Have you turned your central heating on yet?

[Parm]

I'm quite surprised, it's the middle of October and our central heating is still off! Much to my wife's despair, my goal is to make it to November before we finally flick the switch.

How about everyone else, has the heating been put back on for winter yet?

[Bagnaj97]

My heating programmer has a "+1hr" button that I've used a couple of times, but generally no, the heating is still off.

[Dooms]

We are in a new flat with really high ceilings and it does appear to be getting colder than my older places. We stuck the heating on the other night to see how long it would take to warm the place up using the ultra thin electric radiators that are installed... turns out it takes quite a while.

I like having a cold bedroom (plus PC helps warm ) and all for the hoodie/blanket instead of heating

[Saracen]

Not yet, no. But it's been close once or twice.

My normal point is when our thermostat shows 16 to 17 degrees, and it's hit 17.5, but so far, no lower. Note, that's OUR thermostat, and in the position it's in, so not directly relevant to anyone else. But it works for us.

Like you, I'm aiming at November. Or later, if I can get away with it.

[kalniel]

Yeah it's on, but thermostat and timer, so only comes on in cold snaps at the moment.

[jimbouk]

Came back from Italy at the weekend and the 10oC drop in temperature was quite noticeable. 30 mins in the morning and 30 mins in the evening to take the chill off.

Hopefully when I've finished insulating the loft it will make a difference and we won't need it on so much this winter.

[DanceswithUnix]

Don't you people have thermostats?

I have a lower limit of temperature I will tolerate in the house, and a thermostat set to that temperature. In summer the heating is not needed, so it stays off. In winter it gets colder, it comes on. The thermostat is a modern programmable electronic one that is predictive and knows how long the house takes to warm up and just deals with it.

There have been some nights when the radiators have warmed up.

I admit I have been lazy and not told the thermostat that I like it a couple of degrees colder at night, I really should do that.

[virtuo]

I usually aim for mid November as well, done fine so far - it's been quite warm compared to last year. I've had a few fires since September but they were mainly because I wanted to burn something rather than warm up. Have certainly started noticing the cold and dark mornings though.

[Dooms]

Don't you people have thermostats?

I have a lower limit of temperature I will tolerate in the house, and a thermostat set to that temperature. In summer the heating is not needed, so it stays off. In winter it gets colder, it comes on. The thermostat is a modern programmable electronic one that is predictive and knows how long the house takes to warm up and just deals with it.

There have been some nights when the radiators have warmed up.

I admit I have been lazy and not told the thermostat that I like it a couple of degrees colder at night, I really should do that.

Not in our new place, each Rad has to be turned on as and when we want it

[jimbouk]

Also sadly no thermostat. We bought an analogue timer last Christmas when we got tired of it being freezing when we got out of bed! Before that there was just the on and off switch!

[Kovoet]

It's too hot for that surely

[fatguy666]

Maybe reading this will remind me to set my timer when I get home tonight. Probably not though.

[DanceswithUnix]

Also sadly no thermostat. We bought an analogue timer last Christmas when we got tired of it being freezing when we got out of bed! Before that there was just the on and off switch!

That sucks

Is this a boiler/radiator system? I would have thought a plumber could retro-fit a thermostat. Some of the modern ones are bonkers, things like WiFi control from an app so you can adjust the heating without leaving the sofa.

I got this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003DTK0SM

House is way more comfortable now, and will hopefully save us some fuel as well by not making the house hotter than I want it and then waiting for the house to go cold again.

I think we could do with thermostatic radiators in at least the upstairs radiators as well, costs money but should save some money.

[jimbouk]

I'm sure one could be retrofitted; you'd have to splice a wire in the controls and find some power for it but nothing impossible. We just use human thermometers at the moment :-) I didn't realise they were that cheap though, I'll add that to my list of house things to do.

[Spreadie]

I'm sure one could be retrofitted; you'd have to splice a wire in the controls and find some power for it but nothing impossible. We just use human thermometers at the moment :-) I didn't realise they were that cheap though, I'll add that to my list of house things to do.

I got a quote for having a wireless roomstat and receiver retro-fitted to my boiler. For another £200 I could have bought a new boiler!

[g8ina]

My heating programmer has a "+1hr" button that I've used a couple of times, but generally no, the heating is still off.

Ditto. The timer is in action but has not *actually* triggered it yet.