To ask you how to stay warm?

[RoseGoldRosie]

Boiler broke last night. Saw a Facebook post about pouring boiling water on the outside pipes, tried that this morning, didn't work. Rang my estate agent - a few hours after he came round to do the exact same thing. Still didn't work (shock). A plumber came round about 6pm, I didn't get home from work until 9. No note or anything, but the radiators and water were lukewarm. Now freezing again. So assume he got it working but it's broken again, though he didn't leave a note or anything so no idea.

DD has double pjs on, double socks, a sleeping bag and 100 blankets. She's warm to the touch. But I'm starting to feel v chilly. I have an electric heater (more for decoration ) but when I tried to turn it on yesterday it didn't work.

Any good tips for keeping warm in this weather? Apart from wine and cheesey chips (which I'm already partaking in). Will DD get really chilly in the night? I never have the heating on at night anyway, but obviously the house hasn't been warmed up through the day, so I'm worried. She's only two and recently been in hospital. Should I put her in with me? Her rooms warmer. But, body heat?

Is there a law which means it has to get fixed properly tomorrow because I have an under 5? Or did I make that up?

We're south east so not in any red areas or anything, but well below freezing.

Any tips welcome! I know tomorrow morning we'll be so cold. Maybe go and take DD to a coffee shop until midday when she starts Nursery and I start work?

Possibly I just need to man up. Pansy southerner? My (Scottish) dad is only just out of his shorts today but worried about DD.

OP, you should NOT use a gas hob/oven (if that's what you have) to heat the house/flat; it can be dangerous LOOK

Oh man knew it was too good to be true. Thanks for that though x

I live in a freezing cold house.

Wear lots of Thin layers of clothes. Long sleeve T under a shirt under a fleece or sweater. Gilet. Hat if you are really cold. Tights under trousers. Long johns if you have them.
Move around in the house.. Do the ironing, vacuum the stairs.

Eat porridge for breakfast. Hot soup for lunch. Curry for dinner. Plenty of hot drinks.

Second that, Solo.

Wear hats and loose socks to bed, see if you can beg, borrow or steal a plug in heater and keep it well away from clothing and furniture. Sleep together.

We're in bed now with a hundred blankets on us. It's not too bad. Bit nervous about the morning. But will get somewhere warm, and stay at my mums after work if still not fixed. Thanks all x

Some good advise on here, but I wanted to point out something very important - DO NOT wear a scarf in bed.

My DF was a police man and one of his first call outs was to a house where the child had gone to bed in hat and scarf because they were cold. You can fill in the rest yourself.

I hope you get your heating sorted.

We've been without a boiler for a week. Stay in one room with the electric heater and lots of blankets and duvets. Hot drinks, hot water bottles and hand warmers are all good.

Chilli con carne to eat
Dressing gown over clothes
Wrist warmers if you have them
Anything to keep your feet warm, wool slippers or 2pairs of socks

I have an extremely itchy wool fishing jumper I bought in Scotland years ago. It is unbelievably warm but you do need a long sleeve tshirt under it!!

The using hob/oven is ok if you have audible CO monitors.

I grew up in the 1960s without central heating and through the70s strikes and power cuts.

Get a blanket between mattress and sheets.
Then on top of you sheet, blanket , blanket, then duvet. Its all about trapping the warm air and beach dy heat. Can add blanket on top but really its better on the inside.
Dress in layers. Again trapping layers.
Keep extremities warm ie hands and feet. Wear hats.

In my parents days it was common for keeping ds to share a bed, space, cost of blankets and sharing heat. Lots of Scottish tenements were built with bed recess with built in box bed, so the bed was in the kitchen which was had main source of heat in the kitchen range. Often kids ds had a trundle bed which pulled out from under the box bed

If you are renting ask the estate agent/ landlord to supply heat source until boiler fixed
Ie oil filled radiator, electric fire.

Get on any FB community groups for your area, we've had heating engineers offering their services for free to local people having heating problems today.

Wear thermal socks if you can get them.

Place a hot water bottle in the small of your back, it will warm you better than cuddling it, believe it or not.

If you have a spare duvet or thick blanket put it under you on the bed rather than on top, more effective for trapping heat.

Bed share with DD.

Borrow a heater if possible. Or you can buy inexpensive convector heaters from eg Amazon or Argos which are very effective.

Hot water bottle, chocolate and hot coffee with a good slug of brandy is what's keeping me going!

