Am so cold-need heaters that I can run everyday

[Pawslikepaddington]

As have no heating. Well, have storage heating but it has conked out and landlord doesn't believe me. I have three pairs of socks and gloves on at the mo-I am not joking-I cannot let dd live like this! Are the gas canister ones any good? Space heaters? I don't want to buy two at £120 each and then realise they are not good!!

Sorry to say this, but they are all blardy expensive to run (not that storage heaters aren't). Gas heaters are good, but you can get through one hell of a lot of gas if it's your only source of heat (we stopped using ours when we used a cylinder in a week on the lowest setting). Convector heaters are good for warming a room quickly. Oil filled ones work well long term. Make sure you turn the thermostat down to where it clicks as soon as the room temperature is acceptable. But do make sure they're powerful enough for the room, otherwise they will be on all the time struggling to make headway.

Also, just get cheap ones - they do exactly the same thing. You don't need one with a timer - if you want them timed, just get a plug in timer. As for gas ones, try to find someone who has one sitting in their garage. They're very expensive to buy new.

I've got two oil filled ones, but they have been on solidly for two months and haven't made a dint in the heat-maybe I should get some bigger ones. Are convection heaters better than oil filled ones? It's all so confusing!!

P.S. Thanks Rip-didn't think there would be a heating guru on at this time of night!!

i think your landlord needs to fix the heating, i was in a similar situation before on my own with v.young ds, living in house with useless landlord who was uncontactable i found a repairer who billed my landlord directly in the end. its horrible being cold especially with lo's so hope you get it sorted soon.

go to cab and get their advice on what to do about your landlord

Thanks guys-they own 6 houses in a row, and they are a total mixed bag despite being identical houses, but almost everyone has a heater in their lounge as it is so cold. What temp does a house have to be before it is unliveable in? Am worried the CAB will just say tough boots, you have heaters so can live IYSWIM.

you're local council should advise you the house i was living in was so bad i had the fair rent officer or something similar round. the house was later condemned due to damp and bad heating/electrical systems!!

I don't know about minimum temperatures, but our house averages 12 degrees downstairs (storage heaters on full) and 8 degrees upstairs (storage heaters off) at the moment. Our previous house (rented) was even colder, but that's because the storage heaters were really old and we could only afford to run one.

When you say conked out, what do you mean exactly? Do the heaters not work at all?

You definitely need portable heaters of an appropriate size for the room, and the prevailing temperature. Topping up from a bit chilly to a balmy 20 degrees is somewhat different from trying to lift the temperature out of single figures!

By way of example, our living room is about 4m by 3.5m and a 1.5kW oil filled radiator just doesn't touch it, and eats electricity in the process. Get the most powerful heaters you can and maintain the minimum temperature you find comfortable - if they have a choice of power settings that's even better. At least I think so - I haven't quite worked out if it makes any difference to the usage or whether it just does the same thing but slower/quicker.

Not sure I'm a heating guru, but I'm working things out from bitter experience!