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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To leave blow heaters on overnight in my dc's bedrooms?

121 replies

Barbielovesken · 14/12/2011 15:31

Is this a fire hazard/ dangerous? would it be unreasonable to do so?. Im aware this isnt really an aibu but Im quite worried and need advice and know here gets the most traffic.

Our damn boiler broke last night (oil) the house was freezing we have back up in a solid fuel stove that heats the radiators but it would appear that the circulation pump is also on the blink and the rads arent been heated. The kitchen and sitting room are quite cosy downstairs (where the stove is) when it got going but it is sooo cold upstairs.

We cant get a plumber today - we've tried. Our usual one is 3 hours away working for a few days but can get to ours tomorrow to sort it.

Im worried about tonight - we've 3 dcs (6yrs, 22 months and 6 months). Im in work today and they are in CMs right now but I dont know what to do later. Ill light up a big fire downstairs but last night dd2's room was 12 degrees Shock(hers has the monitor in it) I think it'll be even colder tonight as the heating upstairs been gone longer, if that makes sense - I think it was retaining some heat from the morning before it broke. Also its been snowing again here today. I had them all in fleece zip up pjs, extra quilts and dressing gowns etc..(dd2 in a 2.5 tog gro bag).

I kept checking them all last night and they slept peacefully but dd2's little hands and face were so cold to touch.

I have a few blow heaters/ can borrow some off my mum too so was thinking of leaving one on all night in each room. Is that irresponsible or ok to do?

Other than that, I could move all dc and things to my mums and we all stay there tonight? she has room and its warm - itll just be a huge hassle. (work and school and cm drop off in the morn)

OP posts:
GrimmaTheNome · 14/12/2011 16:03

The solution to a cold nose is a rather overlarge hood on a hoody which you pull right over the eyes and down the nose just leaving nostrils exposed Grin

callmemrs · 14/12/2011 16:03

Noooo!

They will be fine bundled up in warm pjs with a hoodie or jumper and lots of blankets. We had no upstairs heating when I was little- none of us died!

Original poster
Barbielovesken · 14/12/2011 16:03

Aw bless you Poledra thats so kind. Im in Ireland though but thanks anyway Wink

OP posts:
saintlyjimjams · 14/12/2011 16:05

Just pile on the blankets. We had no heating upstairs when I was a child. My mum used to put the electric heater in before I went to bed to warm it up then turn it off at bedtime. When I lived in Japan (where it snows in the winter) I had no heating - just an electric table (FFS) and paraffin stove. I'd set the alarm half an our early in winter so I coukd dive out of bed and turn on the stove then snuggle back under the blanketswhike the flat heated up. It was fine under extra bedding.

LauraIngallsWilder · 14/12/2011 16:07

in the Arctic

Poledra · 14/12/2011 16:11

Ah - probably a bit far to drop them off for tonight then Smile

Original poster
Barbielovesken · 14/12/2011 16:28
Grin
OP posts:
TalkinPeace2 · 14/12/2011 16:40

I lived in student houses that regularly had ice on the inside of the windows in winter
and as a kid lived in a house with 14 foot ceilings and a single bock gas fire on a coin meter

extra bedding, socks and a night cap
get them to read/play in bed so it has warmed up by the time they go to sleep
12 degrees is fine for a bedroom

JaneBirkin · 14/12/2011 16:44

Two things: hats on them at night, and socks will really help. Lots of layers.

Secondly, have you checked the rads? I find when mine won't warm up they just need to be bled, iykwim - you know, you go round with the little metal key and let the air out?

Give that a try if you haven't already done so. And good luck.

whackamole · 14/12/2011 16:49

I think if they slept ok last night they will be fine tonight. It is cold but enough layers and running the heater for a bit before they go up will be sufficient. You can always check them when you go to bed and move them into your room if you feel it's necessary.

ll31 · 14/12/2011 17:20

would never have heat never mind heaters on in bedrooms - as posters aboe say, use plenty blankets, socks. If you've doublebeds let them sleep together for extra warmth

ChrisTingleTeaspoon · 14/12/2011 17:30

We've been heating-less for nearly 3 weeks now (3 plumbers are stumped about why the boiler is only working for 5 minutes at a time - there's one here now having a final go and after that we may have a accept defeat and buy a new boiler) and we've been coping with oil filled radiators, one in the living room and one upstairs that we've got on timers, and a fan heater in the bathroom that's only on when we're in there. Dd has been fine with an extra blanket overnight. Even when we do have central heating it goes off at 9pm.

