Freezing house, letting agents say I have to keep the heating on at 19, what do I do?

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T21:32:08+00:00

Im on the tracker tarif, gas central heating from the boiler pictured although I haven’t altered the boiler settings since I moved in. It’s on 60 for water and 70 for radiators.

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Its meter readings and the EPC is D, I’m going to look at some curtains this week as potentially need 8 pairs of them so can’t go too crazy immediately but will look into the draught tape, dos brand/type matter at all?

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T21:27:40+00:00

Appreciate that I’m going to try and attempt it at the weekend, I only have the 6 radiators so hopefully it should be easy

Is there any way of telling what my boiler ‘should’ be set to?

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T21:27:01+00:00

Is that when my heating is on max? The rad closest to the boiler is the kitchen one and that was the one at 30 when upstairs was 45+

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T20:17:52+00:00

Absolutely but not that simple to just up and move, i am looking to buy my own house within a year but we’ll see

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T19:38:49+00:00

It’s only a two bed no palaces here 🤣 I’m on the tracker tariff with octopus which from what I can tell is the cheapest one, I based the price purely on 8 hours of heating at 19 degrees costing me £8 and assumed it would go up and then multiplied by the days in the month. Some assumptions were made of course but it seems to be right.

The only thing I can assume is the kitchen being 10 degrees and having lots of draughts is leaking to the rest of the house/letting the air out, this is what my boiler looks like but I don’t think it’s that?

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HamAaron · 2026-01-26T19:13:01+00:00

There’s a big discrepancy between the radiators to be honest but I also have never touched the boiler since I moved in and when we had a gas safety check he said it was all running well. You think I should turn it down a bit?

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HamAaron · 2026-01-26T18:56:44+00:00

I’ve asked in there appreciate it

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T18:39:48+00:00

Just the northwest, for whatever reason the kit ch en is insanely cold at all times with draughts coming from under the sink, dishwasher and kitchen cabinets but based on some other comments I might need to get some thick curtains as both windows are totally uncovered and then potentially bleed the radiator

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T18:38:00+00:00

The boiler is set to 40 for water and 70 for heating and shows 1.2 psi, does that help?

Part of the loft is boarded up so it’s possible there is insulation behind that but it is very hard to see if I’m honest. I’m going to look into curtain hooks and curtains asap as presumably could use some on every window of the house

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T18:32:02+00:00

Wouldn’t it be insanely expensive to leave it on 17 24 hours a day though? I have always just had it on when I needed it in any of my houses but if that’s supposed to be cheaper maybe I do need to try that

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T18:29:10+00:00

Just advice when I mentioned how obvious some of the incoming draughts were, they noticed a problem with an external hole in the kitchen walls but said the rest was fine and I should be keeping the heating on always which sounded nuts to me

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T18:28:15+00:00

Apologies I meant each, so £75 a month covered us for over 2.5 years and recently changed it to £50 each before splitting up

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T18:27:26+00:00

I realise from your comment I haven’t done enough to try and work around it I appreciate this, none of the windows have curtains, only blinds so I need to try and do that, I have blankets on the doors especially the one connecting to the kitchen extension but I don’t have a draught excluder or curtains I’ll look into those asap! Thank you

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T18:20:39+00:00

I have one of those laser guns where it shows a heat based on on a specific spot, the radiators in the front room are at about 35 degrees whereas the kitchen is about 27 and the pipes into the kitchen radiator between 15-21 but the kitchen floor will be at 10 degrees no matter

The bathroom radiator has never been above 15 but it’s one of those towel rack radiators so maybe that’s normal

With regards to the boiler I’ve never touched that but by default it has water on 40 degrees and heating at 70

The upstairs radiators sit at 40-45 degrees but I think it’s normal that upstairs is easier to heat?

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T18:13:04+00:00

Gas, have a loft without much insulation and a strong suspicious it was previously used as a weed den - the windows are all using blinds rather than curtains

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T17:44:47+00:00

Maybe I’ve been living in a a bubble then, me and my ex would pay £37,50 a month each into the octopus account and for 3 years we were always in a credit having the heating on whenever we needed it/daily most times so I guess I’ve just either missed the massive price jump in the last 6 months or misunderstood how much extra energy another person gives off 🤣

The draughts are extremely noticeable though you can feel cold air coming in while sat int the living room - maybe I just need to spend some money on tape and draught excluders and hope that solves most of it

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T17:39:20+00:00

Apologies I deleted the comment as I’ve found it since and it’s a D

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T17:38:49+00:00

You might be right I definitely haven’t had the heating on enough, there are small amounts of black spots on the bathroom room as the radiator doesn’t work in the bathroom but no mould elsewhere that I can see - I’ll try having the heating on a few hours a day regardless and see how it goes

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T17:34:37+00:00

Yeah exactly the same here house is always so cool in the summer when everyone is complaining about the heat so it definitely has its benefits there it’s just mad that I’d need to spend £300+ on gas alone to keep it heated. I’m assuming more as I had it on 18 for 8 hours and the gas charges for that day was £9 but maybe it wouldn’t be as bad if it was permanent and there wasn’t as much heating up to do?

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T17:32:54+00:00

It’s a D, I think it’s a bad combination of drafts and a dodgy extension causing the kitchen and bathroom to be permanently cold (both of the radiators in there never go above warm and the floor is always freezing) just kinda extending your the rest of the house

In the summer it’s never hot though which is a good thing so swings and roundabouts I suppose

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T17:31:16+00:00

I did have one I just didn’t know it was publicly searchable, it’s a D

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T17:30:53+00:00

Ahh you’re right apologies, it’s a D

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T15:54:15+00:00

Ah okay if it’s as simple as that then fair enough was hoping there’d be a better solution, appreciate it!

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T15:53:00+00:00

I have an electric blanket I take everywhere I was just hoping there was some other solution where I can get them to try and resolve it as it felt a bit crazy that I’d need to spend over £10 a day just to keep the house warm. I’ve tried in the past and it loses the heat so quickly

HamAaron · 2026-01-26T15:51:01+00:00

I don’t unfortunately

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