We are too used to Central heating..

[Dampclout]

Until the 1980s very few houses had central heating. Most people heated one room, had hot water bottles at bedtime and wore warm clothes. I can recall quickly going out of the warm front room and shutting the door behind me, if I wasn't quick enough there would be be the shout of ‘shut that door’
Nowadays I wear a tee shirt in winter and keep my house at 20c… I think I will be going back to my childhood ways this winter..

I was born in the fifties. By the time I was 10 we had coal fired central heating downstairs and constant hot water. I can't remember how old I was when we had full central heating from a gas boiler. I do remember ice on the windows in the morning and thick eiderdowns on the beds.
We no longer have fireplaces in every home so the only option is central heating or expensive portable heaters so I don't see why we should give up CH.
But no-one needs to walk around in t-shirts in the winter and it doesn't need to stay on 24/7 even if you're at home.
I know some people leave it on at night which is madness and we can certainly cope with it going off sometimes during the day and keeping it fairly low.

Fuck, are people seriously ok with going backwards. Your thread is utterly depressing. It is not acceptable in any way for people to be cold in their homes in 2022, there’s no way to spin this current situation that makes it ok.

My DH grew up in a council house and says the council didn't put Central heating in until the early 90s. He reckons until then the only heating in the house (3 bed) was a gas fire in the living room.

Eurgh I hate this! Poor people should just learn to be cold like the old days! And if they die young or get awful illnesses then more the better! Energy companies are still making massive profits.. as is the government and their cronies. Don't blame the less well off (as always!) ask questions as to why we are in this position.

I loved our fire in the living room, bed was bloody freezing though, this was in our first house in the 2000s, Victorian with sash windows, my mum brought us lined curtains that made such a difference.

My current home is only 4 years old, I can’t understand why it was built with gas central heating, surely we should be phasing that out already? It’s not as warm as it could be I’m sure. We definitely wear jumpers and vests in winter although if I’m wfh I find 20 degrees a bit chilly even then.

My DH moans in winter when he has to put a fleece on (he doesn't like jumpers 🙄) so he's always keen to crank up the heating. I'm always in woolly jumpers, hoodie, or fleeces from September so don't really have much sympathy for people wanting heating on in winter.

Put a bloody jumper on!

I grew up in a country where CH was non-existent and in cold, drafty, wooden houses. I remember the cold well - breath on the air, huddling around a 2-bar heater with the cat and dog, loads of layers and wearing a dressing gown and woolly hat to bed. Using the hairdryer after my morning shower to dry my hair and discovering that it takes the chill off the bedroom and makes getting dressed so much more comfortable.

I also spent the first three decades of my life with horrific, hacking coughs every winter. No amount of medicine and Vicks etc helped. Looking back I believe it was breathing in the cold air, particularly at night. I could have even had mild asthma. I moved to the UK twenty years ago and by the second winter I have never had a bad hacking cough again.

While many of us middle-aged and older people remember the days of no CH, it doesn’t serve well to remember it with nostalgia and think everyone will be fine if they just wrap up well at home and think positive. Not everyone will be fine at all - as the NHS has already warned last week. Life has moved on and no one should be living in an icy-cold home in 2022 and beyond.

We had no central heating 90s/00s, evenings were fine as parents had log burner and then hot water bottle to bed, it was the having to get dressed or have a bath with just the calor gas heater in the mornings I hated , they eventually got storage heaters which helped!

Was so excited when I bought my first house and had central heating , didn't want my children being cold, we always wear jumpers in winter but will need to be even stricter, just in the mornings, luckily have a log burner for the lounge and coal fire in dining room

But shit is readily available and self generating. Gas and electric isn't.

I remember my mum warming our clothes on the cooker when we were kids.

We've had mild winters the last couple of years so I've managed to just used the heating November - march. It's on for 2 hours a day usually. We all wrap up well

I hate central heating. I had my heating on three times last winter and only because my son said he was very cold.

Was used to being cold as a kid.

I think I will be going back to my childhood ways this winter.
Please do and report to us in spring.

We didn’t have central heating until 2012. But we did have a gas fire which was cheap to run, heated the main room quickly and allowed washing to dry on clothes horses. Without an equivalent to the fire it is a completely different situation.

YABU in that most houses now do not have fireplaces

I dont thinnk theres anything wrong with central heating, it keeps houses in good condition and stops people dying.
But I do think that some people do have their heating too high, winter is cold so you shouldnt be heating your environment to the level where you walk around in summer clothing. We wrap up in jumpers, thick socks and blankets but I want to try to not have any on this year if possible. Not sure if that is possible

Yes we should all be grateful to sit around cold and miserable 🙄

Maybe bring back the horse and cart too. Save on petrol costs.

We aren't poor but we have been wearing several layers in the winter for years. It is because we don't want to waste money or energy.

This isn't only for poor people.

We had a wood burner that heated half the house. The bedroom side was freezing so we had electric blankets and brushed cotton sheets. I’d wake up in the morning and warm my uniform up on the wood burner. I remember leaving my socks and shirt on too long and burning a grate pattern into them. 😆

I used to get dressed in bed when I was young as it was so bloody cold in my bedroom. But then my dad spent his younger years in a house without electricity, so it was luxurious in comparison!

Perhaps you missed the bit where I will be going back to my childhood ways..

Yea I grew up with no central heating. But then I wasn’t working from home sitting still at a desk for 8 hours a day, and neither were my parents.

I'm already poor. So I've never waltzed about in a T-shirt in winter. We share bath water already (disgusting and Unheard of according to my teen) and my children already dress under their numerous bed sheets because we don't heat upstairs. The reality for me is- I use my gas for the living room and hot water. It still costs me £50 a month. Now that will be £150- but I can't afford that. So do we stop washing? Stop hearing that one room? Stop buying food and go to food banks instead?

Aye so I'll just dig a hole in the wall for a fire place shall I?

Doesn't matter that we don't have the facility or space, @Dampclout said it was fine.

Yeah not everyone was born when you were, some of us have only ever lived with central heating so going back to heating only one room with a fire seems as daunting as shitting in a bucket and chucking it out the window.

😅 that was for the poster criticising my wasteful ways… I am new to this…

We have central heating & I still wear lots of layers in winter, too. You don't have to heat your home to t-shirt temperatures, you know. There is choice.

ps: I grew up somewhere with warm winters, "until the 1980s" statement is meaningless for me. Maybe this is a hidden "Go back home!" message thread.