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Ours came on on Sunday. SOMEBODY had SOMEHOW turned the thermostat off summer mode and set the thermostat to 20C...
2nd part of the duvet went on at the weekend and windows now closed. Still not had the heating on but 3c outside this morning was fresh! Will get to October for sure. Kids actually wearing jumpers!
Oil fired central heating and did get a reasonable price to top it up in the summer so ok for a bit. Trying to make it last longer than normal over winter so suspect will be utilising the log burner a bit more than last year!
Second part of a duvet?
How’s it going? Haven’t got heating. Ancient first floor flat the size of a shoe box, with neighbours on 5 sides.
Second part of a duvet?
The cover.
Our is on it was 6 degrees this morning outside. Next week sees a return to 20/21 max down here though so that’ll be a relief.
Mrs K came home with an £80 heated clothes rail today, becuase it saves money vs the tumble dryer / the current non heated version is taking a 3 days to dry the washing. 7p an hour she said, I can’t be arsed to work it all,out right now.
On Sunday I put the 10tog duvet on.
Ten tog?! We only own 7.5 and that's roasting.
2nd part of duvet. One of those ones with a summer 3.5t and then a 7.0 autumn one you clip together to make it for winter. Allows you to choose though I’d prefer one with different togs on either side of the bed as can’t sleep when it’s too warm
The woman I share my house with insisted we would not have the heating on all winter.
She put it on yesterday when I was out. And again this evening because she thought I seemed cold.
Room thermostat had been sitting between 18 and 20C for the last month or two with no heating on. Went away for a week holiday and got back on Saturday it was down to 15C. Shows how much background heat we get from cooking TVs laptops etc.
It has been on for a couple of hours but seems the house has stabilised for now at 17-18C without any heating on.
If we get another couple of weeks I'll be happy. After we replaced a 40 year old Baxi boiler with a new combi in July our next two gas bills for hot water and gas hob showed halved usage in Kwh. I'll be interested to see how much our gas consumption is down this winter with the combination of new boiler, better controls, upgraded loft insulation and Mrs IRC buying into the economy drive - she is retired so is usually at home.
We are on a communal heating system in the area we live in, normally it is more expensive, I wonder if this year it might be cheaper.
For my own apartment I have bought smart thermostats for the radiators, I have it set for 18 degrees when I am occupying a room, and 12 when not (20 for the bathroom in the morning). The radiators have been on briefly in the past week, but not much.
It's 16 deg inside at the moment with no heating and it doesn't feel cold yet, I was surprised but I'm wearing sensible amounts of clothing. Will be interested to see what point it starts feeling cold
Came home from work one day when it was summer in't STR household and the heating was on. I give up
Got it on in the caravan now though, underfloor heating set at 20 degrees, it's lovely and cosy.
Patio heater for the awning when I want to go for a smoke in my pants
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Our heating isn’t on yet, I did light the fire yesterday for the first time though but it’s not as cool tonight.
Also we’ll have it on as little as possible due to the price of it! Everything is just going ridiculous costwise, we can afford it but why spend more than you have to. We were both born in barns anyway
Crikey - didn't know ours was on but set to 16 degrees, so been on for 22 minutes today. Gutted. 🙁
Ignore trailrat tho. Hes aberdonian.
LMAO, he wishes.
Funny that all of the people not putting on heating have made that decision using the first person singular, whereas those with heating on use “we”. Are you people with the heating off all single, or just old fashioned about who had control of the thermostat?
Or they just don't want to own their failures.
Still not on here (Chester) but the stove in the kitchen is lit for a short burn (2 hrs) around 6pm.
That's so we need right now.
Well have to see what happens next couple of weeks as we normally have the heating on from October, but there's only two of us here now so we might last longer.
Heating is still off here. It’s easy, just be unable to afford to buy any central heating oil and that works it out for you! 😂
@edward2000 perhaps start a thread on here? It is generally very helpful and someone might direct message you with some advice. Hope this helps.
Not going well for me. But then the thermostat is set at 20 and just stays there. We are happy with 20 so never need to touch it. It has stuttered to come on shortly in early morning and that is about it so far.
But then I spend more to insure my house than I do on heating so would rather be able to do something about that...
Heating coming on the last few mornings, thermostat set at 16C. It's difficult to tell how long it fires for and how long it's just circulating water if you refuse to look 🙂
1995 house, DG, loft and cavity insulation on the Midlands/Yorkshire boarder.
