Wednesday 9 March 2016

Keeping the Temperature Up



As you can see we don't have our central heating temperature thing set very high, 17.5 degrees suits me just fine, if it drops below that I do feel the cold ... but it rarely does, and I'm always wearing layers that get added to or peeled off depending on how active I am around the house.

The dogs sleep in the kitchen near the Aga and we keep the kitchen door closed overnight so that if we need to come downstairs to the bathroom (it's just off the living room) we don't disturb the dogs or Ginger.  So the heat from the Aga is trapped in the kitchen and conservatory overnight, it only takes an hour of the door being opened again in the morning and the houses Winter overnight temperature of about 15.5 creeps once again back up to the 17 degree mark.  The central heating clicks on for an hour in the morning taking us to a barmy 18 or so degrees.


This is where our thermostat sits ( I just remembered what it's called), on a little ledge over the stairs, I find this gives us a good overall marker for the house temperature.

If I go into other folk homes I am often amazed by the tropical temperatures with windows being opened to cool the house down if it's deemed 'too hot' and the occupants in bare feet and T shirts. 
Well each to their own I guess but 'you pays your money and makes your choice'.

At the moment my poor Mum is feeling the cold even in her heated little bungalow, but sensibly each afternoon when she gets chilly she dons her dressing gown, makes herself a hot drink and cosies up in front of the tele .... now that's a very good choice in my opinion.

The sun will hopefully soon be back and the heating will be off for the Summer and we, like the chickens the other day, will be basking in a free warmth once again.

Sue xx



21 comments:

  1. gosh Sue I cant wait for the warmer weather here in the West we have been batteredby high winds and rain and the chill factor is freezing my hands have been like ice all day. The hen run had collapsed in the night and had to be fixed before I could the hens out this morning had to call my husband back from work he wasn't impressed as he was 40 mins drive away but couldn't fix it alone. Our thermostat is currently at 20 and iv now lit the log burner to and im still cold got my thermals on to. Bless your mum she certainly does have the right idea :-) dee x

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    1. Same weather here, but we've been here long enough to have evertything battened down and safe thank goodness. What a good thing the hen run collapsed when they were safely in the house .... phew!!

      Once you do get cold it takes an age to warm up, hope things are a bit better now. xx

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  2. 18C is the highest we have ever had our heating but since going on betablockers I am feeling the cold more. Ah well, can't win them all and at least it is still low compared to a lot of people's homes.

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    1. It is low compared to other folks homes. I find that 20 or 21 seems to be the norm with some people who don't dress for the season. Lots of layers are best, then you can peel some off or add more as needs must.

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  3. I've only had the heating on during the day on two occasions since Christmas and have saved over £1000 on my heating bill as a result. It does get really rather chilly in the afternoons though, so I make myself a hot water bottle and snuggle up on the settee - much cheaper and no wasted heat!

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    1. Wow ... that's a massive saving! You can't beat a snuggle in the afternoon, I'm sure Jet joins you :-)

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  4. our house generally sits at 14 degrees I am busy all morning but light the stove around 3 when I sit down to watch my recorded programmes for an hour.My sisters house is very warm... gives me a headache

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    1. Warm, stuffy houses always give me a headache, it's the same in most shops :-(

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  5. We don't like a warm house particularly when we're up and about, anywhere in the 60's is fine. When I sit down I do tend to chill, but I keep a light zip hoodie to wear. We never have the heat on at night, we like to sleep in a cool room.

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    1. Snap, I much prefer to sleep in a cool room. We let the heat from the wood burner escape up the stairs during the evening to warm the upstairs ready for bedtime, but it starts cooling down as we are cosily tucked up. Perfect.

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  6. Our house is all stone, and it holds the cold, so we have our thermostat set up just a bit. However, it does keep the house cool in the hot Texas summer!

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    1. Our house is old Welsh stone, but we have everywhere we can very well insulated so once we get it warm it holds onto it. Unfortunately it's not the reverse in summer and we swelter if we have to keep the windows closed for any reason.

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  7. With the sun pouring in our front windows now our furnace hardly comes on at all during the day. Got to love free solar heating.

    God bless.

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    1. It's a good form of passive, free heating isn't it the sun shining through the windows. Rosy has just found a sunny spot on the bed and is snoozing happily away.

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  8. Sensible mum. I am sitting here with a big dressing gown on over my clothes, this very moment.

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  9. That dressing gown idea is brilliant - I shall pass it on to several elderly folk I know.

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  10. Central heating ?
    Ours?
    A scotties dog in bed
    Organic hot water bottle

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  11. Had to convert to Fahrenheit to see what 18C was! Approx. 64F. That is kind of cold for me, I'm afraid. I am one of those people who keep the heat at 20C or above! And I wear sweaters and socks even then! I don't have central heating, just a centrally located gas wall heating unit in the living room and the heat diffuses. My heating bills are high in the winter, but I save in the summer because I don't have air conditioning (our summer temps. are in the 90s to 100sF, here in So. Calif.)

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  12. Our heater usually sits around 18* too. I must admit that often if hubby is at work and I am home alone that as soon as I eat I will go to bed and watch TV. I keep my socks on until the bed is warm if I havent pre warmed it with the electric blanket

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  13. Oh that really gets me too.... people wearing a T-shirt in an over heated house during the thick of winter. Aren't they the first ones to complain about their electricity bills? Here in Oz, very few people have central heating and our winters are nowhere near the extremes that you have. We are a little unusual in that we have wood heating in the living area plus a wood stove in the kitchen for cooking, so we go through a lot of wood but we don't need to buy it so that's OK for us, or it would be terribly expensive. The rest of the house is quite chilly, but we dress for the weather, wear socks to bed and turn off the heating blanket when we get in. Is lovely to know that your dogs are snug. Right now our summer is relentless and I'm dreaming of being cold once again. Also must mention that I love the decor in your home. :)

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    1. Thank you, we simply painted the whole house white, walls and woodwork and then added pops of colour (all featuring our favourite shade of green) by using one roll of wallpaper in each of the rooms we wanted a bit of pattern in. It means that by simply buying a couple of rolls of different wallpaper we can change the look of the entire house in hours.

      The white all wipes down easily, a good idea as we have the three dogs and Ginger the cat.

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