Anyone with a old house as cold as me? brrr

VKay

Hi Lauren!

Poor you- not much advice, just sympathy. I find a hot water bottle when sitting still make me feel much better. Also thick heavy curtains and draught excluders make a difference.

When you get your carpets it will help a lot too.

Cook something warming like a stew- that'll give you a boost.

Sorry not much help x

shirlgirl2004

Ours is a youngster at only 97 years old but we have drafty, rotten framed single glazing and a couple of rooms without carpet. The boiler is 31 years old (being replaced after Xmas) and when it's on the house is warm. However we notice a really big difference between the front and back of the house because the back is south facing and can be warm in this weather, with no heating on, when the sun is shining in. I think not having carpets is a major factor, the rooms without carpet are noticeably cooler.

ETA: I know it sounds like a dump but we only moved in 2 months ago and is a definite work in progress.

lauren1983

HI Vkay thanks for your reply did you find yourself a house! you were searching a while ago wasnt you??

shirlgirl2004, you sound like you have abit of a project like me Load of fun ey !!lol

VKay

Hi lauren,

Yes we moved in 5 weeks ago- very exciting but plenty to do- like you!

Sorry you're cold-it's miserable, i know. Can you escape somewhere for a while? Friends, parents, local leisure centre?!

andrew-b

lauren1983 wrote: »

This room is around 14x12 has a double glazed window, hardboard on the floors, and new skirting. I shut the door to see if it would heat up but no The radiator is on full and is red hot.

So a good sized bedroom.
If we take that room for example, what is the size of the radiator in that room? Height and width in centimetres? Is it a standard modern double-panelled radiator or single panel? Does it have convectors (finned metal bits on the back of the panels or between them) and if so how many (could be one if single or one or two if double)? how many windows and how big are they? How many external walls in that room (and which length walls are they roughly)? Are the ceilings high or just standard height.
Just trying to establish if the rads are indeed undersized.

lucky11_2

I live in a rented basement flat of a house which is about 100 years old. There is only one radiator in the living room, the floors throughout are done in the cheapest laminate effect you could imagine, thinly insulated over concrete, and there is only double glazing in the bedroom. I am so cold my hands & feet are like ice, but in all of about 20 places I've lived I think only two of them were warm - oddly enough both were houses I owned not rented, lol! Pass the tinfoil & mintcake...

lauren1983

Ahh im realy happy for you VKay. First christmas in your new home like me
Thank you for you concern, Im getting warmer now, We have an open fire and the chimney needs relining but My hubby did some temporary bodging so we can use it for a few nights while its so cold.

andrew-b, here are the other details for my room thank you for helping

Raditor is 45 x 90 it a few months old, double and has two rows of metal fins between
It has one window 110 x 150 cm
It has 2 external walls on is 14 feet the other is 11.5 feet
The ceiling is 9 feet high

Thank you :beer:

conradmum

Our house can be cold if the temperature outside drops below 0. The best solution we've found when this happens is to leave the central heating on all the time, on a very low setting. That way the house doesn't get chilly overnight and you don't have to wait for it to warm up in the mornings.

We've had our heating on continuously for several days now - since this cold snap started. Even though it's on a low setting we're toasty. I think I also read somewhere that this is the most economical way to run it.

Our house is 80 years old and double glazed.

andrew-b

Oh and i forgot what sort of external walls..unlikely to be a cavity..but what are they made of and roughly how thick (look around the edge of the window) - probably 9 inches including plaster if it's double thickness of brick.

red40

Without seeing the room lauren its difficult to say, but I can see where andrew-b is going with this and hopefully he comes out with the same answer as me? I reckon your radiator is between 700 and 1000 btu's short of the required output for that size and type of room.

I have just checked my dining room rad, and its a 450x1600 P+ (double panel, one fin (convector)) the room is similar size to yours 3 x 3.6 x 2.4m and a double glazed window area of 4.65 (big window), heated room above with suspended timber floor below and 1 and a half outside walls.

Hope that helps a little, your rad does seem a little undersized but we haven't seen the room so its really just a guesstimate.