Letting the thermostat run things. It's set for 17 for morning and evening, 15 during the day and 11 overnight. It's kicked 8n a couple of times but we've over ridden it.
Reduced the water and heating flow temperature down. Been watching some heatgeek stuff on YouTube that questions some of the old ideas regarding how warm for how long. Interesting stuff.
Must be getting colder though. The dog has pretty much ignored up during the summer but now comes for a cuddle* in the evening.
*I know she's just using me really.
1880s house so not great insulation and as we are the top two floors into the attic no room for better insulation.
Heating set at 16 has rumbled on a few times, got down to 2 a couple of nights ago but the wet weather isn't helping.
Yesterday the smart meter said we'd spent £3.46 in total.
We also recently switched to the second part of the duvet.
And this morning, I had to unstick 9ne of the TRVs.
Not been on yet but we lit the fire for the first time on Tuesday night so it won’t be long. I should probably turn it on to check it’s going to work.
10C outside during breakfast according to the Met Office, our hallway (coldest part of the house) was 17. Heating not on yet.
I dont know what to do?
Talk to your mortgage provider +loads
(and, as Molgrips says, little'uns can manage in cool houses if you wrap them up well. Eskimos have babies remember..)
Eskimos have babies remember
But have you seen the price of seal blubber?
Thermostat is set for 16degs at the moment and it's comfy enough with a jumper and slippers on. Fired it up last night just to make sure it was all working OK, no leaks or cold spots, so off it went again. Could do with a blast in the morning now, but evenings are OK. Although we turn on the heating when we cold - I don't think wanting to be warm is a character flaw, we're already conscious that cost is going to be an issue. We've built up a war chest with the energy company, and we can afford it but how folks who're not a fortunate as us will manage...
Kicked ours on the other morning to take the edge off. Don't understand this weird obsession with having something that makes life more comfortable yet refusing to use it*. Unless of course you can't afford it, which is a travesty in 21st century Britain.
* No, I'm not new here...
This thread reminded me to chase up a quote for fitting smart TRVs throughout - I think they'll make quite a bit of difference to our bills.
Heating not on yet but I live in the Mild Mild West so the house isn't particularly cold.
Past week has had a few overnights down to 5degC, still holding off on our heating so far. Current room temp readings from our Honeywell EVOhome system range from 13.0-15.0degC this morning, I'm WFH wearing two jumpers and a blanket around my legs and might give a blast of the oil-filled radiator under my desk if this continues.
Currently don't have a viable office at work to use after being kicked out of our nice office for a refurb. No access to height-adjustable desk elsewhere otherwise I'd wander along to make use of their heating.
I'm getting our gas heating system ready for winter. Currently turned off since around April in NW England.
House Stat staying at between 19-20.
Hot water at about 45° top-to-bottom (Solar Thermal). This will need topping up with the boiler soon as this temp won't last us more that 1 day if we have a fully cloudy day.
Updates fitted this year
1. Installed weather compensation to the boiler
2. Changed heating design to hot water priority (for weather comp) .
3. Increasing the size of the radiators in the old side of house + increased pipework size.
Plus we had cavity wall insultion fitted in Spring.
Experimenting g with a heated dryer today - 51p vs 1.77 tumble dryer assuming the clothes are dry by 12:30.
Ours has been on a few mornings, therm is set to 18. The back of the house is currently insulated by a chipboard panel so it is getting very cold. Hoping in a couple of weeks we will be weather tight!
3 jumpers for me yesterday. I’m finding I keep much warmer using a standing desk and hoping about more
I’m still in shorts, although I have put a thin hooded sweatshirt on in the evenings. The Wife has her own mobile, internal central heating system, so ours is still off. Haven’t lit the wood burner either.
Don’t understand this weird obsession with having something that makes life more comfortable yet refusing to use it*
It's the same mentality that announces that a cassette with a lowest gear of 42T is "enough for proper mountain biking", or that the only ingredients to add to porridge oats is salt and water, and you have to eat it standing in the rain outside otherwise "you're not doing it right" Espresso is the only acceptable form of coffee, etc etc.
some "grown men" are still in the playground in their heads
Today is the first day i've switched to Jeans from shorts to WFH.
Heating not been on yet - 'stat is showing 18C at the moment.
We've in a well insulated semi-detached bungalow in the S/E though..
I think there a line between “deliberate hardship” and saving energy for the sake of cost and the environment not necessarily in that order.
