How to stay warm?!

[BumbleNova]

I need your tips! We moved into our new house in September. It's a victorian detached that we bought planning a full refurb. It's not been touched in 40 years and it's a ice box. There is no heating at all in the toilets ...

We have a toddler and a newborn. There is central heating (25 year old boiler!) but it only comes on for 2 hours a day and we can't change that. It's got single glazing, high ceilings and threadbare carpets. Because of being in tier 4 we can't escape anywhere and warm up for a bit.

I'm sat here in 3 jumpers, 3 pairs of socks and the baby has his pramsuit on. Breastfeeding is brutally cold. It's around 17 degrees and the house seems to get colder day on day when the weather is this cold.

Double glazing is booked, fingers crossed next few weeks. We are planning to replace the boiler with an air source heat pump so no point just getting a new one or we would!

What can I do/ buy to stop me actually freezing my nipples off?

Surely there must be some way of overriding the timer on the boiler?

Hot water bottles and heated throws?

get some electric heaters delivered - yeah can be expensive to use but some are better than others and this is temporary til you can fix things up more. I've got 5 in case my heating ever dies (cannot bear being properly cold)

Order some of those little electric fan heaters? I think they cost a fair bit in electricity but you can get them for about £20 on next day delivery on Amazon. Might work as temporary solution

I wouldn’t give a toss about the added electricity costs that out many people off and would buy several fab heaters or portable radiators the oil filled ones.

We’ve got these and they do come in handy now and again, especially if there is an issue with a boiler failure for example.

I’m sure you can get some online for quick delivery.

Oil filled plug in heaters. Heated throw

Air heaters are cheap to buy, just heat one room with them

Focus on keeping one room as warm as you can.

Is your kitchen big enough to use as a 'living area' for a bit?

Oil filled plug in heaters, hot water bottles, electric blankets, wrist warmers, hats.

You need to get your bodies warm and the air around you in the room where you're sitting down the most.

Keep the doors to the cold rooms closed.

Heated throw. Theres a recent thread somewhere. Mine is v warming

@GarlicSoup we had an engineer come and have a look. We need a new control panel but because it's such an old boiler, we can't just get a new one. It would have to be a new boiler. It's frustrating!

Buy heaters. Keep all doors shut.

Thin layers - vest, heat tech top, long Johns then tights etc. Unhelpful when you've got your nipples out though.

Knit little nipple hats?

Plug in oil filled radiators and keep one or two rooms warm.

Couple of convector heaters, expensive to run but effective. Ours had a thermostat on it so it turned itself off when it hit set temperature.

What type of heaters would work best?

We are trying re the doors but the toddler hasn't got the memo and I spend my life chasing after him shutting them again.

@christinarosetti19 unfortunately not. It's also one of the coldest rooms for no reason we can fathom.

As everyone else said- plug in heaters. I use one when I wfh to avoid heating show house. They warm a room up quickly if you keep the doors shut and are not that expensive - especially if you have no other heating cost.

Oil filled radiators are effective but not with the outlay if you're changing the boiler shortly.

Heated throw sounds good! Can I wrap me and baby to feed or would he overheat?

We have a fireplace but I just don't have enough hands to keep a fire going.

I presume running plug in heaters will be akin to burning bank notes? Or are they not too expensive?

If you can afford it a Baavet duvet. I save up and got one for us and dd as well. Absolutely the warmest night's sleep I have ever had.
It's a wool duvet - obviously the outside is cotton but inside is wool. I have an electric blanket and haven't used it this year because of our baavet.

@BumbleNova

I presume running plug in heaters will be akin to burning bank notes? Or are they not too expensive?

I wouldn't use a fan heater but I dont think the oil filled ones are as bad

Buy one of these for your main sitting room

https://thegascentre.co.uk/provence-portable-real-flame-gas-heater-cream-and-black?language=en&currency=GBP&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInva4iv767QIVQrDtCh2z0wsyEAQYBSABEgKTsPD_BwE
We have a couple, instant heat when you need them
We live in a drafty old house will not fireplaces
Life saving!

The heated throws are amazing!

Definitely electric heaters - we used some when our boiler broke and they were actually really good.

Use draught seal tape around any draughty windows and doors - wilko do a decent cheap one:
www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-6m-white-e-profile-draught-seal-sfdp210/p/0097157

Sounds weird, but cover any single glazed windows with bubble wrap (cheap on eBay), doubled up if needed. Keeps the worst of the cold out, but lets some light through.

Draught excluders for internal and external doors.

Maybe also a dri-buddy for drying clothes quickly and warming up the room? Something like this:
www.robertdyas.co.uk/jml-dribuddi-clothes-dryer-white?gclid=CjwKCAiArbv_BRA8EiwAYGs23OQ7v1-Na4HOAPQTR09Z4VDpT04WG8Ihe6dEinFgLFK53TV9o0hEFBoCDGoQAvD_BwE

It adds a bit of warmth and means you don’t have damp clothes hanging around.

Hope you can warm up soon op!

Sorry I’ve got no fast solution.... but if your on mains gas( it sounds like you are) you will be better off with gas central heating, Air source heat pumps are suitable for houses that are very well insulated and a whole heating system that is designed for them. ( larger pipes, underfloor heating etc.). Not a uninsulated Victorian detached.
I lived in a Victorian house before current one and while it was warm with the heating on in winter , it was never quite warm enough when the temp dropped below freezing.
We installed a wood stove and it made so much difference, it was only a 5kw one and it’s amazing how much heat comes off it from the little amount of wood that it uses.