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Original poster

My house is 8 degrees. 8 degrees

455 replies

Bonecold · 01/04/2022 15:43

Heating oil ran out yesterday. I have £200 in the savings pot with boiler juice. For a minimum order I need 500 litres which is £468.

So I’ve left the heating off until either the price per litre drops, the weather gets better, or my savings pot reaches the amount needed to do an order (£65 DD a month).

In the meantime I have a fire place so I can heat one room (but no wood so have to outlay for that).

I can’t work out if I should:

a) remove the £200 from the savings account and spend it on wood/coal to get through to warmer weather. Pro - would be warm now, Con - even further away from filling the tank

b) heat one room with wood, live near a wood so could scavenge enough wood weekly to do this?

c) plug in electric radiator. Pro: heat, con: eats electricity

D) small loan for £300/400 and top up oil. Pro: heat, con: small loans have huge interest and would be another bill each month

I’m at work all day and kids at school usually so it’s not like we would be freezing all day and can boil water for cooking and have electric shower for washing. But it’s Easter holidays here so they’ll be home for the next two weeks now

What would you do?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
PigletJohn · 01/04/2022 22:05

with luck the cold spell will not last long, so don't raid your oil fund.

where i am, we had some sunny spells during the day, which warmed up rooms with windows facing it.

The electric blanket will be on tonight.

I also use an electric heater sometimes, especially if the bedroom is icy, but turned down low so it just takes the chill off and keeps the room dry. Electricity is so expensive that it costs about the same as running the boiler on a low setting

I gather you have an open fire, this is very uneconomical in fuel, and sucks warm air up the chimney, and sucks in cold air as draughts. I formerly had a Swedish multifuel "smoke eater" which burned very clean and was much more efficient. Mine was also plumbed to heat the hot-water cylinder and the bedroom radiator, but as you have an oil boiler probably not worthwhile for you.

Small fallen wood will not burn for long but is cheerful.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 01/04/2022 22:08

A tea light candle only outputs around 30 watts. A pot over it will make little difference to that. It's not going to make any discernible difference to a room I'm afraid.

Are there any grants available in your area? I expect you've looked already. www.simpleenergyadvice.org.uk/grants

HumourReplacementTherapy · 01/04/2022 22:13

Buy a plug in heated throw. They're very cheap to run.
Get a decent one, I've forgotten the name of mine but it was from John Lewis. It was about £80 and it's lasted 8 years so far.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Cost of living
Zet1 · 01/04/2022 22:14

[quote MurmuratingStarling]@Bonecold

No I live in a very old house which the landlord refuses to insulate and which I pay £1200 a month for.

FGS, move! Shock[/quote]
How is this helpful?

MuggleMadness · 01/04/2022 22:18

@Patented

Hm, it doesn't sound too cold to me, but I appreciate that's not helpful. Jumpers and hats?
8° inside the house us bloody cold!

@Bonecold do you maybe have any family/friends with spare oil heaters? They're incredibly effective. I have two in the loft from pre central heating & various friends have borrowed them in 'emergency' situations. I don't think they use a ton of electricity, my bill was never surprising/shocking when I used them.

urbanbuddha · 01/04/2022 22:20

Ask your local council housing department for advice. The landlord can't profit from a property which is a health risk and if keeping it warm is unaffordable that's a health risk.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 01/04/2022 22:24

I read it as Tommy Tuck and the thought it was rhyming slang for Blush. Grin

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 01/04/2022 22:25

So sorry wrong thread

BeenHereForYonkyDoodles · 01/04/2022 22:29

My old house went down to 8 without heating on, I believe you and it's shit.
Id go with B and put lots of layers on the kids especially, try and cosy up.
If you could bring the scavenged wood in earlier to dry might it burn better?
Also hot water bottles for the kids if they're off and sat still for a while.

Thesefeetaremadeforwalking · 01/04/2022 22:30

@ReadyToMoveIt

what temperature is your house currently?

How is that relevant to the discussion?

ReadyToMoveIt · 01/04/2022 22:31

@Thesefeetaremadeforwalking about as relevant as say ‘we managed it when we were younger’.
I just wondered how many of those telling the OP that she should put up with it as they had to once upon a time were also currently sat in an 8 degree house 🤷🏻‍♀️

countrylifer · 01/04/2022 22:34

@Patented

Hm, it doesn't sound too cold to me, but I appreciate that's not helpful. Jumpers and hats?
@Patented is this a joke? 8 degrees inside? What's the temperature in your own house at the moment?

OP I'd definitely focus on keeping one room warm with the fire and using hot water bottles for bed.

It's an absolute travesty that you and many many more people are having to make these choices in a country like ours in the 21st century. I'm glad the majority of posts have been helpful.

Ikeatears · 01/04/2022 22:39

Just a thought, have you tried the freecycle Facebook sites? Someone may be giving away wood that might be suitable to burn.

Ddot · 01/04/2022 22:40

Mine gets to 13 and it's cold so 8 is bloody cold. Who ever said it wasnt must live in a shed. It's no joke and not healthy.

hogangog · 01/04/2022 22:48

apologies @Bonecold - i haven’t RTFT so it might have been said. you say they won’t deliver less than 500l of oil - have you called roudn every company that will deliver to you? have you asked if they sell 20l containers that you can put in the tank yourself? this is what we did in an emergency before christmas. you might be able to put a couple of those in and it will be enough to fire up your boiler to have an hour heating to take the chill off.

Daffodilz · 01/04/2022 22:52

Where are you op? If anywhere nr Cumbria I'd like to help

Daffodilz · 01/04/2022 22:53

Have fire wood dried x

Trixiefirecracker · 01/04/2022 23:01

Our hearing comes on for an hour in the morning to warm house up for kids getting ready for school and then when they’ve gone we switch it off. Currently huddled up in bed with several
Layers and a hot water bottle. We have started sharing bath water. Yes, it’s that bad.

MuggleMadness · 01/04/2022 23:03

[quote MurmuratingStarling]@Bonecold

No I live in a very old house which the landlord refuses to insulate and which I pay £1200 a month for.

FGS, move! Shock[/quote]
Welcome to the real world, you're going to find it quite shocking. Rental properties are not plentiful, nor cheap.

ScrollingLeaves · 01/04/2022 23:18

Scavenge for wood. Get the children to help.
Have one warm room. (Have a good fire guard.)

Invest in hot water bottles and cheap fleeece blankets as they are light enough to carry around but heat you up.

Dreamland large electric throw is £50 but excellent.

MurmuratingStarling · 01/04/2022 23:18

Oh come off it. Moving into a different rental property has got to be a LOT more logical and sensible than paying £1200 a month for an oversized igloo that hasn't even got bloody central heating!

MurmuratingStarling · 01/04/2022 23:20

@countrylifer

@Patented is this a joke? 8 degrees inside? What's the temperature in your own house at the moment?

Yeah this. ^ 8 degrees inside REALLY? Hmm That's why I asked fi she lived in an igloo!

MurmuratingStarling · 01/04/2022 23:20

*if

Confusedmonkey · 01/04/2022 23:28

@Bonecold I am sorry you are in this position, it sounds like you are really sensible with money too. I am sorry i haven't had time to read all these posts, so this may have already been mentioned, but have your considered whether you might be eligible for help from a fuel bank? If not I believe they can provide a few weeks of fuel (including heating oil), which might help to see you into warmer weather at least. For some reason I can't get the link to paste into the chat, but if you google fuel bank you should get their details.

Also, if you have not done so already, it might be worth looking on the citizens advice webpage or contacting your local office to check if you are eligible for any grants or a council tax rebate to help with fuel costs.

I am sorry if you have already tried this or are not eligible, I just thought I would mention this in case it were helpful.

elbea · 01/04/2022 23:32

I used to stay in a house that no heating when I used to go lambing, ice on the inside of the windows and see your breath type thing.

We had electric blankets, an oil radiator and lots of wool blankets on top of the duvet. Wool keeps the heat in much better than a duvet.

I know others have said it put please don’t burn green wood, it’s so dangerous! Use some of your oil money to get some coal.