I’m doing the latter. I am fortunate that I could afford to be ambivalent this winter about the fuel costs* but am using the opportunity to be less wasteful to the environment and subsequently my wallet.
* assuming my wife’s contract gets extended, decision next Wednesday.
I'm glad I bought some hideous Nuvola slippers from SportPursuit. They look stupid, but they keep my feet warm. It's gonna have to be much colder before my heating goes on.
I set our thermostat to 14 degrees earlier this year to stop the heating kicking in (and it hasn't). Thermostat has been living on my computer desk since then, situated under the stairs, with desktop tower, two monitors, and a NAS which might fool it into thinking it's warmer than it is. Probably. Gave up on shorts last week, back to jeans, my knees get cold!
Down here in the SE, terrace (insulation could be better), not expecting to need heating for a few more weeks at least. I wasn't worried last year about the cost of heating, we'd put it up when we got a bit cold, to a max of probably 22 degrees. This year I want to avoid going past 19 degrees. Will keep it at 16 for as long as possible. I'll just exercise in the house more if I get cold, flap my arms about a bit, star jumps etc, lol. Will keep me from browsing shite on the internet for hours on end in the evenings.
According to our Prime Minister on local radio, domestic energy is capped at £2500!
Seems I had previously misunderstood so I'm now off to crank the heating up to 25°C
Sitting in a t-shirt in my office (bedroom) and fairly comfortable but my feet are cold - which is pretty unusual for me. So I'm considering slipper socks - or something with a harder wearing sole. Don't want to wear out my walking socks.
I set our thermostat to 14 degrees earlier this year to stop the heating kicking in (and it hasn’t). Thermostat has been living on my computer desk since then, situated under the stairs, with desktop tower, two monitors, and a NAS which might fool it into thinking it’s warmer than it is.
Would it not be a whole lot simpler just to switch off the heating?
Would it not be a whole lot simpler just to switch off the heating?
I'm more concerned about how to answer this question than whether it actually is simpler or not.
Anyone got recs for slipper socks on the High St (rather than online)?
Going fine in the balmy south of the south. Had a few ~5degree mornings outside but still ~ 18 deg c inside. I have had to start putting slippers on for work (inactive sit at desk work) but I always have cold feet.
I'm lucky in that my block of flats is pretty well insulated and I also get a bit of secondary heat leaking in from the corridor where everyone else insists on having the little heater in it on full blast! It's paid for by the management company so noone cares about having on 24/7. Next door neighbours are Indian so they have their flat at volcano levels of heat which leaks through my wall too, still having to currently have the windows open when I cook just to let the heat out. The turning point will be when I struggle to dry clothes overnight, first thing is a little desk fan running all night then if that doesn't work the heating gets put on minimum (Economy 7 storage heaters). I've never had to turn the heater past level 2 of 6 in the 9 years I've been here, even then that was only during the Beast From The East, and that's despite me liking it around 18 degrees. Not bad for a ground floor flat!
Aga is on but not central heating yet. With the oil-fuelled Aga we may as well just be throwing fistfuls of fivers into it continuously but we're kind of stuck with it now.
So I’m considering slipper socks - or something with a harder wearing sole
Like, say, slippers?
With the oil-fuelled Aga we may as well just be throwing fistfuls of fivers into it continuously but we’re kind of stuck with it now.
We bit the bullet and installed a new external oil-boiler last year to get rid of an old Rayburn. Whether it's any more efficient remains to be seen, but at least we've got rid of the massive noise-generator from the kitchen...
According to our Prime Minister on local radio, domestic energy is capped at £2500!
It isn't. That's the expected average cost based on the price capped rate.
Yep, gas fire went on for an hour after getting home from a week away.
Apart from that, closing the blinds and keeping interior doors shut is working well.
We're up high, but had the house really well insulated when it rebuilt.
Now have an 'indoor' fleece......it used to be the 'gardening' fleece, but it's had a wash. 🙂
Feet - Vans (just use this pair indoors) and some cheap Grisport walking socks. They really are bloody awful walking socks, but very warm.
Last year I bought these Men's wool felt slippers and have been very impressed with the quality. Have a shoe-free home so worn lots and they're still looking good. Coupled with hiking socks my feet have never been toastier.
https://www.johnlewis.com/josef-seibel-westland-toulouse-35-mule-slippers/p5672903
Hmm they do look good but I'd rather socks with some kind of reinforced sole, rather than actual slippers.
