Coping without heating

[Frio]

I’m seriously impressed by the people on the central heating thread who are surviving indoor temperatures of 14-16 Celsius. I really struggle physically and mentally with the cold.

My boiler has fritzed its circuit board and is utterly dead, any tips for managing until I can get it repaired? I have a couple of plug in oil filled radiators, plenty of sweaters and blankets but it’s the psychological impact that is the worst. How do I toughen up?

The answer is to try and stay active through the day, layer up and then just get into bed for the evening!

Our thermostat is set at 17, has been for years and we are comfortable (Scotland). When there’s a particularly strong or cold wind then it does start to feel cold. We have a log burner in the main living room which gets used in winter for cosier nights in.

Inspired by this thread, H got the thermometer out of the cupboard. 17 degrees in LR this evening and I was toasty with the kids watching a film all evening with jumpers on and underneath a quilt. Feel fine in rest of house with jumpers on too. Have been having a hot water bottle in bed and upgraded to add heated blanket tonight.
I have low blood pressure so feel the cold, but as long as I have multiple layers on ( tonight it’s warm jumper and a fleece as well as two base layers) I am fine at 17 degrees, it appears! Rest of family have fewer layers and are fine.

The thread isn't about turning the thermostat down to save money. It is about the OP not having working heating. That's not a choice.

I had no heating for 3 years. I used wear a jumper, a cardigan and sometimes a shawl when I was working with a blanket wrapped around my legs and fingerless gloves. In the evening I would huddle under a blanket with an oil filler radiator on and go to bed early.

It was horrible, you could feel the cold the moment you walked in. Never being warm was not nice especially when it was-14c outside. The washing would take forever to dry.

After that I don't care, my heating will go on when I'm cold. I'm not going to be one of those people who think it's some kind of badge to be cold.

When you have had no choice you realise how lucky you are to have the the choice to sit around under a blanket instead of putting the heating in.

I'm in the South West where we often enjoy warm Septembers and Octobers. However, today it peaked outside at 15C.

It was 17C upstairs this afternoon and 18C downstairs. We are both in our 70s and DH is on blood thinners and beta blockers which make him feel cold. So yes, we have had the heating on for a couple hours this afternoon and again this evening.

I think it depends on the person really, their age for example and what they are used to and bathrooms are often colder but you don’t live in your bathroom so it’s not bad for you. I find that the room I work in is initially really cold at first (sometimes below 10 in winter) but soon warms up to 15+ once I’ve been in there for a bit (I’m warm because I wear layers and have a blanket, I’m just talking about the air temp). If it’s forecast below freezing I will put the heating on a timer for an hour or so, half an hour before I get up, luckily I have thick walls so that holds all day and I get a lot of sunlight in the rooms.

This is how I'm staying warm ATM!

The answer is to try and stay active through the day,

I can't do that when I am working. I don't need heating when I am active, but I do when I am sat still wotking on complicated spreadsheets all day.

DH is very underweight and on beta blockers and blood thinners, and feels the cold terribly. That's why our thermostat is on 20 degrees.

DH opened all the blinds when the sun hit the windows today, house hit 16 so haven’t needed heating on. It did come on a couple of weeks ago two mornings in a row. I dint live in a house with central heating till I was nearly 30. DH grew up with CH so we have thermostat wars. But that’s also because both myself and DS just don’t feel the cold so much at all.

We had over a year with no heating. The boiler died, and a total house refurb with new heating system was planned imminently, but the builder was delayed, and delayed and delayed. We just about survived with electric blankets, fan heaters pointed into bathrooms, plug in oil filled rads in bedrooms. It was awful. But nobody died. I suppose we just became acclimatised to it in the end.

I've been getting by with electric throws and lots of layers the last couple of weeks, but I've caved and turned on my heating for the first time today.

It 8oc outside so Google says. Inside it 15oc so our heating is on

@girljulian

thats a bit drastic!!

🔥🤣🤣

We had boiler issues last year but it wasn't that cold (I mean it's not cold in London now either), but worse was no hot water for ten days. Cold showers - brrrrr! We managed though.

I mean I didn't think it was that cold but my cat has just sat on my lap for the first time ever and I've had him since May 2023
Might be time to check the temp....

I don't use heating but do live somewhere warm. Internal temps can be around 15-17 in winter. Can't say I wear huge amounts of clothes, just winter weight and add a jumper and socks if cool. I really struggle to breathe heavy, heated air. I also don't like electric blankets.

That said, we had heaters where I grew up as it was more like low single digits inside. Not central heating though, only one room heated.

I go with 16-17, and like others, warm blanket/ Oodie type thing and fluffy socks. If you're moving around it's a very reasonable temperature- lying on the couch can be less so. No heating on overnight, usually the house is about 6-8 degrees if no heating on, will usually out it on for 2 hours from 06.30-08.30 and then in the evening about the same. 18.30-21.30. Not claiming it's pleasant or fun, but when you genuinely don't have a choice, you make do.

We had no heating or hot water for five weeks during the middle of last winter (not through choice!).

The things that kept us going were oil-filled radiators in the room we spent most time in during the day and putting the wood burner on in the living room in the evening. Thermal undies help. We’re quite outdoorsy so I have a good selection of silk and merino base layers, but my mum swears by the M&S long-sleeve thermal tops, which are much cheaper. In bed I wore alpaca bed socks, which are amazingly soft and warm. They’re available on Amazon and definitely worth investing in if you feel the cold. As pp have said, try not to sit still for too long. Keeping moving will warm you up. Do what you can to keep the heat in using draughty excluders, shutting all the curtains in the evening, etc.

Do you have hot water? If you are going to be without it for any length of time see if you can borrow an urn from anyone. It makes a huge difference to have hot water on tap in the kitchen and for washing at the bathroom sink. We were lucky enough to have one that we bought for MIL when her boiler broke a few years ago.

Even with the heating on ours is only set to 16 degrees

You can't walk around in blankets though, trip hazard, ditto heated throw as it has wires. My hands get cold and literally stop working, clothes get damp and musty if it's damp and cold enough. Good luck to you but I wouldn't want to live like it and I'm frugal with heating.

I think I would die having said that we didn't have central heating at home until I was 10/11 but I didn't know any different . Lots of layers , layers of clothes layers of blankets on bed . Electric blanket maybe ? Drink hot things to warm yourself.

It also depends how damp / windy your house gets. A sunny mid terrace will be a lot warmer than a shady detached.

Well I'm in the soft south and the heating is on a bit.

I find these threads really interesting as it shows how completely differently people can feel the same temperatures.

What are summer windows?

We make do with the same windows year round.