How do I keep a home warm when someone is unwell?

Being unwell reduces the body's heat production and often the ability to move, and someone sitting still in a chair loses heat far faster than someone going about a normal day. Illness, some medications, low body weight and poor circulation all lower cold tolerance. The public health guidance in the UK is around 18 degrees for a healthy adult and warmer — 21 in living areas — for older people, small children and anyone unwell, with the bedroom not dropping below 18 overnight.

Safety

What you'll need

• A room thermometer
• Draught excluders and a door snake
• Extra bedding, blankets and layers
• A safe, thermostatically controlled electric heater (optional)
• Hot water bottles or a microwave heat pad
• A carbon monoxide alarm

Step by step

1. Put a thermometer in the room they spend most time in.Guessing is unreliable and a well person's comfort is not the standard. Aim for 21 in the living room while they are up, and at least 18 in the bedroom overnight.
2. Heat the room they are in, not the whole house.Turn down the radiators in unused rooms, close their doors, and get one or two rooms properly warm. This is both cheaper and more effective than a house that is uniformly nearly warm.
3. Stop the heating switching off overnight.A timed system that goes off at eleven leaves the bedroom cold by three in the morning, which is exactly when it matters. Run it on a low continuous setpoint rather than an on-off timer.
4. Deal with the draughts before spending more on heat.Letterbox, keyhole, gaps under doors, an open unused chimney, loose sash windows. Draught-proofing a single room takes an hour and makes it noticeably warmer at any thermostat setting.
5. Get them off cold surfaces.A chair against an external wall or under a window, feet on a cold floor, or a bed against an outside wall all pull heat away. Move the chair, put a rug down, and pull the bed away from the wall.
6. Layer them rather than piling on one thick thing.Several thin layers, something on the legs and feet, and a hat or a shawl indoors if they will wear one. Most heat loss people notice comes from the extremities and the head.
7. Warm the bed before they get into it.An electric blanket used to warm the bed and switched off before getting in, or a hot water bottle, is a very effective and cheap way to make a bedroom bearable at a lower air temperature. Never use both together.
8. Keep hot drinks and hot food going.A hot drink every couple of hours and at least one hot meal a day. Food is not just calories here — it raises body temperature directly and reliably.
9. Encourage movement if they are able.Getting up and moving around every hour or so generates far more heat than any heater does. For someone immobile, moving the ankles and hands still helps circulation.
10. Register with the Priority Services Register and check for support.It is free, it gets priority reconnection and advance warning of interruptions, and the same call is a chance to ask about the Warm Home Discount, Cold Weather Payments and the supplier's own hardship schemes.

Tips

• Do not sacrifice heating to save money if someone is unwell. Cold homes cause and worsen heart and lung problems, and the health cost far exceeds the bill. Ask the supplier about support before turning the heating down.
• A lower boiler flow temperature on a condensing combi — around 55 degrees for radiators — often reduces cost while keeping the house at the same temperature for longer, because the boiler condenses properly.
• Thick curtains closed at dusk, and a rolled towel or a draught snake at the bottom of a door, are the two cheapest changes that make a real difference in a single room.
• Where someone is bed-bound, check them for cold hands, feet and nose, and check the bedding is not damp — damp bedding is far colder than dry.
• Anyone with a fall risk needs the floor kept clear of the trailing leads that come with plug-in heaters. A heater on an extension across a walkway is a trip hazard and a fire risk.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the heating on a normal timer overnight — The coldest hours are the small hours, and that is when someone unwell is least able to compensate. A continuous low setpoint costs less than people expect and matters more than daytime warmth.
• Using an unflued portable gas or paraffin heater in a bedroom — It produces carbon monoxide and a great deal of water vapour in a closed room. Never in a bedroom, never overnight, and never without ventilation and a CO alarm.
• Using an electric blanket in bed with a hot water bottle — The combination is a burn and fire risk, and a water bottle leaking onto a live blanket is dangerous. Choose one, and switch a warming blanket off before getting in unless it is specifically designed for all-night use.
• Assuming they will say if they are cold — The perception of cold declines with age and with some illnesses. Check the room temperature and their hands rather than asking.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask