Turning down heating when a guest is out?

[Tim4418]

Hi all,

Is it acceptable to remotely turn down the central heating when the guest is out?

Background: the heating is set to between 18 and 21 degrees during the day and 16 degrees at night. But the guest has set it to 33 degs day & night - even though it will never get to that the temperature.

I'm worried about the strain on the boiler running constantly instead of the thermostat and of course the cost of the gas, hugely eating into the revenue (after tax it may well end up costing me!)

Also I can tell from the amount of light outside they have the blinds and curtains open all night whilst in, which can't help!

So I don't mean turning it off, but just turning it down to 21.

Is it worth mentioning in the house rules? I didn't think I would've needed to.

Any thoughts?

[Helen3]

33 degrees is ridiculous. What temperature is it actually getting to?  @Tim4418 

Personally I find 21 too low particularly as weather is so cold in the UK at the moment.  Are the guests older or from abroad? 

I would suggest you have a friendly chat with the guest and say you know it's unusually cold in the UK 

 
but it will help keep the heat in if they close curtains and blinds at night and that setting the heat at 21-22.50 c during the day and 16 c at night will keep the property at an ambient temperature. 

of course this might make them feeling you are snooping on them 

having suggested temperatures in your house rules is a good idea x 

[Fiona256]

It wouldn't necessarily be snooping, as some systems give an alert when temperatures go up to such ridiculous levels.

[Helen3]

It could be seen as snooping that the host knew guests blinds and curtains are open every night @Fiona256 

[Tim4418]

It's at 23 now - so I'm wondering if they have a window open.

I wouldn't *tell* them close the blinds & curtains, just to suggest it. And the only reason I suspect they are open is that the doorbell camera is being triggered by a lot light at the front, which must be from the window as there's no other permanent light source out there.

Also, just to reiterate - I was only considering turning it down when they were out. Once they're in they can do as they like - although 33 degs 24x7 does seem excessive! I'm sure this stay will end up costing me money!

Hey ho, I'll put it down to experience and add something to the rules.

Thanks for the advice!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Tim4418 we regularly reduced the temperatures set in our flats and nobody noticed. Once heating costs got silly a few years ago we locked all the thermostats and asked guests to contact us for more/less heat - Again not a single complaint.