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Green Living: How long can you leave your heating off for?

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    • CommentAuthorTuna
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2008
     
    Well, I'm not a lady and I'm not heat free - still in a caravan, with two kids (3 and 1), so heat in the morning is completely absent, having flown out of the windows and vents overnight. We're warm in bed under our two duvets, but heaters are necessary if you plan to get up and not catch cold!

    Still, our diesel hot air heater should be back from the garage on Tuesday, so we can rely a little less on the electric convectors. Oh joy!
    • CommentAuthorjoe.e
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2008
     
    Personally I think there might be a physiological element to the man/woman heat-sensitivity thing. I do remember reading something about it once - something to do with women having a layer of subcutaneous fat over more of the body. Maybe there's a temperature gradient across the insulation thickness, so that the skin, which tells the brain the external temperature, is slightly more insulated from the internal heat source in women than in men. I've got no idea if it's true, but in my experience it's a fairly universal thing, including men and women who don't live in anything resembling traditional gender-role lifestyles.
    • CommentAuthorJackyR
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2008 edited
     
    Other Half (m) needed it on. He's just left for the week, so it's off again.

    I've never seen a gender factor in heat requirements. I've been thin, active and healthy, acclimatised to Scotland or the tropics; I'm now plump, sedentary and sofa-bound in the folds of the Downs of Kent. I've seen each of these factors make a difference. But gender?

    Mind you, never been a man... :wink:
    • CommentAuthorRachel
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2008
     
    Lit the fire once a few weeks ago but that was because I hadn't seen the sun for weeks and needed to see something that resembled it. I guess i'll be lighting the fire daily from mid october until march/april. Being in a straw bale house, it's feeling cosy at the moment. My ex partner was always feeling the cold.... I do too but not so much.
    • CommentAuthorPeter A
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2008
     
    Heating not turned on yet, but I do have electric under floor heating so have no desire to go bankrupt, on the up side the ground floor flat I live in is built to latest B Regs 2005, so temperatures remain at present a constant 20 deg C. I have bought a few of those big candles to see if I can stave off put heating on, always liked the idea of heating a home by candles:)
    NB, survived the summer on the solar thermal panel that the developer fitted, but starting to twitch a bit thinking about the winter and hot water by emmersion heater!!
    • CommentAuthorcaliwag
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2008
     
    Can only really comment on the studio/office which is a tiny (10ft wide) Victorian terrace with a velux windowed extension, as the main house has aging Gran!
    Not had heating on, indeed just wondering if I can hold out till Oct.
    Internally insulated walls, decent attic insulation (must sort out hatch though!) mainly double glazed, so relatively draught free.
    Have fixed some bubble wrap over two unused extract units. Space sits at about 17-18c and, yes, the computer is a fantastic space heater.

    Just planning a new Ravenheat gas boiler by, ideally with an energycatcher for real efficiency...will monitor that and report back!!

    Stay cosy guys and gals, Wag:cool:
    •  
      CommentAuthoragu
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2008
     
    No heating on yet and hoping to hold out a while longer yet. We live in a 100 year old cottage with no insulation as yet ( only been here a while) so have ordered the insulation for loft and floor ( solid walls with no room for insulation) and am not keen to trun on until at least then. G'friend is now sitting wrapped in blanlkets of an evening to let me know it wont be long before it has to go on. We are in the SOuth East.
    • CommentAuthorTheDoctor
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2008 edited
     
    i usually spark up the woodburning stove in October, and the heating in late October.

    The house is never kept at a constant 19 or 20 degrees. Not really my thing.

    half the house (bedrooms and bathroom) is 600mm thick stone, lined internally with minimal insulation, but 350mm+ in the roof. We never heat this beyond 16 degrees, just a boost before bedtime only. There is a stove in the main bedroom which gets lit in an uber-cold spell.

    The rest of the house - the living bit' - is well insulated floor / roof and walls, double and triple glazed, and is open plan with UFH and a big stove.
    This will be our first winter in this bit, but do not expect to use the heating for at least a month yet.
    We will experiment, but thoughts are that the UFH will be set to around 17 degrees max, with the woodburning stove doing most of the work, and therefore the thermostat not kicking in too often with the large thermal mass chimney breast working well.


    (for reference, this is in Fife)
    •  
      CommentAuthormrswhitecat
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2008 edited
     
    Greetings from sunny Essex. No heating on and back kitchen door open throughout the day. We're still eating our bacon breakfast sarnies outdoors and sleeping with the windows open. I picked a washing up bowl full of plum tomatoes off the allotment. No socks. No woolly jumpers. No sleeves even. We're not even soliciting the society of the cat.
    •  
      CommentAuthorOlly
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2008
     
    No heating on yet in our flat, although it's not surprising given that the gas boiler needs replacing!:bigsmile:

    The electric fan heater hasn't yet made it out of the cupboard yet, I suspect we'll make it into mid October, but we'll have to wait and see what the weather does. LIving in a top storey flat we have the option of making use of the free "underfloor" heating from the neighbours downstairs! :bigsmile:

    The heating in our single glazed office came on weeks ago, but that's partly due to other tenants in the building turning the thermostat up, it was on 24C last time I looked! :confused:
  11.  
    My husband got an ultimatum last night - either the windows are closed or my socks and nightie stay on. Found my hand hovering near the heating on switch watching telly in the evening but resorted to knitting instead and it's still off. Might have a go burning the Taybrite this weekend.

    Heavy demand for the DeLonghi oil filled radiator I gave away on Freecycle. Others must be feeling the chill too.
    • CommentAuthorStuartB
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008
     
    Heating well and truly on! Had to scrape the car window yesterday morning so I think it is justified. A bit baltic today also.
    • CommentAuthorTimber
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008
     
    Well i put the heating on for an hour last night and again an hour this morning. But i think that it won't need to be on much, at least yet.
    • CommentAuthorludite
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008
     
    Been burning wood in the stove all summer long - it heats our hot water too you see, and Hubby needs a daily bath.

    Tried to turn on the upstairs nystore heaters last night and found they have been cut off - must be something to do with the recent rewiring and have phoned sparky to fix problem.

    So far our kitchen is nice and warm, but it won't be long before it's still cold even with the fire on 24/7.

    Regarding joe.e's gender observation. My hubby works outside permanently. Yet he likes it positively tropical in the house and HATES the cold. I work at home in the house and try to keep the temp low/reasonable. I wear lots of jumpers but always tell (trades) people I wander round in my 'neglegee/lingeree' as they always turn up early to see if I'm telling the truth.

    I'm always cold to touch - an iceberg in the bed - I drain heat out of the husband. Daughter and I always have cold hands and hubby and son are always warm. I also seem to loose my 'core body temp' faster than hubby. . . . . . interested in the 'fat' issue. It might make the skin feel colder . . . .
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008
     
    Have been using heating in the mornings and evenings but on all day today. Just the boiler, without the pump, this afternoon to heat my upstairs office by convection, leaving the downstairs radiators off.
  16.  
    Anyone going to try and hold out with me till November ? - you'll save a fortune
  17.  
    My brothers holding out til 1st november , he 's using the 'heatings broken' excuse to the rest of the family
    Mine went on this morning for 1/2 an hour at 7 , my protests fell on deaf ears, as I walk out the door.

    SE
    • CommentAuthorjoe.e
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008
     
    By the sounds of it, my gender observation seems to be far from universal. I should have remembered, it's always a mistake to extrapolate from 'everyone you know' to the population at large.
    • CommentAuthorBowman
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008
     
    What heating? The wood burner is in the garage, the storage heaters went to a good home via freecycle, and we haven't quite got round to fitting the pellet boiler boiler.

    Do you lot know something I don't?
    • CommentAuthorTimber
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008
     
    No heating tonight so far. Feels quite warm this evening, although that could be to do with the intake of a few drinks this evening!
  21.  
    I let my thermostat take care of when to turn the heating on or off. It's set at a constant 20.5C (I work from home) and does a good job of maintaining that temperature no matter what the weather. It's been an average of 8C outside for the past couple of days and the heating is running about 10 minutes out of every 48 (less during the day when the sun is warming the house). This figure is very useful for me because it allows to to calculate the improvements to insulation and air leakage I've made this year since I know what the output of the heating system is and can compare to the same time last year.

    All that said, since this is an old heavy building, if I know that it's going to warm-up over the following days I can turn off the heating in anticipation of the fact that upstairs warms faster (due to getting more sun) and that the thermostat is downstairs where temperatures are slower to respond. I don't really futz with the settings, just whether it's completely off, just circulating air (helps with cooling when there's no need for A/C) or either on in heating or air conditioning mode (though in A/C mode I tend to run the fan continuously due to the solar heating of the upstairs (where my office is). Basement is also heated - and it's this time of year that it's at its peak of around 21C - actually a bit warmer this year due to having to run the dehumidifier since we had so much rain - and the dehumidifier converts latent heat to actual heat :)

    I should post my graphs of consumption over the past 3 years since we had the GSHP installed and I became an avid gas and electric meter reader.

