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Original poster

To think that central heating is a thing of the past?

173 replies

hiddenhome · 21/10/2013 13:13

More and more people seem to be unable to afford to use their central heating Sad

How long before we all go back to just having a fire in the lounge?

We no longer use our central heating and think of it as an unaffordable luxury. We've even had radiators removed as they were taking up room. We just have a multifuel stove that we use to heat the lounge and open the door if we want heat upstairs overnight.

OP posts:
HardFacedCareeristBitchNigel · 21/10/2013 18:27

choose, even

thegreylady · 21/10/2013 18:28

Our central heating has been on for a while now.It is on from 7 till 10 in the morning and 5 till 11 pm.When it gets really cold it will be on 7am till 11pm.We don't need to be cold and I'll cut back on food bills before heating.

FyreFly · 21/10/2013 18:29

I really don't know Lazy , my point was just that fuel is fuel is fuel - if you're not burning it to generate electricity then you're burning it to generate heat.

I'm also hoping that they start making improvements to solar cell technology. We looked into getting them for our house, but we were told we couldn't because they were "too disruptive" for the conservation are we apparently live in Hmm (this was news to me). If you could get nice small ones I'd cover my roof in them.

Lazysuzanne · 21/10/2013 18:36

FyreFly, wrt solar cells I'm thinking something way more advanced than we have now, something very thin and flexible using 'space age' materials (ie man made with amazing new properties like graphene) so that it could be incorporated into all sort of things like clothes, buildings...any surfaces that can collect sunlight

cjel · 21/10/2013 18:41

FREAKINREX. Have no actual proof but its what my landscaper told me when I had my old decking taken out?!
TRISH I had never heard of one of those either - How have I ever managed without one?!

3asAbird · 21/10/2013 18:41

all very well for dave say switch.

In past we switched to n power month later they went up.

also those fixing are just agreeing to fix at todays extortionate prices.

Those who dont fix get ripped off further.

Oaps should be bit protected as they hae winter fuel allowance would much rather see that means tested than wealthy people who dont need the additional funds.

moogy1a · 21/10/2013 18:44

trish
Imagine a small rotary drier. You put your clothes on coat hangers on the arms of it then zip up the outer plastic thingy. It then blows warm air to dry the clothes. It uses about one sixth the leccy of a tumble drier and makes the room really warm as well. And you don't then need to iron the clothes. And I got mine free off Freecycle. One of my finest moments!
Oh, and it collapses down pretty small so we can store it behind the laundry baskets .

Opalite · 23/10/2013 03:14

Tee, people aren't 'bragging' about how cold they are/have been.... this IS reality for many people. If it was as easy to change as you say then everybody would have already changed their situation. I personally can't sacrifice cars/holidays for heating because those things don't exist for me in the first place. So many people are in this situation and have been for years!

I disagree that people have only started to care now that it affects people other than the elderly, when I started hearing about the 'heat or eat' dilemma which was affecting elderly people I actually thought the opposite of that. I thought this has been going on for years for families, single people, children......

Opalite · 23/10/2013 03:24

My house is heated by a fire which heats radiators throughout the house and also gives hot water. I have tried to collect wood throughout the year so have built up a pretty impressive pile, I've also bought a few bags of coal (bloody expensive). It never lasts long though and it really is a struggle!
Even when I have tried to be prepared, I always end up with no coal in the middle of winter when we're all freezing cold. Heating your home is so important and while the cold weather payments are a step in the right direction, I don't think they're anywhere near enough to even make a dent in many peoples heating expenses.

Twattyzombiebollocks · 23/10/2013 07:27

I have ch but don't use it unless its really really cold. Lucky that our house is well insulated and stays fairly warm even with very minimal use. Radiators are off in the bedrooms, we have a fire in the living room and a small fan heater that I use to make the bathroom toasty warm when its time to get ready for bed, kids get their pjs on in there and then jump straight into bed.

samandi · 23/10/2013 09:22

Hardly. Most people use it.

We spend about £50 a month on gas and electricity, and we have quite a large, high-ceilinged flat.

Fires are nice and cosy though, and good for clearing damp.

LucilleBluth · 23/10/2013 10:05

I have just paid £580 for 1,000 litres of oil and 135 for a delivery of wood. Unfortunately heating is becoming a major expenditure for a lot of people. We live in a four bed farm house that is completely exposed to the elements, it has zero insulation and if we weren't a family of five and if we didn't need the space then just choosing to live here would be a massive luxury.

