To explain to people that UK homes have never 'not had heating'

[KweenieBeanz]

People keep responding to those worrying about energy costs, don't worry, homes never used to have heating, people survived, just don't put your heating on!
Home did not have central heating. Instead, they had fires and heated individual homes. People did not live in homes with no heating in the UK.

In the UK during the winter if a home is never heated even by late November /December temperatures inside will have gradually dropped to a temperature that's too low.
See the info here: www.cse.org.uk/advice/advice-and-support/heat-and-health#:~:text=Below%2013%C2%B0%20%2D%20If%20your,recommended%20night%20time%20bedroom%20temperature.

There is a huge difference if you even use your heating for just 1hr a day, topping up the temperature to stop it dropping so rapidly.

People need to stop acting as though those struggling just need to toughen up, 'wear more layers' and cope with the heating off this winter as a solution to energy costs, as it's simply not feasible, and it would be better for people to take action now to let their energy provider know they are in fuel poverty and need to access help.

The point is, humans in colder climates or climates with cold winters (which does include the UK, and even countries much further south of us) have always heated their homes, even if crudely - in the medieval era that was a fire in the middle of the house with a hole in the roof.
We're actually at a disadvantage now with modern homes as, regardless of potential as discussed above, no money does equal no heat, whereas previously or even to this day in other countries you could at least have collected wood or animal dung or peat.

@JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon Yes, as long as you have Economy 7, they're very reasonable. Central heating is not the be all and end all. Although, back then the night-time hours were longer, and the price was about 2.5p a unit!

You have heating WHEN you have been to the shop. Electricity on its own isn't heating.

@CecilyP if you don't have mains gas you don't automatically not have heating. You might have electric/oil/gas bottles etc.

If you have electric you don't automatically have heating. You also have to have the heater.

My comment was in response to PPs claiming that anyone who says they grew up with no heating because they didn't have CH or fire places/gas fires etc were wrong because they had electricity in the house.
The electricity alone isn't heating. You also need the heater.

You don't just need the heater, you also need to be able to afford to run it! Its clear from this thread that when people say they will have no heating this winter, many think they are exaggerating. Well I'm not. this winter we have candles and a paraffin hurricane lamp. No gas fire. No electric heater. We can't afford to put the central heating on at all.

I also grew up in a house with no heating. The fireplaces had been blocked off to reduce draughts. There were no gas fires, no electric fires and no central heating. We couldn't afford to run it if we'd had it. We once lived in a place with an open fireplace and burned wood we collected, except they couldn't afford to have the chimney swept so that caught fire. It was grim.

Also, bloody hell! Were they genuinely building houses here in 80s with no source of heat except potential plug in heaters?

I find that astonishing. I have lived in:

a house that was built in Edwardian times - fire place and central heating
a Victorian terrace - two gas heaters, no central heating, and it was bloody cold
a 1980s built house - gas fire and central heating
a 1967 built house - gas fire and central heating
a 200 year old house - fire place, gas fire and central heating, this was a cold house as well
and finally a house built in 1996 - gas fire and central heating, and by far the warmest house we have lived in so far.

While this sounds like I was brought up in the lap of luxury there were many times when we couldn't afford to have the heating on, and we just huddled round a single bar of the gas fire.

You don't just need the heater, you also need to be able to afford to run it! Its clear from this thread that when people say they will have no heating this winter, many think they are exaggerating. Well I'm not. this winter we have candles and a paraffin hurricane lamp. No gas fire. No electric heater. We can't afford to put the central heating on at all.

O know this will probs insult, but just in case because there is a LOT of wrong information, running normal lights may cost you maybe less than the paraffin, let alone if you have to buy the lamp. Candles are also the expensive option considering time in use vs money

Not all homes had a gas supply or main drainage. My grandparents' didn't and it was awesome.

@BosaNova this is a thread about heating. We use LED lightbulbs for lighting, they are cheap to run but they won't heat the house.

