Advice on setting temperatures for winter

[hayethusiasts]

Hi everyone. I just need your advice please.

So every winter we spare no expense in keeping our house warm. Lol. So we set our temperature at 18 degrees C during the day then lower it to 12 degrees C when we are asleep to conserve energy. But since having piggies I have been just maintaining it to 18 degrees C even throughout the night as I am worried the change in temp will affect them.

So my question is. How many degrees can I set my temperature at night so it's not such a big flunctuation for them? Can i set it to 14 degrees at night? Can i go as low as 13?

Sorry if this is a silly question. I just dont want them setting sick because of that. Their cage is really far from our radiators btw

Thank you so much for all your help.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Their comfort zone is around 18-22 degrees. generally speaking - if you are comfortable then so are they.
What piggies aren’t good with is sudden jumps in temperature up or down.
I know some people on here don’t put their heating on at night and others keep it at a constant temperature day and night.

You can peg blankets across the top of the cage to stop draughts and you can also use snugglesafe heat pads to give them somewhere warm to sit and then let your heating go down a bit.

You could try a thermometer on their cage so you can monitor what is actually happening in the room they are in. Each house will work differently.
(I know my heating is set to whatever it’s set to but different rooms end up different temperatures and I feel like all I do is spend winter adjusting the settings on each radiator to get it right (and then weather changes and I have to do it all again!
I don’t have my heating on at night but my piggies live in my shed though so keeping my piggies warm is very different for me!))

Cold Weather Care for Indoor and Outdoor Guinea Pigs

 

[AidaB]

For the last couple of years we have changed to heating on 24/7, during the winter, at approx 17/18C. We discovered it doesn’t make a huge difference to the heating bill, as the heating isn’t working so hard to heat the house every time it was turned on. (We live in an older, draughty house. )

Having guinea pigs living with us, helped contribute to this change too.

I still use the heats pads for our piggies on very chilly nights, and our C&C cages have blankets pegged around 3 sides permanently also along with the 4th & over the top in winter.

Our boiler has a remote thermostat, we shut it in the same room as the guinea pigs,(downstairs )which means naturally the rest of the house stays a little cooler, is this something you could do? We don’t have thermostatic valves on the radiators.

Having thermometers dotted around helps us see what the actual temperature is, and we adjust accordingly. (The thermostat is a bit dodgy!)

 

[hayethusiasts]

For the last couple of years we have changed to heating on 24/7, during the winter, at approx 17/18C. We discovered it doesn’t make a huge difference to the heating bill, as the heating isn’t working so hard to heat the house every time it was turned on. (We live in an older, draughty house. )

Having guinea pigs living with us, helped contribute to this change too.

I still use the heats pads for our piggies on very chilly nights, and our C&C cages have blankets pegged around 3 sides permanently also along with the 4th & over the top in winter.

Our boiler has a remote thermostat, we shut it in the same room as the guinea pigs,(downstairs )which means naturally the rest of the house stays a little cooler, is this something you could do? We don’t have thermostatic valves on the radiators.

Having thermometers dotted around helps us see what the actual temperature is, and we adjust accordingly. (The thermostat is a bit dodgy!)

Thank you for the insight about the heating 24/7. I will just stick to this they are housed in the lounge and over the years when we go retreat to our rooms we have always lowered it to 12 but of course now we have piggies we can't just turn it off whenever we want

 

[AidaB]

Thank you for the insight about the heating 24/7. I will just stick to this they are housed in the lounge and over the years when we go retreat to our rooms we have always lowered it to 12 but of course now we have piggies we can't just turn it off whenever we want

I think shutting our old portable thermostat in the living room with the guinea pigs really helps us. We like having a cooler bedroom, unlike the piggies.

(Mind you with costs rising. )

 

[Ramia]

Yes, it is not advised to turn the heat down at night because it will have to work very hard to heat the house up again in the morning.

A handyman told me this.

But I don't have radiators, I have central heat aka a gas furnace.

You will not save money turning it down at night.

 

[hayethusiasts]

Yes, it is not advised to turn the heat down at night because it will have to work very hard to heat the house up again in the morning.

A handyman told me this.

But I don't have radiators, I have central heat aka a gas furnace.

You will not save money turning it down at night.

Thank you. that actually helps because we actually like to keep heating on so then at least if we just keep it on all the time at 17-18 it's a win-win for all of us

 

[hayethusiasts]

I think shutting our old portable thermostat in the living room with the guinea pigs really helps us. We like having a cooler bedroom, unlike the piggies.

(Mind you with costs rising. )

I know right, you guys are lucky. We are from the Philippines so we like it warmer haha