GrimmaTheNome · 14/12/2011 17:33

Our engineer is returning tomorrow with enough spare parts to rebuild the damn thing, I think. DD watching TV downstairs - I took her a fan heater, she doesn't want it on because of the noise - children really don't feel the cold as much!

Office nice and warm with 3 computers, and dachsund on lap Grin

ChrisTingleTeaspoon · 14/12/2011 17:37

Perhaps we should start a broken boiler support thread Grin

mathanxiety · 14/12/2011 17:41

Irish cold is far colder than British cold. That is a fact. It gets into your bones.

I remember doing homework in my room with one of those oil filled radiators, wearing a mohair jumper over a poloneck, my dad's wooly socks, fingerless gloves, sweatpants, sitting on my chair in a sleeping bag and still being blue with cold and almost unable to write.

mathanxiety · 14/12/2011 17:46

ChrisTingle, is there some sort of automatic cutoff at play with your boiler? Have they checked for condensation pooling in any of the pipes?

TalkinPeace2 · 14/12/2011 17:57

When we were having building work done we had no heating from March to July.
And they had taken the second skin of the side of the house off
And the new steels acted like reverse radiators across the top of the house.
Then it snowed.
We used hot water bottles, heated the one room we could seal and wrapped up a lot.
We coped.
You and your kids will too - think of it as a history adventure

ChrisTingleTeaspoon · 14/12/2011 17:57

I'm tentatively going to say that as of 5 minutes ago ours is fixed, it was the gas valve in the end. The plumber who's here is now salvaged one for us because he didn't want us to pay out £200 for one to try so he tried cheaper things first. I'm going to celebrate with a bath! Grin

clopper · 14/12/2011 18:01

we use hot water bottles sometimes, as don't have heating in every bedroom

WibblyBibble · 14/12/2011 19:00

12c is too cold for a 6 month old. TBH I don't actually believe the people who claim their houses are normally this temperature inside (unless they are suffering weird menopausal temperature sensitivity or something, it's ridiculous- at that temperature you wouldn't feel comfortable even sitting still for half an hour unless you were wearing a coat). It's very inefficient to use central heating by putting it on and off all the time, more efficient to keep a constant temperature- there is no virtue in trying to live like a cave-person. I really don't see that fan heaters are going to cause a fire overnight unless you leave them pointing at something flammable.

valiumredhead · 14/12/2011 19:07

LOL @ wibbly Grin it might be uncomfortable for you but it's fine for us. I hate heating in bedrooms nothing to do with trying to live like a cave person!

GrimmaTheNome · 14/12/2011 19:46

very inefficient to use central heating by putting it on and off all the time
don't believe that can be true if its off most of the night.

I really don't see that fan heaters are going to cause a fire overnight unless you leave them pointing at something flammable.

A lot of accidents are due to lack of imagination. Very easy to think of mechanisms eg fan heater in child's bedroom; child gets up for wee and knocks some item of clothing etc onto heater.

thepeoplesprincess · 14/12/2011 20:00

Good Lord! Dramzcity. We only have one gas fire to heat our whole place permanently and we're not dead.

mathanxiety · 14/12/2011 20:28

It really is inefficient -- it takes more energy to warm up from a cold start than it would to maintain a house at a constant temperature (give or take 5 degrees or so) using a thermostat. I agree that 12 degrees is too cold for a baby, and asthma can be aggravated by cold air in the airways.

JaneBirkin · 14/12/2011 20:29

We keep the heating on all the time, but control it with the central thermostat which is in the hall.

So when we go out, I turn it down to 15/16. When we get in I turn it up to about 18, which is where it stays much of the time when we are awake.

When we go to bed, I put it down again to about 15/16. That way it doesn't let it drop too low, and I don't like sleeping in the freezing cold as it makes my nose run. But it isn't too warm either.

When I forget to turn it down before bed I inevitably wake up really hot and have to get up in the night to switch it down again.