If things get tougher?

CoD_2

rosieben wrote: »

the one I mentioned is a solid fuel and it's usually lit around beginning of October and stays 'in' till spring; though bil lets it out to clean flue now and again obviously. But its so cold this year that BIL lit it a couple of weeks ago.... It runs all their ch and gives them than enough water for their needs. They keep a kettle on the top, so water is always half ready for a cuppa and sis uses it for cooking too; I would love one but they're a bit of work ......

okay we have a stanley, a range which does our central heating, our hot water, our oven (obviously) and is oil fueled but we can turn it on and off at will. unlike my parents aga which takes 24 hours to heat up or cool down and doesn't do water/heating.

CoD_2

we also use a camping stove in the kitchen when i don't want to heat our range, it heats up quickly but i feel bad turning it on to fry an egg or something (20 seconds cooking) when the range would be hot for ages afterwards. the stove gives us the quickness of gas without needing gas connected. i keep the canisters in the kitchen

rosieben

CoD wrote: »

okay we have a stanley, a range which does our central heating, our hot water, our oven (obviously) and is oil fueled but we can turn it on and off at will. unlike my parents aga which takes 24 hours to heat up or cool down and doesn't do water/heating.

much less mess with oil too; I loved the old solid fuel one we had many years ago but it was hard work

When my kids were younger we had an open fire and winter teatimes we'd fill up the tea trolley with crumpets, muffins, jams etc and make toast over the fire. We had one toasting fork which the kids used to fight over

Primrose

I heard on the radio today a power expert saying that it was virtually inevitable that in the short / medium term this country would suffer power blackouts because we simply are not self sufficient in energy and demand is growing yearly. So anybody who's got a little camping stove should hang onto it, even if they rarely use it as it could be a life-saver when it comes to having a source of fuel for cooking. We've still got the little gas cylinder lantern tucked away in our garage which we bought to prepare ourselves for the Miners Strike/Three Day Week. My eyes keep lingering over it whenever I'm having a clear out, but it always gets a reprieve when I remember my old Girl Guides motto - "Be Prepared" !

LameWolf

rosieben wrote: »

much less mess with oil too; I loved the old solid fuel one we had many years ago but it was hard work

When my kids were younger we had an open fire and winter teatimes we'd fill up the tea trolley with crumpets, muffins, jams etc and make toast over the fire. We had one toasting fork which the kids used to fight over

We used to do this at my grandmother's house. Remember how the toast always tasted better after it had fallen onto the coal?:D

schoolhouse

EssexHebridean wrote: »

For the person that mentioned dehumidifiers and their running costs....we have one, have had for a couple of years now and it runs almost all the time in winter. We find ours doesn't use much pwer at all - I'll have a clearer picture of the "real" situation in a few days though having just borrowed Mum's "electric use meter" gadget. I'll try to post an update once I've used the gadget and know for sure. (It's monitoring the laptop at the moment!)

That was me :j ! I would love to know the running costs,thank you EssexHebridean,that would be a great help.

trying-very-trying

mumoftwo wrote: »

great idea! Can you just store the gas cylinder in the garage? Won't be breaking any laws or anything? I am forever the worrier. going to look out for one. thanks:T

If transporting gas, you must legally have carry a fire extinguisher. At least this is what we were told by a policeman who checked the caravan we had borrowed for a holiday. Mind you, he did accept that our 2litre bottle of water would qualify, as long as we could access it quickly.
Having said that it is always safer to keep a fire extinguisher hand in the kitchen, when camping or even when barbecuing.

tramps

you can have camping gas stored in a garage as you can buy it from camping shops ec the more hazardous gas ie large bottles are only supplied buy companies such as BOC and to buy them you need an account and you need to put up warning signs where they are stored hence the back of OHs van.
Tanks for all of the ideas about camping stoves keep mine along with all camping stuff (saucepans,knives,forks etc) in large storage boxes in the garage ready to pack into car if camping now i know thanks to you lot all i need is the torch and everything is at hand ready to cook with if needed

[Deleted User]

Since my last post about candles I have ordered 3 more freeplay wind up lanterns and another wind up torch and a trangia. We aren`t allowed to store gas bottles here but I can keep meths ok in the shed.

I heard the man about energy cuts this morning and believe it is a case not of if but when.

Candles scare me a bit after I heard about a friend whose flat caught fire because of a candle and I won`t have any room full of smoke fumes anyway, hence the lanterns

I just told my dh and he took it all in his stride. I`ve got to laugh as it is a meal of thick pea soup on the one hand and investing in the lanterns on the other. Talk about a financial balancing act but I am definitely ready for anything now and especially for the change in seasons. I don`t feel cold yet but the weather is colder and my dh is wearing a jumper

moneysavingfamilycomp

can anyone tell me whats been said about power cuts are they going to be country wide and for long periods we only tend to get power cuts lasting less than an hour about once or twice during winter. and if electric goes down our gas heating has electric ignition (not sure if thats the right word lol ) but basically we have no heat or hot water aswell as no electric i have a camping stove and candles but just wondering if i should start stocking up if its going to be really bad