So at work today, the discussion of household heating and gas/electricity bills came up (entering winter Down Under), and I commented that we have our central heating set to 14 Celsius (approx 57 Freedoms) overnight, and off during the day/evening. We find that 14 is quite comfortable under a fluffy doona/duvet. I was warmly mocked (well natured), and informed that something closer to 24C (75F) is appropriate, day and night.
Surely not… right?
I set temp to 18C when at home during the day, and 16/17C when away or night.
Bad insulation (empty air…), so if I lower too much it take hours to heat up again.Ahh yes, we also suffer from a lack of insulation. Empty ceiling and walls. The 50s was a pretty relaxed era for Australian housing.
It’s a house from the early 70s in France.
There was almost no insulation. First rules to improve that started around 1974.How does it work in Australia? Does gouv try to help people to improve that in old houses?
I guess it would be great for summer as I think it’s pretty warm there.I don’t believe the government has any running initiatives to improve energy ratings on old houses, but there are certainly standards for new builds like you would have today. Generally speaking, because the summer sun disproportionately heats up our metal roof (and our ceiling cavity is not insulated), it will get to around 2-3 degrees hotter inside than it is outside, if no climate control is used.
The advantage on a sunny winter day, is that it can be 10 degrees outside, and 17 inside if we’re lucky :) (but of course that heat vanishes the moment the sun goes behind the trees.)
Hotter inside than outside must be a nightmare especially to sleep.
I manage to keep temperature around 23/24 during summer and exceptionality 26/27 during heat wave. But I don’t have AC.It’s a bit more difficult on winter when the max temperature of the day is 1-2 degrees and there is no sun. Radiators need work frequently to keep 18 degrees.
I wish we would have more sunny winter days.I’m curious, what is the construction of an average 70s home in your region?
Traditional houses from the 70s are usually a basement and the house upstairs.
Basement is often half or totally underground.
Then the wall are made with cinder blocks, empty air and bricks.
There is chimney (not sure the term in English), so you can heat with wood, but most of the time there is central heating with Gaz or Fuel to replace or in complement.How is it in your country ?
How interesting - the bricks and blocks would act as quite a good heat mass to sort of, smooth out the temperature? (And chimney is the word we use also 😆)
Our cottage is built up on hardwood stumps, with a hard oak frame, and asbestos sheet cladding, both inside and out. The roof is almost flat, just a 2 degree incline, with corrugated iron sheets from end to end. Cheap and hollow 😀 hahaha
68-72F during the day
60-63F at night
57°F is pretty darn cold 🥶 how cold does it get at night there??
We do 66°F in Winter, 77°F in Summer. This is in Northern US, I’d say most days our temps range from ~-10°F to ~+95°F.
In the US south . . . just happy to get to turn the AC off for 6-8 weeks lol
24C is bonkers
Hahaha not sure where you are exactly, but my memory of Houston and Corpus Christi involves using my arms to swim through the air - the heat and humidity was suffocating; the air was so thick! Sunglasses fogging up instantly when you step outside from an air-conditioned room.
We regularly see 110F here Down Under in our south, but it’s a dry heat. You can at least spend the day outside getting stuff done.
Your memory is very good. We are 100+ this week with that humidity, it is brutal outside. I’ll take the dry heat/cold any day, Australia/NZ is on my travel list!
Ouch, you can keep that! Hit me up if you’re ever near Melbourne; we’ll take you for a walk through Sherbrooke Forest; if you’re here at this time of year, you enjoy cold mornings, and you’re very lucky - you may even get to hear a lyrebird song - imitating every other native bird in the forest! 😀
We have our thermostat set to 63°F in the winter. We’ll go up to 67°F or so if there’s a storm bad enough that power loss is possible.
In the summer, we have our air conditioners set to 70°F.
Interesting idea, banking some heat ahead of a storm. We regularly lose power here, but not for any significant length of time (minutes, not hours or days)
I keep 18.5°C during the day in the floor I work (fully remote so I’m sitting at the desk all day long) and off at night
That sounds like a good productive temperature 😀 I must admit, I run a little foot heater during the mornings at work (office, onsite) to defrost my extremities!
I have one of those too
