To wonder how long the no heating brigade will last when it turns cold?

[womaninatightspot]

I’ve been contemplating how much I can reduce the heating and electric throws. It’s chilly here today, sixteen degrees, but grey and drizzly. I’ve lit the wood stove, I do have a cold so maybe I feel more susceptible to chills.

I feel like I’ve fallen at first hurdle. Definitely going to be keeping one warm room in the house so it’s not just really unpleasant for the dc. I’ve recently paid 365 for four cubic metres kiln dried wood but it’s going to cost 1K to fill the oil tank for 1000 litres. Was a third of that last year.

I don’t live in the U.K., and we don’t have central heating. The bedroom last winter was around 6°C in the morning. We keep the window open to prevent mold. The corridor and toilet are grey marble and are absolutely freezing. We have 2 oil radiators in the living room, and burn the wood stove at night, which has a fan and blows out hot air. I had two duvets on our bed until the end of March. Love watching a Place in the Sun when people are buying a holiday home in the place that we live, so they can escape the cold weather in winter in the U.K. The village that they usually film in was a whopping 4°C during the day last winter. Most houses here don’t have central heating.

Any experience of smart light bulbs?

@womaninatightspot One of my stoves is multi fuel. The installer told me that coal really burned too hot and wasn’t good for the stove and I’d be better to stick with wood. Will investigate coal though. It’s amazing how throw away comments stick with you, it’s been 7!years.

What your installer said is true. You need a specific flue liner for coal which is different to flue liners fitted for wood.

And yet on any thread about the north/ south everyone says theres no difference.
I barely have the heating on here I live in the SE, its warm and dry,not miserable nor am I martyr.

Im probably the no heating brigade, because I would be boiling if it was on 😂
I really hope they sort this out and agree something needs to be done.

Oh that’s good to know. To be fair to him he was booked to fit a wood stove and sent me off to local stove merchants. I bought the multi fuel as it was a reliable brand, Charnwood same as my other stove, and on sale for half price. It has a handy drawer underneath the grate that collects ash so much easier and cleaner to empty so that can be my multi fuel stove benefit.

I remember that. The northern contingent saying how daft it was and a sweeping generalisation to think of the south milder and warmer than the north.

so odd. So very odd!

I think you’re right about the energy crisis making things worse for people especially those who have vulnerabilities. If you’re basic needs shelter, warmth and food aren’t being met then you’re in survival mode. All that stress causes mental and physical damage.

It’s nit cheap but you can find ways around it.
we had about a winter worth of wood available after my parents had a tree fell down in their garden. They didn’t need the wood but we did use it.
PIL have a farm and again a constant supply of wood.
We regularly bring bits of twigs from walks
etc…

And it was still cheaper than gas before the increase!

Oh this really tickled me! Very Cold Comfort Farm.

There is no way heating won’t be on at all. House will be cold and damp

wont be on overnight - lots of thick /high tog duvets on

esp on dd5 who feels the cold at night

but ideally on hour am/before school and few hours evening

and if I’m really cold daytime a quick 30m blast warms the house up

but wil see how October nov etx heating bills are

Our heating is usually set at 16 degrees, I’m used to it now. DH is a hot bod and the German Shepards don’t like a hot house. So for years I’ve been using my fluffy dressing gown during the day and a blanket in the evening while watching TV. Thick pjs too while DH kicks the duvet off. We’ve had 2 episodes of boiler breaking, both in December, in 2 different houses. That 16 degrees really makes a difference.

ILs used to have their thermostat at 26 the entire year 🥵 now that FIL is in his own he turned it down to 22.

I'd forgotten how impossible it is to dry washing in an unheated house. Tumble drier is on this morning!🙄

Mines too! It'd be alright if I was at home to put stuff out/ bring it in but I'm not bigger stuff was hung in the greenhouse but socks/ pants/ school shirts were tumble dried

our sheets /bedding is over clothes horse in bedroom. Should dry in a day or so

Clothes start smelling musty if they take longer than a day to dry I find.

It's a pita. I have two clothes horse full of washing drying in the house. It's chucking it down outside. Our dryer kicked the bucket back in June and I think I was a little over confident thinking that we could do without anyway. But it's only September and it's only been a handful of days without good weather and my resolve is on its way out.

My rule of thumb is heating off when the clocks go forward and heating on when the clocks go back, room stat on 18c, thermostat on each radiator set accordingly, empty rooms 16, bedroom and bathroom 18, Time clock 7-00-8-30, 5-00-10-00, 4 bed house gas use was 7,000kwh

I don’t own a dryer

obv recently been outside. But last few days in blondesland it’s been pouring

as long as I use conditioner I find clothes smell nice then put in airing cupboard for a day or so

That's where I'm going wrong, I don't have an airing cupboard, that would help definitely.

If the weather was a bit more accurate it would help with the drying outside! Yesterday was supposed to be showers & cloudy where I am & as I was going out I put the bedding on the airer & towels in the dryer - ended up being sunny & windy!

We've definitely reduced our usage though as this year so far we've used 3700kwh (for both gas & electricity) last year by end of September we'd used just over 6500kwh.

I know it was supposed to be dry all day here. Hung it out and so obviously rained solidly and now everything is drenched. Luckily I'm lazy so it'll stay out till it dries, eventually

Already dropping to 6 at night here in the north west wanted to hold out until October but doesn't look likely. Feels a lot colder already.

My boiler broke 13 years ago, never been able to afford to replace as it was an old, out of production model so couldn't get parts to fix, and couldn't be replaced as it's in a bedroom and broke health and safety laws to install a new one in there. To replace would mean finding new location, all new piping, removal and capping off of the old one, then redecorating everywhere affected. Add to that 2 housebound disabled people were living here with need of 24/7 access to water, it just wasn't possible. As such, damp, mould riddled house and reliance on one fan heater for the openplan downstairs in winter. Even that won't be going on til i get desperate now.

We don't normally put the heating on till it's 13 or below. Even then I often have our bedroom radiators off (cos otherwise it gets too hot at night) and the hearing's not normally on for long (unless it's really cold). So I really don't think there's much I can do cos I already don't have the house warm