poll question! BRRRRRR edition

[k2daisy]

Question for the small DW crowd: when do you turn on the heat in the fall?

Do you wait for a certain date? A certain temperature? Or just when it's gotten too cold for you (or your pets) to be comfortable?

We had a big drop in temps at last, and it looks like this one is going to last. It's now consistently in the 40s with a few daytime spurts to the 50s. Our house thermostats says it's 58 inside, but it feels a lot cooler than that.

Aghans and blankets are all over the house. Poor Molly is living under a big fleece all the time right now.

R and I are discussing when to turn it on. I prefer a cooler house so this is nice for me, but tbh now that my hot flashes are over post-menopause it's verging on too cold for me. I doubt we will make it to November 1.

So what do you do?

Comments

[lisforlilydale]

My building decides for me, so I can't really help. But why wouldn't you go by when it's too cold for the people and/or the pets? Then again, I am past the point of caring when something SHOULD be done, and will often decide to pay for something to improve my comfort, so maybe don't listen to me, LOL.

[finefoxyladies]

I buckled and switched on the heat when the evening temp started dipping below 40. My house was 63 at one point, and that's unpleasant to wake up to imo.

[minnaway]

I'm actually not sure when the condo building association turned it on! IIRC from the orientation in spring, it's variable--usually around mid-October to mid-May. I checked today just out of curiosity by turning the thermostat up way high and my radiators did turn on, so they activated it as some point this season. I've got my thermostat at 70, so the radiators will kick in when it starts dropping below that point, and they're about at that point now.

I'm actually super excited to have control over my own heat now, since I didn't with my previous apartment complex. They went by dates, regardless of temp, and the last set of property managers basically set it once per season, such that the basement apartments would never go below 68 even in the coldest days. Which effectively meant that my first floor apartment was regularly hitting 80 to 85 degrees until the weather dropped below freezing.

[sixbeforelunch]

I live in South Florida and my apartment doesn't even have central heat so I'm not terribly helpful, but we do get approximately three weeks of "winter" in January and I have a space heater that I pull out usually when my apartment gets below 66. Above that, I can power through with blankets and thick socks.

Also, hi. I think we knew each way back when in X-Files fandom. I noticed your DW was active again and added you to my reading list, hopefully that's okay. :)

[annieeats]

If it dips below 65 consistently I have to turn it on or my nose is too cold to sleep.

[k2daisy]

This is an excellent point! I was mostly curious if we were being wimps for turning it on so soon after it got cold, but you are right, we should and will turn it on when we reach the point of discomfort.

[k2daisy]

63 feels like it would be a warm bath at this point. That's probably a sign it's time to turn it on.

[k2daisy]

Ha, I forgot how much warmer it always was in the condo, just by sheer nature of the units being attached. Unfortunately for us it didn't matter what temp we set it at, we lived in shorts and t-shirts all year round because the people on either side of us had theirs on high. Hopefully you won't have that!

[k2daisy]

So I assume yours is on now! We are about to get there. I can't stand when my feet are cold and they are there now.

[k2daisy]

Ha, I was in Cape Coral Florida for all of this winter, and the most I ever put on was a sweatshirt one day when it was in the 50s for a day. My neightbors (all locals) were in puffer coats and even had the dog in a sweater, but I was still in capri pants and sandals! We laughed at each other's very different temperature gauges.

Wait, is this Christy? From the Harem? HHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!

[sixbeforelunch]

Florida does change your conception of cold. I've been here about ten years and have fully adapted to the 60s is chilly, 50s is cold, 40s is freezing rubric. :D

Close! I was in the Harem, but I was going by Emily M back then. Hi! ♥

[finefoxyladies]

And if this is a point of pride thing for you and/or R, just blame it on Molly.

[k2daisy]

Oh my gosh EMILY!!!!! So good to reconnect with you!!

[annieeats]

I should clarify that I mean in the house, if it's 65 outside inside usually fine.

[denynothing1]

Late to the party, but I turn the space heater on when my feet get too cold while I'm sitting in the living room. ;-) I don't have central heat (or central air conditioning) and we basically have no insulation, so the inside usually tracks the outside. There's always an annoying part of the year where I switch from box fan to space heater hour to hour, but the best part of the year is the several weeks when the only temp regulation I need to do is add or remove socks. ;-)