To use my oven as a chimnea?

[Gracie123]

We live in accommodation provided by DH job, and don't pay any rent or bills.

One of the conditions is that we don't do any DIY/fixing as there is a maintainence team that come out and do it for you. Problem is, you have to put your issue on a help desk and wait for them to respond.

In the 3 years we have lived here, we normally get a response within 48hours.

We have been without heating for 3 weeks now, and the only response we've had is that they are really busy and will get around to us when they can.

It should be fine in may, but it isn't. We all wake up with blue lips and I can see my two yr olds breath! I'm so bloody cold!!!

As we don't pay bills, would it be wrong to sit in the kitchen with my oven and hobs on full power just absorbing some heat?

Sounds like a fire risk to me

Ps I'm heavily pg atm so pretty hormonal, I will try to take negative responses as calmly as I am able, but you have been warned!

Fire risk? If I stay in the room?

Doesn't seem more dangerous than cooking...

Dh puts the hobs on in our kitchen when it's really cold and we do pay the bills!

I should do it if I were you.

Ask them if they can provide you with an alternative form of heating and what they consider to be a reasonable response time to your original complaint. Do they know exactly how cold you are?

ps I always think its a fire risk - we have a calendar above the hob that wafts around in the warm air - but dh reassures me its safe...

What would worry me is forgetting that the hob is on. I set fire to myself in a narrow kitchen once when heavily pregnant, trying to walk past a lit gas hob with a towelling dressing gown on.

Is it electric or gas, anyway?

I should think they do. We live in very north of England and eveyone is complaining about cold atm, even people with heating!

DS cries about having to get out of bed each morning

It's gas.

I can't believe you set fire to yourself!! That is a but scary...

If it's gas, I would also worry that the hob could go out and then you would have the worry about a gas leak which is even more dangerous.

I do sympathise, am from the North East myself and I know how cold it can be even in summer sometimes!

But I honestly don't think it is safe.

My tips - get dressed and undressed under the covers. Hot water bottles. Thick socks. Wear layers. Put more blankets on bed. Eat lots of carbs. Do a lot of cooking by all means but use the hob as you normally would.

I have a very early memory of being in my playpen in the kitchen near the oven when mum was cooking because they could afford to use either the cooker or the gas fire but not both.

My granny often puts her gas oven on and leaves the door open, kitchen is off the livingroom, to heat these rooms.
I'm not sure why she does it as she has central heating which she does use, but I think for a quick blast of heat she uses the oven.

I wouldn't use the hob and so long as you make sure you keep your children away from the oven,which of course I know you will, I don't see anything wrong with it.

So... General consensus is that it's dangerous but not morally wrong/taking the piss?

I have no moral qualms about it on your behalf, no. But please, be safe!

bake a couple of cakes and do a casserole for tonight
I'm in the NE too

Right. It's on!
My Eco conscious DH is going to be livid when he gets home...
[evil laugh]

Would it not be ok to buy an oil fired radiator?; you just plug it into the wall. Certainly safer, a better background heat; put it on a timer to come on an hour before you get up. As you've been 3 weeks without heating would DH company reimburse you for the cost of the radiator?

They won't reimburse anything! They are pretty tight, which is why they insist on their own maintenance team.

We can't really afford to buy anything at the moment (including groceries - we are just living off what's in the house) and certainly don't want to waste money if they are going to fix it soon.

Just want them to hurry up and give us a time frame...

I used to do this when living in rented accomodation a little while back and the boiler broke - my flatmates and I sat round the hob every night keeping warm! I think it is fine as long as you are in the room and careful about what you are wearing/ standing next to it/ keeping the kids out of the way

It's working quite well tbh.

I'm trying to cook us some chips at the same time, but it doesn't really work with the door open and I value heat more than food!

Normally we'd play outside (warmer than indoors because of our stupid stone walls) but today it's giant hailstones raining down on us, so we are tucked up inside with our blankets.

So the stupid maintenance team came out today. They insisted the problem was the boiler pressure (although I know it's the thermostat because our fancy boiler gives error messages and it only takes 2 seconds to look them up in the manual ) so they fiddled with the taps and tell me it's fixed.

4 hours later, still no heating, so patently not then.

DH is insisting we wait 24 hours before calling them back to give it a chance. All very well when you are at work all day. I have to spend all day in these baltic conditions with a 2yo who keeps crying and telling me it's too cold!

Worse thing is, when we moved in there was a woodlouse infestation. I managed to bug bomb and sweep them all out and haven't had a problem since, but last 48 hours or so they are back with a vengeance. I think it's because with no heating the house is so cold and damp. They are disgusting.

I am not amused.

You have a toddler so you should be pretty high priority for heating repairs etc.

If they haven't responded in 2 weeks YANU to do what you need to do - but please be safe.

PS as for waiting 24 hours, I'd be calling them the minute there was no heating again. Sounds like they haven't a clue and DH isn't there is he! Give them some shit, play up the pregnancy/toddler situation & nag them till they fix it.

Thanks downdog. Unfortunately I can't do much about it because I'm not staff and you need to log all problems with the maintenance team from a work computer with a staff ID.

Just have to wait for DH to decide it's worth complaining again

You are destroying the planet with your selfish actions.
Do a few press ups or something

A few press ups?
Seriously?

How will that solve:
i)crying DS
ii)condensation covered windows
iii)damp mattresses/sofas/clothing etc...
iv) bug infestation ?

Also, I'm heavily pg. Press ups aren't really an option right now.

Do you drive? You probably destroy the planet more than me right now. I bet you have heating and hot water too.

God you are selfish!