Have You Put Your Heating On Yet ?

[Mellenchip]

No way have I put ours on! Just put a jumper on if your cold. I love a good fire but I can't even justify that to myself yet.

[AderynCoch]

Nope. I've still got my window open.

[Bottesford]

Socks in bed = horrible itchy & hot feet. No way!

Heating - well I've not awoken the central heating yet. I have to switch each radiator back on individually as they must be kept off in summer & thermostat down or when you put some hot water on for washing, etc. the radiators will warm - even if its 30c outside!

We've used the gas fire in evenings from time to time to get temp up from around 17c to 21c where it belongs (actually it belongs 22-23c but only if provided by natural heating - artificial heating above 21c feels horrible).

We never run heating at night and don't put the radiator on in our bedroom as there's nothing worse then an overheated (artificially anyway) bedroom.

It will auto switch on 0-60 mins before the first one of us up in the mornings (0-60 depending on how cold it is - if we only get down to 15c inside then 0 mins but if its in single figures it needs time to heat). Evenings again comes on just before we get in an remains on until bedtime.

Annoyingly our heating system is pretty primitive and our insulation not great so does take a fair bit of management to keep things at the right temperature! Ignore the forecast at your peril... Winter can be such a pain in the bottom - so many annoying little things you have to do that you don't need to during summer.

[stormforce 10]

yes had my heating on quite a few times this month. a bit nippy first thing.

[The PIT]

Nope not at all. Maybe around the end of of October.

[picog]

Not yet, but the woodburner has been on pretty regularly since the end of August. That will be lit most nights, and sometimes days, from now through to April next year.

[Bottesford]

Take now... currently 19c in my living room. Just got home after cycling up the hill and no thought of heating. Time for dinner - cooking warms things up a bit and you eat hot food. Still no need for heating.

Now sit for two hours in front of pc... slowly you cool down & down. Actually it feels pretty chilly now so on goes the fire!

This whole coming home after a couple of beers in darkness isn't great - feels like its late already. Wanna check my tomatoes but can't see them anymore!

[Isolated Frost]

Take now... currently 19c in my living room. Just got home after cycling up the hill and no thought of heating. Time for dinner - cooking warms things up a bit and you eat hot food. Still no need for heating.

Now sit for two hours in front of pc... slowly you cool down & down. Actually it feels pretty chilly now so on goes the fire!

This whole coming home after a couple of beers in darkness isn't great - feels like its late already. Wanna check my tomatoes but can't see them anymore!

Models picking out Tuesday onwards as bbq weather in Eastern and Southern England, the Midlands and potentially Wales - 22/23C possible if you go by the ECM/UKMO for Nottingham botty - definitely should feel beautiful out there!

I do love the darkness though, but in Feb/Mar I crave long sunlight, and in Sep/Oct it's vice versa.

[Bottesford]

If only that warmth had hit a Saturday it'd be good. A bbq in the dark (which it now shortly is once I get home midweek) isn't quite the same!

Have to say the shortening days are the thing I most dislike about autumn/winter. I'm good with the cold, the snow, the ice; even the blinding low sun, vast traffic increase and additional maintenance my house and bike need I can cope with. It's the trapping indoorsiness of the darker months that drags me down. I miss my evening potters in the garden, the pre-dinner jogs and post dinner walks and of course - pub beer gardens!

[Aaron]

If only that warmth had hit a Saturday it'd be good. A bbq in the dark (which it now shortly is once I get home midweek) isn't quite the same!

Have to say the shortening days are the thing I most dislike about autumn/winter. I'm good with the cold, the snow, the ice; even the blinding low sun, vast traffic increase and additional maintenance my house and bike need I can cope with. It's the trapping indoorsiness of the darker months that drags me down. I miss my evening potters in the garden, the pre-dinner jogs and post dinner walks and of course - pub beer gardens!

I only just realised in December how low our sun actually is during winter.. guess our mild climate often makes us forget how far north we really are.

[Styx]

I live in Australia - 3 days without the heater this side of winter.

That usually means I can disconnect it from the powerpoint! Nice!

[Moomin]

No chance yet, we're on oil which does the hot water as well. Just filled up with 500 litres which cost £300!! Was £88 when we moved here in 2003, so the jumpers will be coming out when the time comes. mind it has felt a bit chilly and damp the last few days, will be chopping moreof the log pile this weekend I think to be ready.

[ZONE 51]

no chance of digging the heater out yet! i used this portable one all last winter to heat small flat and it cost so much, halogen it is and i think il change to convector heater this year, i close windows early now while its cooler nights to hold in the warmth from sunny days but it gets cool in here at night but i just where another layer, il try and go as far as i can without heating. dont get to cold though and if you have to then put the heater on!

