Living without central heating this winter?

[David Clapson]

Anyone tried this in a UK climate? I thought I might give it a go. I much prefer to wear a T shirt and stick the heating right up, so this will be Challenging. Put more clothes on, and maybe stick huge foil sheets on the ceilings and walls. I'm in a 3rd floor Victorian mansion block flat, which I don't own. It has much thicker walls than a typical London terraced house, hooray. But above me is an uninsulated loft. Some of the windows are single glazed and leaky and rotten. I put double glazing film on the worst one every winter, and it makes a massive difference.

 

[existentialist]

Anyone tried this in a UK climate? I thought I might give it a go. I much prefer to wear a T shirt and stick the heating right up, so this will be Challenging. Put more clothes on, and maybe stick huge foil sheets on the ceilings and walls. I'm in a 3rd floor Victorian mansion block flat, which I don't own. It has much thicker walls than a typical London terraced house, hooray. But above me is an uninsulated loft. Some of the windows are single glazed and leaky and rotten. I put double glazing film on the worst one every winter, and it makes a massive difference.

I don't have central heating. Just a weirdly uncontrollable electric heater, and two more controllable oil-filled radiator heaters, which I bought for £30.

I started practising not having them on at all in February this year, and it was bloody cold, but tolerable. I may get one of those rechargeable heated gilets for this winter.

 

[TopCat]

I’m looking at putting in a sold fuel burner in the front room and only using that.

 

[bcuster]

do you have pets? if so, they may not like it...

 

[David Clapson]

I don't have central heating. Just a weirdly uncontrollable electric heater, and two more controllable oil-filled radiator heaters, which I bought for £30.

I started practising not having them on at all in February this year, and it was bloody cold, but tolerable. I may get one of those rechargeable heated gilets for this winter.

Well done, I'm impressed! I have heated gilet and gloves for motorcycling, but I don't know how useful they are if you're not plugged into the bike's electrical system.

 

[spring-peeper]

Not from the UK, but we put plastic over the windows. Helps cut down on air lost from the window frames.






When the sun is on a room, we open the curtains for passive solar heating. Once the sun shifts, we close the curtains to keep the heat in.

 

[David Clapson]

do you have pets? if so, they may not like it...

I have a long-haired cat. I think she'll be just fine. I'll get her a jacket, to see if she likes it

 

[David Clapson]

Not from the UK, but we put plastic over the windows. Helps cut down on air lost from the window frames.

View attachment 335599

That's what I use on one of my windows. It's superb.

 

[miss direct]

I couldn't do it. I work from home when I'm in the UK, and my hands just feel so cold on a cold winter's day. Even my nose. It's a miserable way to live.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Good luck trying but I think you might be surprised just how cold it is with no central heating.

 

[gentlegreen]

I've never had central heating. I have never thought it reasonable to heat more than one room in winter.
I cut my heating bill massively last year by buying a quilted gilet and slippers.
It was a mild winter, but I never once plugged-in my oil-filled radiator - leaving only a fan heater - usually running at 1KW and intermittently.
But then I live alone ...
My bedroom happens to be very well insulated though - as I found to my cost during the recent heatwave.

 

[weltweit]

I tend to wear more clothes in winter rather than attempt to heat this place. The ceiling above me isn't lagged in any way so any heat I generate just wafts away easily through it. I have tried on occasion the gas powered radiator (CH) but being below a leaky window it doesn't propagate much and costs a fortune, I also tried an electric heater in my office when it gets too cold but that isn't much better.

Last winter I ended up wearing long johns, a t shirt, shirt, fleece, second fleece, coat etc it made a difference although I felt like the Michelin Man but I had to do that if I wanted to work from home. And it was one of the reasons I was pleased to return to the office.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Good luck trying but I think you might be surprised just how cold it is with no central heating.

Yes, and mould is a potential risk in our climate. If it's too cold it can be dangerous for vulnerable people too. I'm all for saving money on heating where possible, but in some weather it's just necessary for health reasons.

 

[weepiper]

I grew up in a big draughty 17th century farmhouse with no heating except a coal fire in the living room. We wore a lot of clothes, had a lot of heavy blankets/took a hot water bottle to bed/wore bed socks, fleecy pyjamas and a hat when it was really cold, and tbh, we were just cold a lot. Of course it's possible but it doesn't mean it's enjoyable.

