Everything you need to know about heating in your halls

All our halls have heating. Some of our halls have plumbed in/mechanical heating, while others have electrical heating. 

Heating is typically turned on in the early part of October, when temperatures drop significantly. It is usually turned off around April, when the weather has warmed up. The university's commitment to sustainability means there are maximum temperatures that our heating's thermostats will reach, and so if you think you will feel the cold, please bring sufficient clothing and bedclothes with you.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The coldest months in both Southampton and Winchester tend to be January and February, with daily temperatures around 5-12 degrees Celsius and some nights falling to -2 degrees Celsius. Autumn and Spring are often warm but damp months at around 14-18 degrees Celsius, while summers are pleasantly warm and often dry at around 25 degrees Celsius. When there is more extreme weather, Winchester often gets hit a little harder than Southampton due to its position higher up in the South Downs, compared to Southampton's location on the seafront. For example, though it may snow a little in Southampton, it can snow quite heavily in Winchester.

Please note: In common with most homes in the UK, our halls do not have air conditioning. All bedrooms have windows that open to provide ventilation.

Areas with mechanical heating 

Our mechanical heating radiators run off boilers, and can be controlled by a manual dial located on one side of the radiator. These fixed wall radiators can be controlled by turning the regulator to the following:

0 - Off

1 - Low

2-3 - Medium

4-5 - High

If you are going home for any period of time, please leave your heater on the lowest setting, or on some dials the ‘frost’ setting , rather than turning the heating off entirely. This will help to avoid pipes from freezing.

Areas with electrical heating

Blocks with electric heaters will have an electric panel heater in bedrooms and communal areas, like corridors and stairwells.

When not in use, the electric heater in your room will automatically operate on setback mode, which will ensure the room does not drop beneath a temperature of 14 degrees centigrade. Additionally, your radiator will have a “boost” button which can be pressed to bring the temperature up to 21 degrees in the room. Once pressed the radiator will remain on until this temperature has been reached.

Heaters in rooms are operational year round, with electric heaters in communal areas operational during colder times of the year.

Please note there are a few different styles of electric heaters used in University of Southampton halls. Furthermore we have a small number of rooms where the heating “boost” will only operate when the room is occupied.

Consort Heating

The heaters are designed to give 14-15 degrees back set temperature to give an ambient temperature in your room.The boost will give you 21-22 degrees temperature for the boost time set.

Things to remember:

• DO NOT switch off the heater spur, it is required to be on at all times. (if not this disconnects the controller to the heater and requires resetting.) 

• Push the boost button to give up to 2 hrs boost – once this time has elapsed the heater returns to the back set temperature. (Pressed once 30min, twice 1 hour, three times 90min and four times 2 hours)
• Push the boost after the elapsed time if you require more heat.
• DO NOT put items around the heater, it requires air to be drawn from below to heat and dispel from the top.