    Paul in Montreal.
    • CommentAuthorarthur
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008
     
    Men produce more heat than women - they're bigger generally physiologically, more powerful hearts, larger muscles, eat more food, bigger engines. So surely that has a lot to do with it. Of course if they're inactive it won't make so much difference but even moderate activity will require more energy for the average man if they're on average heavier (I don't think we've yet reached the situation yet where female obesity means women are heavier on average). However, it does seem to me that a lot of women have problems with circulation cold extermities - maybe to do with lower blood pressure?

    Regarding stealing heat from neighbours: yes, no great eco benefit if the neighbours have to pay instead. But maybe it'll force them to settle for a lower temperatures (I'm effectively acting as a fuel tax!) Plus, a lot of the heat a terraced flat dweller benefits from is heat from all the people and appliances surrounding them on 3 or 4 sides.

    I certainly wouldn't dream of allowing heating on in October no matter what the neighbours do
    • CommentAuthoralexc
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008
     
    without the girlfriend around till dec, no heating/fire yet. normally on by now.
    - v. poorly insulated circa 1900 midterrace place. midlands.
    It is though becoming cold!
    • CommentAuthorludite
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2008
     
    Brings me back to Huckleberry finn - wasn't that the story where the aunt wouldn't allow the heating on until the end of October?

    Joe.e I can't in all concience put the temp difference down to gender issues. I accept that extra subcutaneous fat on women might cause them to feel the cold more, when their internal core temp is acceptable.

    I think it comes more down to childhood. If you have always walked around semi naked and slept naked and had hot baths and been used to feeling warm when you enter a building, then that is what you will have grown used to/expect.

    If you are used to frost on the inside of the windows, and cold baths, damp clothes, cold beds, thermal underwear. . . . . .


    :shamed:

    Forget it. . . . . . . I'm assuming the former is how my husband was brought up and the later is how I was raised. It doesn't explain why I hate the cold and yet can live at lower temps (indoors) than my husband. It doesn't explain why his fingers can still function at lower temps when mine have frozen solid.
  25.  
    We dont pay the heating bill so its been on since mid sep, when the evenings started to get cold.

    I really dont like the cold, it goes right to my bones and makes my muscles ache from tensing them against the cold. My body notices when its spring/summer because all the muscles can relax again. Gf does shiatsu most days and often comes home feeling very very cold from having given her energy away, even in the summer months.
    • CommentAuthorjoe.e
    • CommentTimeOct 4th 2008
     
    Posted By: luditeJoe.e I can't in all concience put the temp difference down to gender issues. I accept that extra subcutaneous fat on women might cause them to feel the cold more, when their internal core temp is acceptable.

    I think it comes more down to childhood. If you have always walked around semi naked and slept naked and had hot baths and been used to feeling warm when you enter a building, then that is what you will have grown used to/expect.

    If you are used to frost on the inside of the windows, and cold baths, damp clothes, cold beds, thermal underwear. . . . . .

    No - I've given up on the gender theory in the face of all these other people's contrary experiences. It must just be the people I know. But the childhood idea doesn't work for me either - my partner and me both grew up in cold households - me in a draughty Victorian house with no central heating, ice inside bedroom window etc, and her in a shack up a Welsh mountain. But she hates the cold, can't function in a cold house, gets depressed every winter (and puts it down to her childhood) whereas I can't bear to get too hot, I swim in the sea most of the year, I get a surge of energy every autumn and my hands are almost always warm to the touch. Genetics? Who knows?
    • CommentAuthorludite
    • CommentTimeOct 4th 2008
     
    Swimming in the sea!!! off the UK!!! makes my shoulders ache just thinking about it.:shocked:

    In catering we refer to good pastry makers and good bread makers. Pastry people have cold hands and bread makers have warm ones. Most people are good at one or the other, but not both.

    Maybe it comes down to humans often choosing an 'opposite' partner. I think studies have shown it's the best way of getting varied genetics. Yet on the other hand other studies have shown we also tend to go with partners with similar sets of cultural backgrounds - hence, I travelled all over the world looking for a partner and eventually found one who'd been living (right next door) just over the hill from me.
  28.  
    Wimped out this morning. House at 15C.:cry: , so its gone on. Kids were starting to moan a bit as well. Interestingly, you kind of get used to it being cooler, so 18C seems fine
  29.  
    Mine at 16.5C in the day. Has dropped to this from 19C about a week ago. Mainly stone building -Dont like to think how much lower it will drop in the next week:crazy: brrrrrr
  30.  
    Our heating still off although we had a Taybrite fire on Saturday night. Delighted with the Taybrite!

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