to 21C, as I’m just sitting there). The rest of the house drops to 14 over the course of the day.

Well I’ve just submitted this months readings and I’ve obviously been a bit lavish as combined Gas & Electric is just over £200 this month last month was £100ish.

The hallway is 14.2 degC and the lounge 17.4 degC this is after the heating has been on for 3 1/2 hours.

It used to be on all day with a target temp of 18 for the hallway when my wife was alive as she couldent get up and jump about like me 🙁

Boost I put on with Hive is just about to go off so fleece on and move about I guess is the answer.

I really feel for those that don’t have a savings cushion and £200 for me is a bit of a shock as we have only had 6 or so really cold days?

Is it factually possible to do willy waving in a cold house?

I find a vigorous bout of self-gratification ideal when weather is like this. Gets the blood flowing, raises heart rate and breathing, and takes your mind off feeling cold. Just remember to make sure the camera’s off if you’re doing it during All Staff comms.

If it’s really cold you don’t even need to clean up after.

An ex-neighbour of mine used to heat his place to 24-25 degrees. Fuel bill was about 5-600 a month, mixed pellets and electrical (GSHP) plus a small solar thermal installation on the roof (4 panels). Mostly wet UFH, so quite efficient. No one wanted to wear more than shorts and T-Shirt, though his ex wife used to wander round in a bikini all year round.

The guy who is there now has it set to 20, 2 young kids and a toddler in there, and his girlfriend is on parental leave at the moment, last i spoke to him he was paying about 100-120 a month during the winter quarter… and fuel prices are (generally) 50-75% higher than when the previous guy was living there!

My place is on GSHP too, but it still using radiators from the old pure electric system, so even running flat out with the weather like it is at the moment (-10 outside) it only keeps the house at around 15-16, also i can’t “switch it off” as it’s all interlinked (water and heating), i turned it up last night though.
So we wear onesies and warm socks in the house, and most of the comfy seats have blankets ready for use on them anyway, they have for the last 15 years, even when the fires going.

On the flip side, just gone to light the fire, and the seal rope in the door has just fallen out.

Dammnit.

I can’t see how you need to heat the whole house when you switch the boiler on. Just turn some rads off. I’ve always done this, even when in a house without TRVs.

You could, but then I’d have to get up to a cold house and each room would be cold when I went into it until it warmed up.

Probably depends on the size/layout of the house too.

I used to live in a properly draughty 2-up, 2-down terrace, you could heat it quite effectively with the living room woodburner for the evening, and the heat leaked upstairs. Then you just relied on the central heating or got ready in a hurry in the morning. The attic room radiator didn’t work anyway so that was off, and that only left the backroom upstairs which was never used. It also helped that the stairways all had doors on them so there were no internal draughts.

I now live in a new-ish build house and the layout’s not conducive to turning rooms off regularly. If I heated the living room, then opened the door I just end up with a cold house (whereas in the old one it warmed the upstairs nicely).

I did look at getting some tado smart TRV heads last year but couldn’t justify the cost. Maybe I could this year but we’re moving house (once it’s built) so haven’t invested this year either.

When it was just me WFH I did go and turn other radiators down and just heat my room.

Terribly wrong recently, lowest house has dropped to overnight in the cold spell is 12.9c, so using it a lot more, month to mid Nov we used 35m3 gas, to mid Dec it jumped to 200m……. So a bigger bill I guess, slightly comforted by fact that the cold snap appears to end at the weekend and most of our previous bills have been less than half our newly adjusted dd, also I’m guessing that we’ll only have about 4 months at this level of spend.

I bought a 2-probe digital thermometer to balance the radiators properly.

@thisisnotaspoon – which thermometer did you use? There seem to be lots of cheapo pipe thermometers about, but reviews seem to imply they’re crap!

We were at a friends at the weekend. Similar size house to ours, but new 1980s vs 1920s. There energy bill is £800 a month and it was not warm. Apparently they have cut back massively as it used to be set to 21. We were always too hot. Ours is set to hit 18 in the mornings and evenings, and currently dd is 280. I’m actually pretty comfortable with a jumper on to about 14 degrees any colder than that it gets uncomfortable.

We’ve had new rads put in as part of an extension. Currently the big one isn’t getting fully hot whilst others are smashing out the heat. Any good links to how to balance the system? (Yes I can use Google but I’d rather go off a recommendation). I’ve gone around turning down rads that are really hot but I’m not sure it’s doing much. All I can think is the big one might have accidentally been plumbed in series with another big rad. Finding out for sure involves massive ballache and disrupting a room that is currently not been trashed by the extension so not something I plan to do soon

@dafydd17

A basic £21 one off eBay.

The thermocouple wires seem to the the cheapest wires known to man, and the thermocouple itself just looks like a blob of solder. I used it by cutting some 20mm square pads from a sheet of fluffy fire-reaistant velcro I had lying around from an old project. Stuck the thermocouples onto the pipes with those and it seemed to work well enough.

I doubt it would last for constant use, and clamp on thermocouples would be much easier. But for a one off DIY task I’ll probably only ever do a handful of times it was great.

Interestingly even with the pump set on its slowest setting I could only get a 10C rise through the boiler and the same drop in the rads. Most guides recommend a figure somewhere between 10C and 20C. I presumed that like spoke tension, getting it even was more important than the absolute value (i.e. a rads are working equally).

So with the boiler set at 65C out, the return is 55C ish. But even on startup it’s 40C out 30C in. Not sure if that means the boilers internall controlls limit the heat rise. The boiler is newish and serviced.

Edit: it was this one off Amazon

Seems to have worked, OH remarked that all the rads arround the house now usually feel ‘teppid’ during the day when the heating is on rather than it coming on an the hallway rad (the one that’s not TRV controlled) being roasting hot or cold so it seems to have worked. I’ll probably give it a 2nd pass at the weekend now it’s closer to ballanced to start with.

Mostly wet UFH, so quite efficient.

Is underfloor more efficient than rads? I doubt it as you’re always going to be heating the earth to some extent – at least with rads the heat is basically all going into the room.

Is underfloor more efficient than rads?

Yes it is. Between 15 and 40% more efficient apparently.

https://www.thegreenage.co.uk/underfloor-heating-radiators/

Yes it is. Between 15 and 40% more efficient apparently.

Probably depends how you measure it?

I imagine it makes the boiler much more efficient as the circulating temp is much lower.

On the other hand you’d need to put the heating on for hours in the morning just to make it comfortable for the hour between bed and leaving for work. Whereas rads the heating is much more instant.

So probably better if you’re retired/WFH/etc and need it on all day.

I imagine it makes the boiler much more efficient as the circulating temp is much lower.

Gotcha.