5 ms·

Tangentially related anecdote: I remain convinced that it's the occupant, not the building that matters. I heat my uninsulated 1910 era flat for about ~150EUR/y

Tangentially related anecdote: I remain convinced that it's the occupant, not the building that matters. I heat my uninsulated 1910 era flat for about ~150EUR/year. Of that 150 about 100 goes to hot water (showers, mostly). How? By wearing clothes in winter. Sometimes a blanket if it gets particularly cold. In winter my indoor air temperature is around 14°C, which is plenty when you're wearing clothes. Buying extra insulation, or a "smart thermostat" or any other "energy saving" thingamajig would cost a lot more than the payoff would ever be.

lancebeet 9y ago
Does everyone in the house do this or just you? Apartments are usually heated by neighboring apartments, which means even if you turn off your heating, the temperature won't drop too low unless your neighbors do it too.
ipsi 9y ago
I can only assume you live somewhere pretty warm - if I don't have the heaters on in my apartment, the indoor air temperature will be roughly equal to the outdoor air temperature, which is frequently <5°C in winter. No amount of clothing is going to make that comfortable or healthy to live in. I don't know how much it costs to heat my place, since I only have storage heaters, so it all gets merged in with the rest of my electricity usage.
- Tharkun 9y ago
  If you're interested in figuring out the costs, they sell devices —— called calorimeters i think -- which you can stick on the storage heaters and will make pretty decent estimates of the amount of energy released.
- pjc50 9y ago
  > the indoor air temperature will be roughly equal to the outdoor air temperature Your insulation could definitely be improved - I live in Scotland and when it's 0C inside it seems to equalise at about 10C simply from having humans in with cooking and lighting. That's still a bit uncomfortably cold so I run the heating, but without good insulation a lot of paid for heat would be escaping.
  - ipsi 9y ago
    Oh, no doubt. It's an old terraced house in London, and I'm in the basement flat. No double-glazing, and I doubt the walls are properly insulated. But it's relatively cheap, and running the storage heaters 24/7 hasn't resulted in an excruciating power bill. The only time I've actually noticed it being brutally cold was coming home after several weeks abroad, where I'd turned the heaters off before I left to save power. Coming home after that was particularly unpleasant.
Daniel_sk 9y ago
That’s thanks to your neighbours heating. 14C is too low - the walls must be colder than that, leading to condensation of water on the surface. Do you maybe have problems with mold on walls? That would definitely be a problem at a house due to higher humidity. It would get lot colder if you lived in a house.
- Tharkun 9y ago
  Nope, that's the upside of a draughty old building, all the air leaks keep the place well ventilated and pretty dry. 14C is not too low, in fact it was pretty common before the age of central heating. Additionally, I'm on the ground floor on a street corner, so three walls exposed to the air and one wall shared with a large garage —— which i assume isn't heated.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    I have a stand-alone drafty New England farmhouse. That’s about my nighttime thermostat temperature. I go up about 3-4 degrees C during the day if I’m there.
falcolas 9y ago
Some of my family recently lived in Croatia, and were forced to do this in colder weather (closer to ~10° C median). They didn't care for it at all, since they had to remain constantly bundled up in their winter gear. Which, a jacket or heavier pants, OK... but gloves and hats too? Ugh. 14° C (just under 60° F for us yanks) is tolerable with sweats and movement, or even just direct sunlight, but you're living in a pretty temperate place if you can keep it there with an uninsulated building. Vancouver is not such a temperate place.
brians 9y ago
I have neighbors who live this way near Boston, where it's often well below freezing. They wear a lot of wool. Bed curtains and sleeping hats come out in winter. It can be a perfectly pleasant way to live. The lack of dollar signs on the thermostat leads many others to heat above, sometimes well above, 20 °C in winter.

lancebeet 9y ago

Does everyone in the house do this or just you? Apartments are usually heated by neighboring apartments, which means even if you turn off your heating, the temperature won't drop too low unless your neighbors do it too.

ipsi 9y ago

I can only assume you live somewhere pretty warm - if I don't have the heaters on in my apartment, the indoor air temperature will be roughly equal to the outdoor air temperature, which is frequently <5°C in winter. No amount of clothing is going to make that comfortable or healthy to live in. I don't know how much it costs to heat my place, since I only have storage heaters, so it all gets merged in with the rest of my electricity usage.

Tharkun 9y ago
If you're interested in figuring out the costs, they sell devices —— called calorimeters i think -- which you can stick on the storage heaters and will make pretty decent estimates of the amount of energy released.
pjc50 9y ago
> the indoor air temperature will be roughly equal to the outdoor air temperature Your insulation could definitely be improved - I live in Scotland and when it's 0C inside it seems to equalise at about 10C simply from having humans in with cooking and lighting. That's still a bit uncomfortably cold so I run the heating, but without good insulation a lot of paid for heat would be escaping.
- ipsi 9y ago
  Oh, no doubt. It's an old terraced house in London, and I'm in the basement flat. No double-glazing, and I doubt the walls are properly insulated. But it's relatively cheap, and running the storage heaters 24/7 hasn't resulted in an excruciating power bill. The only time I've actually noticed it being brutally cold was coming home after several weeks abroad, where I'd turned the heaters off before I left to save power. Coming home after that was particularly unpleasant.

Daniel_sk 9y ago

That’s thanks to your neighbours heating. 14C is too low - the walls must be colder than that, leading to condensation of water on the surface. Do you maybe have problems with mold on walls? That would definitely be a problem at a house due to higher humidity. It would get lot colder if you lived in a house.

Tharkun 9y ago
Nope, that's the upside of a draughty old building, all the air leaks keep the place well ventilated and pretty dry. 14C is not too low, in fact it was pretty common before the age of central heating. Additionally, I'm on the ground floor on a street corner, so three walls exposed to the air and one wall shared with a large garage —— which i assume isn't heated.
- ghaff 9y ago
  I have a stand-alone drafty New England farmhouse. That’s about my nighttime thermostat temperature. I go up about 3-4 degrees C during the day if I’m there.

falcolas 9y ago

Some of my family recently lived in Croatia, and were forced to do this in colder weather (closer to ~10° C median). They didn't care for it at all, since they had to remain constantly bundled up in their winter gear. Which, a jacket or heavier pants, OK... but gloves and hats too? Ugh. 14° C (just under 60° F for us yanks) is tolerable with sweats and movement, or even just direct sunlight, but you're living in a pretty temperate place if you can keep it there with an uninsulated building. Vancouver is not such a temperate place.

brians 9y ago

I have neighbors who live this way near Boston, where it's often well below freezing. They wear a lot of wool. Bed curtains and sleeping hats come out in winter. It can be a perfectly pleasant way to live. The lack of dollar signs on the thermostat leads many others to heat above, sometimes well above, 20 °C in winter.