I can see a few years into the future when the DCs start leaving, our plan is to build an Eco home to see us into our old age with low energy bills........that's the dream anyway.

treaclesoda · 23/10/2013 10:06

I feel I need to point out here that you are all wrong. I heard a Conservative MP on the Five Live the other day saying that his party look after the low paid and needy so well that it is simply untrue to say that people in the UK in 2013 might have to choose between heating and food. No matter how many listeners texted in to say they couldn't afford to heat their homes, he just said they were wrong. Which must have been a great comfort to them. Hmm

treaclesoda · 23/10/2013 10:09

£580 for 1000 litres? I just checked and its about £590 in my postcode, that's really dropped in price recently, last time I priced it it was over £700, I was almost sick. Better order some.

treaclesoda · 23/10/2013 10:10

First time I ever bought oil for my first house, in 2000, it was 15p a litre. And I thought that was very expensive Shock

ILikeBirds · 23/10/2013 10:13

I'm not sure how any of this makes sense.

CH is surely one of the most efficient ways of heating a house. Why would people abandon it as fuel prices go up? Switch it on less maybe, turn down radiators in unused parts of the house but I cannot see it becoming obsolete, especially as for most people the central heating system is the only way of heating water.

I'm sure I remember reading that period houses are becoming less popular though due to rising fuel costs and difficulties with heating.

Just realised we spend less per month on gas and electric than some people spend on Special K! Wink

LucilleBluth · 23/10/2013 10:20

treaclesoda, boilerjuice.com. Around £25 cheaper than our local supplier.

DidoTheDodo · 23/10/2013 10:25

pobble (belatedly) Go and finish your homework - and you're not going out dressed like that.

Dahlen · 23/10/2013 10:25

I grew up in a house without central heating and spent most of my adult life also living in places with such inadequate/expensive forms of heating that I came to accept living with ice on the inside of the windows in winter as the norm. Even now, when I have central heating and the luxury of being able to afford to use it, I often don't because I am so used to the cold. People are always coming around my house and telling me it's cold when to me it feels perfectly fine, and I would always put on a jumper before putting on the heating. My DC are very similar.

All that said, if I am cold and a jumper doesn't sort it, I put on the central heating. There is a point beyond which being cold is just fucking miserable, and I am fortunate that I don't have to put up with it anymore. I remember too well the memory of having to drink endless cups of hot water to keep warm, only to be faced with having to expose my arse in an ice-crusted bathroom very regularly as a result. It offends me that in a country as rich as ours people are still having no choice but to live like that. It offends me even more that people who have never experienced fuel poverty talk about how it's just a matter of poor priorities and if people just gave up their fags/booze/goats it would all be ok.

The people who may well struggle to afford heating are quite often exactly those who are living in older, poorly insulated properties that don't retain any heat whatsoever. They may have young children who suffer frequent respiratory problems as a result of living in cold, damp housing. It's not a question of being 'nesh', cold damp houses cause health problems.

Awomansworth · 23/10/2013 10:30

We just can't go without our heating on in the winter. We have a very old house and open to the elements too. If we don't put the heating on the house actually feels damp, plus ds has asthma, and the damp makes it worse.

I've just had the oil tank (no gas supply) filled with 100ltr (£590) and that won't even last through the winter, so I put money into our oil account all through the year to ensure we can have the heating on 24/7 through the winter, althougth thermostat only on 18.

When we moved into the house, we could fill the tank for around £300.

LucilleBluth · 23/10/2013 10:33

For those with oil tanks have a look at boilerjuice.com, an old man from the village put me onto them, they are consistently cheaper.......oh how the old man likes to stop me in the street and have a good long chat about oil prices ;)

treaclesoda · 23/10/2013 10:38

Thanks Lucille. Have just ordered, glad you posted the price earlier because it alerted me that now is a good time to buy. The tank is still half full from last winter but I want to buy before the weather turns colder and the price rockets again.

NoComet · 23/10/2013 10:47

Without central heating this place would be running with damp and fall down.

Saving money on heating by turning it off rather than down is a very false economy.

LittleRobots · 23/10/2013 10:47

We've saved a fortune having electrif storage heaters. It wasn't by design - we're used to central heating - we'd planned to replace once moving in with central heating.

However our bills work out as less than 100 a month and thats our only bill as no gas. Three bed house, lots of heat, cooking etc.

I used to have the problem of them getting cold in the evening but our neighbours mentioned changmg from 'economy seven' to the one that gives a boost in the afternoon - Economy ten or super saver or something. Its not an advertised rate, you have to ask for it, but its made the difference between up wanting to replace the storage heaters and being rather glad we have them due to their cost!

Our tarif also has storage heat for a couple of hours in the pm as well as the evening which means we have a lovely warm house all day for less than gas. I'm home a lot in the day so its brilliant. We also now have lovely warm evenings rather than the heat running out at 7.

I think the only downside is that is has to be southern electric so no competition. With the increasing prices we're glad we didn't convert. Also no servicing costs, on boiler costs. . .

LittleRobots · 23/10/2013 10:50

Oh we're never hanging damp washing inside again! We have a condenser dryer now so you can physically see the many litres that are in each load of clothes! No wonder houses get damp. I'd never realised until I saw it as we used to. Its like liberally painting your walls with water and then some!