Every household has its secret battlefield. It’s not the kitchen sink and it’s probably not the fridge, inside which is often found the plastic box which held the last take-away left uneaten and which becomes the flash-point for another battle between you and your housemates. No: the site of many household skirmishes is that small square thing mounted to the hallway wall, the Thermostat.

This conflict can be summed up like this: You have chosen to live together under the same roof. This creates certain logistical difficulties, not least of which is the problem of how hot or cold your domicile should be. In the course of a normal house share, there will inevitably arise two rival factions: the human polar bear, who wants to set the thermometer to a bracing 18°C, while imagining you’re all living in the wilds of the Scandinavian tundra and the perpetually freezing lizards, who find themselves hypothermic at anything lower than Sahara Desert-like temperatures.

If these two sub-species choose to occupy the same house, chaos ensues: a sort of passive-aggressive ballet around the dial; the 18-er sets the temperature to icy, only to be immediately reversed by the 22-er – who then turns it up even further in revenge, knowing that the other will turn it down again (maybe all the way to frigid) twenty minutes later.

But if this is you and the love of your life, consider calling a ceasefire and negotiating a peace treaty that benefits everyone. Because here’s the thing about the Thermostat Wars: they aren’t just a nuisance – they also make for larger energy bills, because the temperature’s constantly being maxed out. For Boiler Repair Cheltenham, consider www.hprservicesltd.com/cheltenham-boilers/boiler-repair-cheltenham

Myth-busting alert! Max temperature is not always best. Sadly, cranking the dial all the way round is not, as one might imagine, a turbo-booster for your boiler; nor does it make it heat the space faster. It simply means that you’ll hit the ‘correct’ temperature sooner; but you’ll more than likely overshoot that mark by a long way (leaving your home feeling like a sweatbox), while wasting energy in the process. Better to set the thermostat to your target temperature and let it get on with the job of warming up in the most efficient way.

Technology is on our side. If there’s no peace to be had and it looks like one side will win out over the other (possibly leading to cold war tactics of an altogether less amusing variety), consider investing in a smart thermostat, with accompanying thermostatic radiator valves or TRVs. This will enable you to divide your house into zones (ie, turn one zone off – say, your home office – while you’re sleeping or at work; and set the living room to a toasty 22°C while you relax).