What's it like living with no central heating, immersion boiler and a fireplace?

[TulipsAndWings]

That's it really.

Thinking of taking on a flat with no central heating, an immersion boiler and a fireplace. I have 2 young kids, is this a crazy idea?

I have a friend who will only live in houses like this as she intensely dislikes the waste of ch and feels too hot easily. Her house was very cold growing up as I well remember, but now that she has decent windows and insulation, sure it's cold but quite pleasant IMO. I am too soft to live without ch but also dislike too hot a house.

I'm guessing you must be renting - you haven't stated.

Otherwise, why not just move in and get CH installed? Am I being simplistic?

We took CH for granted when we lived in England. Now, we're obsessed with the temperature of the house, how much our next power bill is going to be, warming rooms up, humidity levels in the house, feeling cold, buying electric blankets, etc, etc...

It's no way to live, if you can possibly avoid it.

It's like living in the 70's, we grew up like that. We had no heat upstairs, just the downstairs fire. We'd get ice on the insides of the windows some mornings in winter. Clothes were a bit damp in the wardrobes, Mum would keep a lot of school uniforms and underwear in the airing cupboard to keep it dry.
I'd install central heat and a combi boiler first thing, followed by double glazing if it isn't in already. Life is too short to have to keep your legs moving when you crawl into bed in layers of pj's and jumpers. It was pretty dire looking back at it, but you just do it when thats all you have.

The heating of water for baths - you'll have to be very organised unless the shower heats its own water, and not forgetting washing up unless you have a dishwasher.

I grew up without it. It's ok, hot water bottles, layers. You'll have to get up and light the fire and be ok with a guard ( fixed) and leaving it all day. So you probably wont light it if you are going out, plus you have to clean the grate which is a dirty job.

Do you work? Because coming home to a cold flat is not fun, and the fire will get going just before bed:)

Will they let you install a wood burning stove instead ? Much cheaper to run and will be warm.

Do you know a friendly boiler man? Get him round to give you advice, and find out who pays maintenance on the boiler. And if its 24/7 call out.

I would do it. It's just a different way of doing things.

This winter was a real hard one, our electric bills are £300 per month and we are so blooming careful its untrue (dishwasher & washing machine run at night) water only a few hours a day (as someone else said organisation is the key there). Jumpers on all the time, I couldn't get the house past 14, most days it would hit 9. That doesn't sound cold but it is living in it.
Curtains closed all the time. It's depressing.
But come the summer my property comes alive.

Damp. My grandmothers house is like this and everything feels damp in the morning. Putting on damp clothes is horrible as are the chilblains from putting feet into the fire to warm up. Don't do it!

You are describing my childhood till age 14. It was very happy but I don't think I could do it now

Roughly where are you?

I used to visit student friends in Glasgow flats with no central heating; it was like sleeping at the bus stop all night.

So the general opinion is not good.

It is rented, so worst case is after 6 months we move (not that I want to do this).

It's above a restaurant. So I think some heat will rise, but so will the noise.

I am only considering it as it's in a great area, in the catchment for fantastic school and had a huge garden (very important to me).

I think I need to talk to the tenants that are in at the moment and ask all the questions that you have all stated above. Some great advice here thanks.

I heat my house with a multi fuel stove, we have got through about 2 tonnes of coal AND 3 tractor loads of turf this winter. There isn't enough water for a bath without using the immersion as well, and we have an electric shower (expensive). Like the PP my house rarely gets above 12 degrees, we have blankets in the living room and electric blankets on the beds. If you don't light the fire for one day the house is freezing and takes a good few hours to warm up (to 12 degrees!). I don't mind it actually and I don't have small kids but we rarely get visitors in the winter. My mum sleeps in a woolly hat and thermals if she comes.

Re the coal, do you have a coal delivery service in the area? Will the coal man carry the sacks through your house to the back garden? Who will fetch the coal in the rain, twice a day, every day? We have a stove with a glass door but still I have to hoover/dust daily, open fires are messy.

On the plus side, there's no nasty heating bill surprise in January because you've paid up front for the fuel.

Our coal just went from 14 to 15.50 euro a bag because of a new carbon tax, and we are rural so don't have to burn smokeless fuel, which is more expensive.

It'll be damp too..

How long did the current tenants stick it out for and do they have kids?

