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Not to brag but this winter I didn't turn on radiator once. The temperature never dropped below 20°C inside (I live in a flat that few years ago had 10cm of iso
by dvh 4y ago
Not to brag but this winter I didn't turn on radiator once. The temperature never dropped below 20°C inside (I live in a flat that few years ago had 10cm of isolation added to it). Yes I know, some of the heat was probably from neighbors but I can't do anything about that. I also shortened hot showers to minimum and wore warm underwear and sweater. The winter was quite warm [1], coldest was around -5°C
[1] https://www.shmu.sk/sk/?page=1&id=klimat_operativneudaje1&identif=11968&rok=2023&obdobie=1991-2020&sub=1 https://www.shmu.sk/sk/?page=1&id=klimat_operativneudaje1&id...
- _Wintermute 4y agoI never turned the heating on either, though sadly I'm in a drafty Victorian London flat so the temperature dropped to 9°C at one point. The dehumidifier likely saved the day.
- mavhc 4y agoDon't dehumidifiers also use massive amounts of power?
- _Wintermute 4y agoSadly yes, but I'd have to run the dehumidifier in winter regardless of the heating.
- The_Colonel 4y agoSimilar case here. New, well insulated apartment. I think we did turn it on when older, temperature sensitive guests came over. We also clearly benefited from neighbors who (probably) still had heating on. But a good insulation is indeed a game changer.
- Etheryte 4y agoNot some of the heat, all of the heat save for what your body generates and such was from neighbors. In most reasonably managed apartment buildings what you did is forbidden because it means your neighbors just have to heat more since their walls will leak heat to you. In total it rarely ends up being an energy save because the losses are bigger this way than if everyone kept a uniform temperature.
- dymk 4y agoWhat you call a reasonably managed apartment, I call an apartment woefully built without reasonable insulation between dwellings. If I leave for the winter, why should I pay to heat a space I won't be in?
- krzyk 4y agoNormally apartments are built for living in them, and majority of dwellers don't leave it for more than vacations and holidays. Having thick isolation between apartments is a waste of resources in most cases - better to put on the whole building.
- nonethewiser 4y agoSo people in the UK aren’t allowed to lower their temps when they leave for vacation? Am I really supposed to believe this? I guess you’ll tell me you need a license to watch TV next.
- krzyk 4y agoI'm not from UK so can't answer that. But if you think logically, there are some things you can't do in apartment, e.g. listen to loud music at night, or drill holes when others might be sleeping. Turning down heating to zero is one of them. AFAIR in some places there is a limit of how low your heating should be and if it is lower then you still pay a given set price - this is to discourage cheaters.
- mgfist 4y agoThe added cost of the extra insulation likely outweighs the cost of you heating the apartment when you're not there.
- dymk 4y agoIt can't be both ways. Either the home is sucking up enough heat from the neighboring units to be significant, and so it warrants insulation, or it's not, in which case why would management care about something so tiny? Insulation is the first thing you do to improve the thermal characteristics of a home. It's not expensive.
- bitL 4y agoYou were basically freeloading on your neighbors; there is no way you'd keep 20C inside without any heating source. Without your neighbors footing the bill you'd have ended up with massive hard-to-get-rid-of mold patches near windows by spring.
- nostrademons 4y agoModern insulation is very effective. I could see 10cm of insulation preventing basically all heat loss if there are few windows and those they have are triple-pane low-E coated. They get radiant heating from the sun as well, so if you're losing almost no energy then you're basically a greenhouse.
- hax0rbana 4y agoThis is true. It appears some people are not familiar with the idea of passive heating and cooling or zero energy homes. https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/zero-energy-ready-home-program https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/zero-energy-ready-home...
- bitL 4y agoLet's not assume all or even majority of homes are zero energy. At least in Europe the vast majority are energy performance class F/G.
- tzs 4y ago
- rconti 4y agoWe managed to travel to Berlin, west London suburbs, and Strasbourg in early-mid December. The temperature was never more than a few degrees above freezing, and often well below, in each of those places, for just shy of 2 solid weeks. It was pretty amusing to go through that and then be hearing reports all winter about what a warm winter Europe was having :) Equally shocking was seeing the gas meter showing GBP15+ per day to heat a rowhouse to what was still an incredibly cold indoor temperature (14-15C) and drafty). Next time we travel, we'll choose dates better.
- bmacho 4y ago> We managed to travel to Berlin, west London suburbs, and Strasbourg in early-mid December. The temperature was never more than a few degrees above freezing, and often well below, in each of those places, for just shy of 2 solid weeks. It was pretty amusing to go through that and then be hearing reports all winter about what a warm winter Europe was having :) We used to have winters with permanent snow on the streets for months.
- spixy 4y agoor choose apartments where you can heat up to ~20C
- Tarsul 4y agoWell done! As someone in an appartement I also only used about a third of the heating in 2022 that I used in 2021. I only say this because SAVING energy (and thus CO2) can be quite significant and this has to be known and published more. IMO we have to do it to save the planet (harsh words but imo true). For the ones who say that this is freeloading on the neighbors: not so much since at least in Germany one pays his own but also proportionally for the whole building (e.g. 50/50 or 70/30).
- invalidusernam3 4y agoAhoj sousede! Sounds like you have a well insulated home. Here in Prague I had to use heating in the evenings for most of December and January and part of February, because without it my apartment was getting down to 15°C. Which would be fine if it was just me as it could be solved with a hoodie, but I was worried about moisture damaging electronics and causing mould, as well as the comfort of my dog. I haven't calculated it but I would estimate that I at least halved my usage from previous years.