I lived in a flat with absolutely no heating back in the 90s.

the storage heaters never worked and we had no fireplace or anything else, all bricked up.

the oven was electric and i was a hard up student so didn’t use it much. It was hell

Apologies, I got confused because neither of these options provides good heating results. 0.5kwh electric heater would do better for about same running cost.

The nice fire in that ad would have been the equivalent of about £250, so half a week's take home still for someone on £24/30k. The fact is that one can buy a plug in filled electric radiator for about £50 or less nowadays. 9 Bob was probably equivalent to £50 nowadays.

Actually, 8/8 for the cheapest fire is equivalent to around £8.50-£12.00 today. Depending on when in the 1960s.

I think the OP original message/point has been misinterpreted. They are arguing against the sentiment that sometimes gets expressed that "we never had heating in the past and we lived" as if central heating was the only introduction of heating into most British homes. Prior to central heating most (note most, not all) would have had a heat source i.e fireplaces, bar heaters and hopefully most would (note most, not all) have been used - even if it was very rarely due to cost and even if it was only of any use to the room the heat source was in. People will suffer if they just decide to never put the heating on all winter. I think the OP was suggesting people who feel this is their only choice fully look into what support they can get. Or see if they can heat one room etc as was done in the past. It is truly shocking that this is the current state of play in this country and choices people are having to make.

I agree @timeandagain1

How fucking patronising are you? Jesus Christ almighty. The smug know it all attitudes on here are utterly astounding at times

If it also doesn't have an oven, or a hob, or a grill, or a hairdryer, or an iron or a kettle or anything else that generates heat.

As a student with an arse hole landlord who turned off the boiler and locked it up I used all of the above to take the chill off.

You think having a hairdryer etc qualifies as having heating?

Your "strategy" also does not work for people who pay their own electricity bills. Although I do remember in one school in the 90s that refused to turn on heating we turned on all the ovens in the home economics room and opened the doors to heat it, in protest.

I lived in a shoebox and
(Sorry, couldn't resist..) ;-)

Luxury! @mamabear715

The original message is that anyone who says they cannot afford heating is actually inferring they don't have a heating source and is therefore lying, with a hefty accusation that those "liars" are doing so because living like that makes them superior to people today who can't afford heating. Ad nauseum.

An AS shows that accusing people of lying is very much this OP's MO. Not just about heating. Her (?) refusal to accept that people have had different experiences to her is what has rankled.

Who the fuck is this person to accuse people who are currently unable to keep their children warm of lying?

Nobody has misunderstood or misinterpreted the OP. The fact she's had her arse handed to her over her obnoxious statements has hopefully educated her slightly. And she may just think twice before trotting out "that's never happened to me so anyone saying it's happened to them is lying". Frankly, how thick do you need to be? I've never eaten a Nandos but I'm not going round accusing people who have of making it up.

People will suffer if they just decide to never put the heating on all winter. followed by the usual patronising are you sure you've claimed everything you're entitled to.

''Just decide'' is so insulting. We can afford to either do the laundry, have two showers a week and cook, or we can run the heating. That's the choice we have on our budget.

I see that posters are deliberately using their own agenda to misinterpret the OP
(bangs head against a brick wall)

literally no-one is disputing that many of us, myself included, couldn't put some form of heating on at some point in our lives.

I was responding to another poster and making a point regarding access to heating.

In fact running a grill to heat your home is no more costly than running an electric heater so if you were as the poster suggested unable to buy a £20 electric heater but able to pay your energy bill you could heat your home.

That should have said:
literally no-one is disputing that many of us, myself included, couldn't afford to put some form of heating on at some point in our lives.

no one said it was sufficient, just a source of heat.

The thread isn't about sufficient heating it also isn't about one specific person's particular situation.

The thread is about people misrepresenting the past to make people who are struggling with their heating off feel bad.

Also we now have legislation to deal with slum landlords.

They are not misrepresenting the past, though.

You should have phrased your OP around what you really meant then instead of getting dozens of replies telling you that you were wrong which you still proceeded to argue with even though it wasn't your point. Your point is very valid but completely not how you phrased your OP.