apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We had to turn ours on a few evenings because our one year-old's room is so cold and he doesn't sleep with any blankets.

Typically I like to wait until at least November.

i avoid it as long as possible. of course, my landlord is making it very easy to do that this year. we let the oil run dry last winter and never filled back up because she was going to convert to gas heat this winter. still waiting on that conversion...

Dude, turn it on when you get cold. Duh?

I swear, you yankees have some kind of bug up your arses about When To Turn On The Heat/A-C. Just, do it when you get uncomfortable, to hell with dates or temps or whatever.

I don't turn my heat on at all, period.

If it's cold, I put on a sweater or a pair of socks. If it's cold at night, I toss another blanket on the bed. Seriously, living without heat is completely doable, especially since this is a site about apartments. Not many square feet to heat!

Mine comes on when it comes on - I rent and the building's radiators seem tied to outdor temp. and not date. So far this cool season, it's been on once on a very cool evening, and I expect we'll have a few days of no-radiators yet before it kicks in to "usually on."

Jezebella is a classic example of why we have an energy problem here in the US. Sounds like he/she is the Yank. Good one for being completely ignorant.

This will be my first real winter, so I'm still trying to figure out the answer... I figured "when it drops below freezing outside" would be a good cutoff, but wouldn't you know it, last night it dropped below freezing for the first time. So I guess I'll try to hold out until November.

One thing I've discovered already is that keeping the heat off gets me to wash dishes more often. The hot water warms up our entire tiny apartment!

Hey, sutts, kiss my Southern ass. When was the last time you had an $85 electric bill in August? That's what mine was this year. I know from energy savings. I just refuse to get all uptight about whether the date is right for turning on the heat or not. I also refuse to be miserable in my own home.

Interesting you should ask. My electric bill was $68 for August and $59 in September and my whole house is electric....no gas what so ever. My 350% efficient Geo-Thermal heating and cooling unit works wonders. boo-ya. I'm not uptight either...but little changes are a good place to start.

Also in most cases if your house is all electric you will receive a discounted electric rate from the electric company. lil tip.

Uptight, shmuptight. I'm just glad this year that I can afford to "refuse to be miserable in my own home," much in contrast to winter 2006 in which I could not bump my apartment (not house) thermostat over 50 degrees for fear of using too much (astronomically priced) heating oil. Sure would have liked to have refused those months of unhappiness, and I'm definitely pleased to have been fortunate enough to leave that living situation behind for a better one!

Like Hipersons I have what I like to call "state controlled heat." Can't see the landlord converting from oil anytime soon. He's...well whatever he is. The rent's cheap and he turns it on when he's home, so I can't complain.

only when I can see my breath in the house

Sutts, hon, you live in *Michigan*. I live in *Mississippi*. It actually gets HOT here in August. 110 degrees with 98 percent humidity-hot. I'm pretty damned proud of my $85 electric bill.

I'm just sayin', I have never heard a bunch of Southerners sit around sharing their Rules For When You Can Turn on the Heat. It is a distinctly Yankee phenomenon.

And, Nora: congratulations on being able to use your heat this year! Being cold is one of the great miseries of life, in my opinion, and I have been in the situation of not being able to afford to properly heat or cool my house for financial reasons. It's brutal and depressing.

Landlord controlled here too. During the winter, I turn off one of the two radiators and still have to open the window so things don't get too hot. I wish I had better control of the heat.

Although muggy here in Michigan in the summer.....110 degrees and 98% humidity is something we don't experience. $85 is indeed respectible.

I wish I had a choice in the matter, but no such luck. Building management determines when the heat is on and when its not. Its such a waste. I wind up needing to leave my windows open during the winter.

You forgot the "I have no control over my heat, because our building's super turns it on whenever he sees fit" answer for the poll...

I live in Canada, so since its snowed 3 times last week... um ya. I have a controllable thermostat so its usually set to 19C (66.2F) when we are not home and goes up to 20C (68F)

oops I meant to say 'when we are at home it goes up to 20C

Only when nighttime temperatures dip to the low 40s. I live in SoCal, so this is only for a few weeks in December-January.

I do break out the sweaters and warm blankets, but they only do so much and I'm just not acclimated to the cold air that comes with living a mile from the ocean.

When the landlord decides to. Seriously my apartment was boiling all winter last year. I spent more time sitting around in my underwear in the winter than in the summer.

I would also like to add to bfootnovellista living without heat in apartments is not possible in plenty of places in the world.