Haven't RTFT. YouTube is an amazing gold mine of tutorials for bleeding radiators and the like.

I horrendously skint so was gutted when my radiators stopped working. Typed the problem into YouTube and found I needed to 'balance the system', followed all the instructions (hit pause and rewind more than a few times) and within 20 minutes my radiators were super hot again. And, I'm not that handy, and partially sighted with a shitty neurological condition and no one at all I can ask for help - just telling you that to show you can do it! Don't be scared to try, if I can do it, am certain you can find/fix it too (BUT MAKE SURE IT'S NOT A REGISTERED GAS ENGINEER YOU NEED)

Good luck

P. S. Don't worry too much about your little one suffering with cold. It's not that long since my now 30s children grew up in a house with poor single glazing and no central heating; plenty of layers, share a bed, hot water bottle and all sorted.

Op I hope your boiler now fixed or that you and dd staying warm at least.

Sevendown

"Drink hot drinks including hot juice." THANKS for posting that.

My boiler on blink too, told no guarantee they can get to me (it's really bad here even snow ploughs struggling to get through) I'm stuck with my only options I can think of:

My one halogen heater

Wrap up stay in bed extra blankets I've also piled on like ALL my spare bedding towels etc

Hot drinks and food - and I'm running low on milk for tea/coffee and i COULD take it black but don't especially enjoy but I do have lime squash in (use it for a splash in my rum n Coke on a Friday night usually) but I've had hot squash before and it's quite nice.

Using cooker to warm rest of flat won't work as its in a tiny kitchen off the hall the heat wouldn't make it into another room.

Dd is going to be staying at a friends but due to my disability that's not an option for me.

"You can use anything that won’t melt and has a screw top as a hot water bottle - juice bottle or wine bottle, or milk carton." Would one of those water bottles with a sort of cage for fruit infusion work?

Would warming blankets/towels in the oven work? (I don't have a microwave - electric cooker)

"Curry for dinner" loving that tip too

Any other ideas I'd be VERY grateful

We had a new condensing boiler fitted last summer to replace our increasingly unreliable 13 year old boiler. The condensate pipe is buried underground for insulation, so hopefully we won't have any problems. But we have in storage plug in thermostatic electric fan heaters for every room in the house, a working electric fire in the living room, and hard wired in fan heaters in the kitchen and bathroom. I'm not taking any chances in the event of a possible boiler failure in winter. DH and I have an electric underblanket and 15 tog duvet for cold weather, plus numerous extra fleece blankets that our DDs can use over their duvets for more warmth. I've also crocheted a cellular blanket from 75/25 acrylic/wool yarn which is very warm as it traps air.

If we were unlucky enough to lose electricity, (which would mean our boiler wouldn't operate either) I think we'd have to huddle under the duvet with the extra blankets, wearing warm clothes, cardies, hoodies, hats, scarfs and gloves, thick socks etc. Our house has DG, cavity wall insulation and extra loft insulation, so even with no heating the indoor temperature in winter rarely if ever falls below 10 -12°C. We also have a supply of candles plus torches and single use batteries. Best to be prepared, I think. I really hope your boiler is fixed ASAP, OP.

"Would warming blankets/towels in the oven work?"

Nooo - please don't. It's a major fire hazard.

Wool. As many clothes as you own that have actual proper wool in them. Also a woolly blanket. And a hot water bottle, plus lots of hot drinks.

I second wool. It’s about the only clothing that helps me. Everyone talks me a fleece is good, but not for me.

I don't believe it! My boiler is now on the blink too! Will have to put up with it for a while though :(

I was thinking oven on a low heat but I'll take the warning.

Allergic to wool so don't own any.

Hope it gets sorted soon solo x

My boiler needs a new part, the estate agent said he doubted it would come today. Rang me at 5pm to say it's arrived and should all be up and running. Cried I was so happy Got home from work at 7pm to find the plumbers saying they had the wrong part, so wouldn't be fixed till tomorrow at the earliest.

Chucked some stuff in a bag and walked to my mums with DD. Now in a hot bath in a warm house with a glass of wine and a curry on the way. Thank god! I work in a place with constant open doors so have been freezing all day aswell.

Thanks for all the tips and I hope everyone stays/ gets warm very soon xx

Glad you're somewhere cosy while they sort the problem out. I'm sure it'll be fixed quickly...now that the freezing weather is due to ease off.

Enjoy the curry and wine!

So glad you're getting sorted and are warm for now op

Thank you RoseGoldRosie :) you too!