Not used the gas central heating yet. I have used a 700w far infrared panel for localised heating of myself whilst sat in a cool room.
Hmm they do look good but I’d rather socks with some kind of reinforced sole, rather than actual slippers.
Why molgrips?
£50.00 for slippers!
Cost of living crisis my arse - get yourself to your local factory shop! 🙂
We’ve been away somewhere warm for the last few weeks, coming back here was a noticeable drop in temperature here.
No heating on as yet, but we did pre-emptively stock up with a few tonnes of hardwood as we have a couple of stoves we use most of the time for heating. They have been lit a couple of times in the evening.
Thermostat is set to 21ºC here, and that's a compromise, as I'd prefer it at 23º, but my wife complains it's too hot. It's kicking in in the mornings and evenings. Being comfortable is important. No kids, so money to literally burn.
Out of interest; how many on here NOT putting heating on are from Yorkshire or Scotland? 🙂
I’d prefer it at 23º, but my wife complains it’s too hot.
She's right. Put a jumper on.
£50.00 for slippers!
Cost of living crisis my arse – get yourself to your local factory shop!
Yeah but I did a a £40 gift voucher so not too painful. However, I usually buy cheapo supermarket slippers which don't last long so expect these to outlast anything I've bought previously so better value for money hopefully.
No heating on here apart from switching on the oil-filled radiator for an hour max in the evening.
I bought these Men’s wool felt slippers
Want. But getting up and down stairs in mules is a matter of life or death.
Do these actually stay on your feet without having to scrunch your toes up to hold them on?
Want. But getting up and down stairs in mules is a matter of life or death.
Pah! Easy! You need something these for the full life or death buzz... 🙂
[img] 
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My daughter bought me something similar last crimbo. They may actually be worn this winter.
Want. But getting up and down stairs in mules is a matter of life or death.
Do these actually stay on your feet without having to scrunch your toes up to hold them on?
I know exactly what you mean! The upper is a lot longer, as an example have just measured my size 7's and between the upper side length and centre of heel is 6 cm. Even though I could have done with half a size smaller they do stay on my feet coming down the stairs.
Like, say, slippers?
No, not like slippers.
Why molgrips?
Because slippers aren't flexible like socks, they are shoe shaped.
Because slippers aren’t flexible like socks, they are shoe shaped.
Fair enough, if you don't like slippers because they're too 'indoor shoe' then fine, each to their own feet. However, it would be remiss of me not to introduce sir to (which for full STW points are are hand-made, fair trade and Mongolian)the below...
https://madeinmongolia.net/products/grey-mustard-mens-felt-slipper
Shoe-shaped, yes. Not flexible, no. Proper lovely and warm, abso-flippin-lutely
My living room is currently 13°c at waist height. It is warmer outside the house than inside it (downstairs). Upstairs is a bit warmer as the sun shines through the windows. I need the leaves to fall and high winds to blow the trees over later in the year.
@onzadog The PM is wrong.
https://fullfact.org/economy/Truss-energy-price-guarantee/
OWith the current SVR, it means out bills have gone up by about £3000/month
Blimey, what really?
That's insane. As above, try to see if you can be interest only for a while. Where does your current mortgage end date sit in relation to your expected retirement date?
which for full STW points are are hand-made, fair trade and Mongolian
And also ****ing expensive 🙂
No they look alright actually, not a sole as such, but they are expensive. Totes are £18.
I'm well aware how it works thanks. it was amusing that the PM demonstrated that she doesn't!
Maybe my post needed a smilie or something.
Totes are £18.
Yep, a third of the price, but I bet my Mongolians will more than last three times as long. My previous pair of similar (these 'uns https://www.husandhem.co.uk/37-glerups-slippers) were bought in 2014 and are on my feet as I type. They're pretty ratty now, which is why MrsIHN bought me the mongolians to replace them, but still perfectly functional.
Think of them as the Chris King headset of slippers 🙂
It isn’t. That’s the expected average cost based on the price capped rate.
Yes, that's why he posted it.
You know there's an energy crisis when peak STW is discussion the deterioration curve of Mongolian slippers.
She’s right. Put a jumper on.
I have. I draw the line at needing a coat on indoors...
You know there’s an energy crisis when peak STW is discussion the deterioration curve of Mongolian slippers.
🤣
Yes, they're idiotically expensive (mine were b'day gift from my kids) but they are gloriously toasty