Central Heating - on yet?

[Accy cyclist]

A friend of mine's energy bills are half what I pay, so she says. Though she does live in a new (ish) build house with all the insulation stuff, unlike my flat which was thrown up in the 1950's. Why so much less than mine you might ask.🧐 Well, it's because even though her house is only 20 years old, she doesn't have any central heating. Instead she has those plug in electric heaters. Mmm, I thought electricity cost more than gas though.🤔

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

A friend of mine's energy bills are half what I pay, so she says. Though she does live in a new (ish) build house with all the insulation stuff, unlike my flat which was thrown up in the 1950's. Why so much less than mine you might ask.🧐 Well, it's because even though her house is only 20 years old, she doesn't have any central heating. Instead she has those plug in electric heaters. Mmm, I thought electricity cost more than gas though.🤔

They are expensive if you mean the convector type ones which blow air of a heating element
But if the room is well insulated and the doors do not let a draft through to other rooms then after a few minutes the thermostat will realise it has got to the set temperature and switch it off

Also - there are some much more efficient electric heaters nowadays using infra-red stuff. They are supposed to be much more energy efficient and are a possible replacement for gas Central Heating

but it is probably just the insulation and lack of drafts - and how she sets the thermostat

 

[presta]

Maybe I would if I was working hard in it like I used to, but not when I'm sat down, therefore not moving.

This.

When I was cycling I could sit in shorts and T shirt at 17C and be comfortable, nowadays I can sometimes feel cold at 25. It's 22 in here now.

Air temperature measured with a thermometer only tells you a very limited amount about thermal comfort anyway, because so much depends on radiant heat from the walls/floor/ceiling. Not only that, it also matters a great deal that there's not too much asymmetry between the radiant temperature of one surface relative to another.

From CIBSE Guide A:

This is the reason why I made a thermal model of my house and heating: what the thermometer tells you about the air temperature, and what the walls are doing can be two very different kettles of fish. If I switch the heating off overnight it takes until about midday before the walls warm back up again, during which time I feel freezing cold.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I find that I get used to different temperature if I leave it for a while

Many years ago a taxi driver ( a well know source of accurate information - not!) that he had an Arab in his taxi once (stop sniggering at the back!!!) and he said that if your forearms are in the same temperature area as the rest of your body then you will adjust, if possible, to the temperature of your forearms
Hence have bare forearms allows you body to adjust better to the room temperatre whether it is hot or cold
This is why Arab robes are so voluminous and have long sleeves
(I did say it was relayed by a taxi driver - don;t expect to drill down and still have it make any sense!!!)

Since then I have tried to keep my forearms bare when possible and to me it seems to help my body adjust to different temperature

maybe

anyway -

 

[Slick]

We have just hit a new low in Chez El Slick.

We have just erected a catio to give our guys some outdoor space, and while they love it, they keep checking in just to make sure their place of safety hasn’t been swallowed up by some sort of vortex. Mrs Slick now insists we leave the door open for them so they can come and go as they please, but I’ve just checked the hive app and the central heating has been on the whole time.

I suppose I have to do my bit for global warming.

 

[presta]

I find that I get used to different temperature if I leave it for a while

Me too. If I don't react fairly promptly to a change in temperature ( within 10-15 minutes) I quickly stop noticing it, and then I can end up on a fast track to hypothermia without even noticing.

 

[Drago]

Had the AC on today.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Me too. If I don't react fairly promptly to a change in temperature ( within 10-15 minutes) I quickly stop noticing it, and then I can end up on a fast track to hypothermia without even noticing.

Yes - I do that sometimes
When I was a teacher I was sometime on "Playground duty" at break - meant hanging around the large tarmac area between the different blocks of the school
I sometimes just wandered out there from my classroom and forgot to take a jumper/coat
I found that I could willmyself to ignore the cold feelings and I would feel OK

but if I did it for too long then I got way too cold
I stopped doing it unless I could be sure I would only be out for a minute or so - like going from block to block!

 

[presta]

Yes - I do that sometimes
When I was a teacher I was sometime on "Playground duty" at break - meant hanging around the large tarmac area between the different blocks of the school
I sometimes just wandered out there from my classroom and forgot to take a jumper/coat
I found that I could willmyself to ignore the cold feelings and I would feel OK

but if I did it for too long then I got way too cold
I stopped doing it unless I could be sure I would only be out for a minute or so - like going from block to block!

When I was 16 I had a moped, and I used to go out on it in mid winter wearing just a cotton shirt and a parka. I was frozen at first, but kept going, and after a while I felt too hot, so I unzipped the parka and rode around with just the cotton shirt between me and a freezing 30mph wind chill. I was doing that several times a week, but it wasn't until many years afterwards that I found out paradoxical undressing is a symptom of hypothermia.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Mrs Slick now insists we leave the door open for them so they can come and go as they please

Install a cat flap to the catio or it will end up costing you a fortune!
I am still putting on the CH for an hour in the evening while I have a shower.
I'm ground floor, my flat is a bit colder after sundown.

 

[Landsurfer]

We bought a very cheap convector heater from B&M …. On the mid setting it warms the whole downstairs for about a £1 a day … we don’t heat upstairs .. we sleep with the windows open all year round … The gas is for a bath per day … I’ve always jumped in after Jules … our power use is fridges and freezers … lights and devices …. This has been our cheapest winter for heating / power etc for 5 years …

 

[Andy in Germany]

Me too. If I don't react fairly promptly to a change in temperature ( within 10-15 minutes) I quickly stop noticing it, and then I can end up on a fast track to hypothermia without even noticing.

As a youngish teen I went out cycling on a very cold day. I felt fine after the first few minutes, not least because I was because I was climbing. All was well until I stopped at a set of lights, and the next thing I knew I was lying on the floor and someone had called an ambulance. The consensus at the hospital was that I'd lost body heat too fast, and my brain had decided a long term future meant being in a horizontal body.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Last night was the first night this year and probably the first since the end of summer last year when I didn't put my central heating on. However, I did put my electric fan heater on a low setting for about 45 minutes while sat reading. As I post it's 78 Fahrenheit/25 Celsius in my flat.

 

[lazybloke]

Last night was the first night this year and probably the first since the end of summer last year when I didn't put my central heating on. However, I did put my electric fan heater on a low setting for about 45 minutes while sat reading. As I post it's 78 Fahrenheit/25 Celsius in my flat.

25 C!!

Blimey, last night was the first we had the ceiling fan on in the bedroom. I cant imagine needing a heater.

That said, i definitely feel the cold more than i used to. My Thursday ride (averaging 23 C) was the first time this year wearing bibshorts instead of winter bibtights.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Had the AC on today.

@Accy cyclist costume?