[ZONE 51]

And all the giant house spiders that are knocking about! urghhh

These people talking about 10C etc inside the house.....why would you put yourself through that?? It can't be comfortable- sitting around in that sort of temperature encourages damp and really isn't good for your health. 18-23C is ideal room temperature, lower than that and even with jumpers and such on you can still feel the discomfort of the air around you when watching TV at night etc. Some people on here seem to see it as being defeated if you have to have the heating on before a certain date!

i know that can feel cold as its different from a mild 10c(50f)outside when a swly wind blows, i think like you say it can cause damp and the type of 10c feels damp sometimes, i lived in a place once on ground floor no floors above with a low roof, for a couple of winters in cold frosty/snowy spells, my room temperature would drop to breath visible 43f! it was freezing, i could not have heater on at night as it was portable and no thermostat to turn it on/off, i was warm in bed but the room got damp and mould formed, those winters snowfell and was on the roof just a few feet above me for days, which made it colder, that was a few years back was 2006/7 and 2007/8, cant remember what one was coldest.

[Turnedoutniceagain]

No chance yet, we're on oil which does the hot water as well. Just filled up with 500 litres which cost £300!! Was £88 when we moved here in 2003, so the jumpers will be coming out when the time comes. mind it has felt a bit chilly and damp the last few days, will be chopping moreof the log pile this weekend I think to be ready.

I feel your pain Brother Moomin. If I'm careful, restrict heating "On" times, close off the top floor bedrooms etc, then 300 lts will last me about 4-5 weeks in the winter.......

[DR Hosking]

I feel your pain Brother Moomin. If I'm careful, restrict heating "On" times, close off the top floor bedrooms etc, then 300 lts will last me about 4-5 weeks in the winter.......

4-5 weeks?? Either you have a very big house or have the thermostat right up or your boiler is very inefficient?? We have 3 bedroom semi, wife at home with 2 small children so heating on several hours a day in winter, just got 500 litres of oil, does heating and hot water and should last from now until February or March with thermostat on 20c, and our boiler is nearly 20 years old.

[Turnedoutniceagain]

4-5 weeks?? Either you have a very big house or have the thermostat right up or your boiler is very inefficient?? We have 3 bedroom semi, wife at home with 2 small children so heating on several hours a day in winter, just got 500 litres of oil, does heating and hot water and should last from now until February or March with thermostat on 20c, and our boiler is nearly 20 years old.

6 bedroomed, old stone farmhouse dating back from 1690's. Single-glazed stone mullion windows, oil fired Aga and attic bedrooms, so limited insulation etc. Very thick walls.

Lovely old place, just a bit draughty in the winter - You really wouldn't want my heating bills !!!

[DR Hosking]

6 bedroomed, old stone farmhouse dating back from 1690's. Single-glazed stone mullion windows, oil fired Aga and attic bedrooms, so limited insulation etc. Very thick walls.

Lovely old place, just a bit draughty in the winter - You really wouldn't want my heating bills !!!

yes that would cost a bomb to heat! No I certainly wouldnt want your bills! Im aiming to shut the downstairs dors and rely on the stove as much as I can!

[philglossop]

Heating on? Heck no. It'll go on for an hour in the morning then 3 hours in the evening (but never in the bedroom- can't stand a heated bedroom) sometime in October- probably more than likely towards the end of the month.

Our last 2 house in Glossop was built around 1620 and all that had was a woodburner. Oh how I enjoyed looking for wood to burn on it. Ever since central heating has never had the same appeal.

[Kiwi]

Oh how I enjoyed looking for wood to burn on it. Ever since central heating has never had the same appeal.

Nothing more satisfying than when I spy a broken branch lying on the verge of one of the lanes around here.

I screech to a halt, whip out my trusty saw, and leave with my plunder feeling very pleased with myself.

[philglossop]

Nothing more satisfying than when I spy a broken branch lying on the verge of one of the lanes around here.

I screech to a halt, whip out my trusty saw, and leave with my plunder feeling very pleased with myself.

I know that feeling! Found a young tree snapped off once from a gale, I literally dragged it down the lane to our courtyard and spent a good couple of hours chopping it up. Don't what was more entertaining, the finding of the tree, the chopping or the look on our neighbours faces!

[ZONE 51]

yes that would cost a bomb to heat! No I certainly wouldnt want your bills! Im aiming to shut the downstairs dors and rely on the stove as much as I can!

Theres an 90 year old i know and she uses her very large cooker to heat downstairs, it is a large and very old house, cooker looks something like this one here..

bet that would produce some heat!

[Aaron]

Am I the only person here not trying to cut down on heating my home?

[ZONE 51]

Am I the only person here not trying to cut down on heating my home?

some would think your not energy saving

[Turnedoutniceagain]

Theres an 90 year old i know and she uses her very large cooker to heat downstairs, it is a large and very old house, cooker looks something like this one here..

bet that would produce some heat!

That's the beast - 4 oven, oil fired Aga. heats most of the downstairs and a pot of stew is about to go in the simmering oven (bottom right) for 3-4 hours !!