House frozen?

*if theirs a better group for this question I’ll move it their*

I feel like this is a dumb question but last night my bf turned the heat off because we were leaving for the night - earlier today I got home and turned it on. 2 hours later the house wasn’t any warmer. I know when it’s really cold you’re suppose to run hot water regularly so the pipes don’t freeze. Is it similar with normal heating? We live in a old farm house that we’ve been renting and this is the first winter we’re experiencing in it.