My student flat had an immersion and 2 gas fires . It was pretty tough at age 20 but I stuck it as I could afford a place of my own under those circumstances. Ice on the windows was usual. Dressing under the bedclothes was usual ( and I slept on my electric blamket despite the dire warning to turn it off when you got in..

This is how I've lived for the past 13 years, and why I have become a fan of onesies :D A 'real' fire does not provide instant heat in the morning, it takes upwards of an hour to start radiating warmth. Real fires produce a lot of dust. We use a Calor gas fire for first thing, and later in the day in winter when it gets chilly. No matter how warm the rest of the property, the loo/bathroom will always be freezing. Make sure you have wooden loo seats - less shock to the system than plastic ones.

Immersion heaters do take prior planning to use, and I've found that a full tank of hot water is not enough for a bath followed by an immediate hair wash and/or washing up (we don't have a dishwasher, either).

Having said all that, I feel a lot healthier since living without central heating, and only seem to catch colds when I go back to my Dad's (centrally heated) flat in the UK. We have the windows open all year (no cat flaps, cats use the windows instead) and I like waking up to crisp,cold air, or snuggling under a duvet knowing it's freezing out there.

You really need to accept the onesie though, and realise that the often-mocked 'bum flap' is a godsend at times - those times being anything after October 1st :)

There is much less heat in a barrowload of wood than in a hodfull of solid fuel. I fear you will get fed up with scurrying up and down the stairs several times each evening.

cold, i had no heating in a house as a student, we had mushrooms growing in the carpet behind the loo, and my clothes went moldy.

Furry Dog, that gives me a tiny bit of hope. We have electric oil heaters that have timers on them, we used them in our old office which was open plan and had high ceilings. They took about an hour to heat the place and would only need boosts every few hours, the electric bills were not too high either.

I have allot to think about. I can't stand mold, I have hayfever and mold makes me react the same way, so I need to have a good search around to see if there is a smell anywhere.

Electric heating is expensive to run. If the loft has thick insulation, you will be able to get the flat warm. However, on a frosty night, an uninsulated ceiling four metres square can lose all the heat that a 3kW fan heater put out, running continuously. Luckily there have been so many free or subsidised insulation schemes that only a foolish landlord would leave his flat uninsulated. The modern standard is 270mm of insulation (about ten inches).

As you are concerned about mould, an effective extractor fan in the kitchen, and especially the bathroom, will be needed. Many people with cold homes are reluctant to open windows. Draping wet washing around the home is the best way to make it damp and mouldy.

My parents bought an old, draughty farmhouse with no central heating when I was ten. There was an old inefficient coal aga and two rooms downstairs had open fires. There was no means of heating, (or insulation for that matter) upstairs.

We moved in at the end of a bitterly cold February and my first memory of the place was standing in front of a small electric heater in my dressing gown and coat. Shivering. The bathroom was so cold that ice formed on the bath by the morning!

As my parents had mortgaged themselves up to the hilt, use of electric fires was severely rationed. It meant we all lived in one room and doors were never ever left open!

That said, my first flat didn't have central heating or double glazing. It had one gas fire and I coped just fine. It was top storey and only small so just getting the fire going would heat it all up pretty quickly. Getting out of bed in the morning was a bit hard until I invested in an electric heater and a timer, though!

Freezing and miserable. You have to clean under the grate when the ashes are cold, which means you have to leave it some hours between fires. And it can make your ceiling black. And you get lots of dust. And at Christmas, when you decorate the mantelpiece with greenery and twinkly lights, it's bloody gorgeous!
We have best of both; central heating and a proper fireplace.

MIL used to have an open fire. She used to have to redecorate her front room every year.

I live in an old cottage which has gas central heating and also a woodburner. For a few years we tried to heat the house on just the fire. It worked well but we are into living the simple life etc. do you fancy getting up in the early winter morning to go to the shed to get wood? I'll you even have a shed to store wood/coal?? You'll need ALOT of it.
Secondly, we had a woodburner which is excellent and efficient, one fires are next to crap as they burn too fast.

Would you feel happy leaving the house if the fire was still going?

Wood and coal are really really expensive. You use far more than you ever expect and the bags of logs you see at the garage forecourt for about £5-6 will last you about a day in winter

You will get really bad damp problems in the house. Mouldy wall etc.

Like I said, we use our wood burner all the time instead f turning on the heating (we get free wood) but I'm expecting a baby in November and the central heating will be used for sure as it gets cold upstairs in the bedrooms