Just be interested to see who can last into October and beyond - and what sort of insulation spec the houses have.

Also at the other end of the scale: Who is already using heating?

For me, heating went off in early May (though there were a couple of cold days where I had it on for a little bit - and then two days later it was in the 30s and so had the A/C on). This last Sunday, it got to 29C and, with the humidity, felt like 37C so obviously had the A/C on (more for the upstairs - downstairs stayed around 21C but I had to run the A/C to get the air flowing to keep upstairs cool as opening a window wouldn't work as it didn't go below 25C at night). Then it dropped by 20C on Monday to low teens and the mean for the rest of the week was around 13C with early morning dipping to around 5 or 6C (nearer 4C this morning). So the downstairs dipped to about 18C (65F) by 6am this morning though upstairs was closer to 20.5C so, probably to the horror of everyone here, I did put the heat on to bring the temperature back up to 20.5C throughout the house. I work from home and this is a comfortable temperature - plus I like to keep the temperature and humidity relatively constant as this is good for the structure and furniture in general (we get big swings in temp and humidity over here). The temperature outside only made it up to 17C by the end of the afternoon and it has stayed a constant 20.5C inside (a bit warmer upstairs as the air circulation is turned off - upstairs gets much more sunshine than downstairs). It's supposed to get up to 24C outside tomorrow, but with lows around 7C - what I do in these cases is turn the air circulation on in the afternoon to equalize the temperatures so that the heating isn't needed. Should be good until the end of next week as the forecast is for constant sunshine. Last year in early October we had to run the A/C as it was in the high 20s outside and humid!

Paul in Montreal.

We live on the windy side of the Peak District (just across from Chesterfield, Skywalker), and I'm afraid we have had our log fire lit most nights through the summer, but the central heating has been off for months now.

I turned off our gas supply cock in June and it hasn't been on since, I told the wife the boiler had bust, she's not very green you see. Prior to that she had a habbit of wacking in on all the time.

sound dangerous Richy , lets hope the good lady doesnt read this forum
how did the previous generations exist before the advent of central heating

woolly jumpers and slippers for a greener future

I'm still working outside in my T-shirt and i'm a softy southern shandy drinker

I turned off the oil fired boiler in 2002 (and removed it). I have promised the wife that I'll get a new one (someday). No general heating in the house since then. I have an electric rad in the bedroom with its thermostat set to 13.5 deg C. like wise when we an sitting at the computer/TV,we have electric rad on for 6 Hrs/night. Plus I put on a 2 Kw infrared heater every night for 1/2 Hr. for my shower/ wifes bath.
Frank

February is the only month we really need heating I reckon - just for an hour or two in the evening if its really cold. Never in the mornings - what's the point warming up a building just for an hour before going to work?
Solid walls, loft insulation, plenty of drafts. But mid terrace upstairs flat so we benefit from less hardy neighbours. Wife feels it more than me but she's very good - and I let her wear our warmest jumper!

It all depends where you live. I'm "Lucky" enough to live in the SE of England. I'm hoping to keep my central heating off until the end of October. I'm fully double glazed, cavity wall insulated, loft insulated, pretty much to the max -a 1920's detached house.

That being said, I have lit the stove 3 or 4 times in the last 3 weeks of an evening to take the chill off. I've got bucket loads of old timber to get rid of.

Hi Jane, you will gain the heat irrespective of any noise polluton- it will just arrive more slowly if the party wall has a good level of sound insulation. Heat travels from warm to cold environments- the greater the temperature difference, the quicker the heat will be transferred.

Not that I am advocating letting neighbours heat your house for you.

Posted By: jamesingramif you keep your heating considerably lower than your ajoining neighbours , wont their boilers/heating just have to work harder to keep
their homes to the heat levels they like. Yes saving you money and energy , but possibly increasing theirs ,so no overall savings ?

Yes, agreed, good example:

Posted By: jamesingramI live in a upstairs 3 bed masonette with a combined gas and electric bill of about £500 a year (current prices), my ground floor neighbour pays much more. he has no interest in energy saving , though I think I'm bringing him round , these energy price hikes are helping my case.

I am not advocating this, just answering Jane's question.

More men work outside and are therefore more used to lower temperatures?

Perhaps were just carrying higher levels of insulation, generally around our energy transfer centers ? (ie beer belly)

Outside workers have got to be in a declining minority
People keep asking me where I've been on holiday, I just spent the week pointing in bonnets in south oxfordshire, not much of a holiday

Posted By: joe.eIt seems to be a bit of a theme on this thread that men are generally happy with a lower indoor temperature than women - certainly the case in my household. Is that a universal experience? Any ideas as to why?

I hate cold. I suspect it's genetic.

Somewhat off-topic: somewhere I read that during WW II the US army found that some soldiers did significantly better in the Pacific whereas others did better in Europe. With two fronts to fight on they realised they could get significant returns by sending the right troops in each direction so they did a study to determine selection criteria. After a lot of testing they found that the best indicator was the answer to the question: "which do you prefer, hot or cold?". Sometimes the obvious answer actually is right.

Whenever I see, on forums like this, a comment about turning the heating down and putting another pullover on I just mutter "any bloody fool can be uncomfortable".

I used the heating one afternoon in August and have used it a few mornings and evenings this month.

So, no pointless gender-typing here, then...

Just to stir things up a bit more, any of the Ladies here still heating free?