 

[kittyP]

I live in attic conversion in an old Victorian house.
Freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer
I mostly only have the heating on for a few hours in the evening but it gets so damp and impossible to to dry washing without some heat.
Also my bills are all in with the people who live downstairs in the main house (5 adults) so no point in me freezing while paying for them to be warm.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Although we don't usually have proper winters anymore, many of us will have grown up without central heating and remember how fucking cold it was. The joy of scraping ice off the inside of the windows, and all the other stuff we had to put up with back then.

 

[David Clapson]

This will remind me of childhood in my attic bedroom, when I wasn't allowed to have the radiator on. I once made the mistake of disclosing that I had chilblains on my toes, and got a proper bollocking for being so stupid as not to wear two pairs of socks in bed.

 

[gentlegreen]

Although we don't usually have proper winters anymore, many of us will have grown up without central heating and remember how fucking cold it was. The joy of scraping ice off the inside of the windows, and all the other stuff we had to put up with back then.

I was a baby in 62/63 with one open fire in one room and metal framed single glazing - and when I was older, we only had thin woollen blankets - no duvets ...

 

[Elpenor]

As alluded to, thermal long johns are a must. I also wear a pair of fleece lined slippers from “Bedroom Athletics” which are very comfortable. Feet and legs I find harder to keep warm.

Hot water bottle is handy too as is a blanket round you when watching tv etc

 

[gentlegreen]

As alluded to, thermal king johns are a must. I

Added to my wishlist
I'm also somehow going to have to find an electric blanket that lasts more than a few months.
It helps that I'm getting old anyway, but I was brought up to go to bed early.

 

[David Clapson]

I've got a lovely pair of quilted dungarees, worn by US bomber crews over their flying suits in the Cold War. Can't imagine being cold in those. But we shall see.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Tempted to buy one of these to keep the heating bills down

 

[Puddy_Tat]

probably stating the bleeding obvious, but have you investigated if there's any grants available for insulation and so on?

sometimes these things are available to tenants not just owner-occupiers, although likely to need landlord's permission at least.

 

[davesgcr]

Live in a 1930's house , and we re-opened the coal burning fireplace in the front room say 30 years ago , and replaced it with a Stovax wood burner with air wash facilities say 10 years ago, Wonderful and we never buy wood but in the words of the missed Stanley Edwards "forage it" - free - from neighbours , woods , the odd skip etc. You can control the stove easily and manage the heat output.

So we put the gas CH on a bit in the colder weather , then knock it off at say 6pm and just heat the front room - and as we sleep above it , the residual heat keeps going past the chimney flue and sort of warms the front bedroom

(the wood stove takes minimal care and attention - and the fine wood ash gets recycled into the garden or compost bin - <odd nail etc goes in the metal cans recycling> so all in all , great stuff. A hot fire gets quite soporiphic , and aids sleep.

 

[MickiQ]

Although we don't usually have proper winters anymore, many of us will have grown up without central heating and remember how fucking cold it was. The joy of scraping ice off the inside of the windows, and all the other stuff we had to put up with back then.

I grew up in a house with no central heating, we had a coal (later gas) fire downstairs and if it got really cold at night we had a parrafin heater on the landing.
Fuck going back to that.
My heart goes out to those people who will have no choice but to go without heating this winter

 

[Edie]

I would never have sex without central heating and would be utterly miserable being cold, so it’s a no from me!

 

[davesgcr]

I grew up in a house with no central heating, we had a coal (later gas) fire downstairs and if it got really cold at night we had a parrafin heater on the landing.
Fuck going back to that.
My heart goes out to those people who will have no choice but to go without heating this winter

Paraffin heaters were bloody dangerous and caused a good number of house fires etc.

My old man was an NCB Colliery Manager so we had masses of "free" coal as part of the salary deal , so keeping warm even before double glazing and proper CH was never a problem. It was for many others.

 

[rubbershoes]

My house didn't have central heating when we moved in during the cold winter of 2010. There are two woodburners which got a lot of use but the rest of the house was bloody freezing.
We put in central heating that year

 

[farmerbarleymow]

My old man was an NCB Colliery Manager so we had masses of "free" coal as part of the salary deal , so keeping warm even before double glazing and proper CH was never a problem. It was for many others.

Remember seeing people collecting coal from Seaham beach back in the day. Fuel poverty has no doubt always been a problem.

 

[David Clapson]

probably stating the bleeding obvious, but have you investigated if there's any grants available for insulation and so on?

sometimes these things are available to tenants not just owner-occupiers, although likely to need landlord's permission at least.

Good point. Especially as it would benefit all 20 people in the building