Preparing for winter II

sb44

Diana_Prince wrote: »

Hi all, briefly skimmed through this thread but wondered if anyone could give my their 'top tips'!! We have no heating and the house barely makes it above 10 degrees!!! Any suggestions would be muchly appreciated!!

(We have a wood burner in the front room, which does have radiators running off of it but this only makes a difference if its going all day and it doesn't get lit until I get home at around 5pm!)

If you leave a slow cooker on all day that will warm your kitchen up and it only costs about 30p if that to leave it on for about 10 hours.

triticale

sb44 wrote: »

If you use leave a slow cooker on all day that will warm your kitchen up and it only costs about 30p if that to leave it on for about 10 hours.

And if you stick some food in it you get welcomed home with a hot meal too! :j Cosy flat and pot of chilli to walk in to, lovely.

suki1964

Diana_Prince wrote: »

Hi all, briefly skimmed through this thread but wondered if anyone could give my their 'top tips'!! We have no heating and the house barely makes it above 10 degrees!!! Any suggestions would be muchly appreciated!!

(We have a wood burner in the front room, which does have radiators running off of it but this only makes a difference if its going all day and it doesn't get lit until I get home at around 5pm!)

Why are you leaving it till that time of day to light it? You need to learn to light it and keep it in (ie burning all day without refilling)

I use a multi fuel stove and I can keep mine in for 6/8 hours with just a half bucket of smokeless and a topping of anthracite and I read that those who are experienced with wood burners are getting the same results with just a few logs

mardatha

Yes - ours runs 24hours on two good sized shovels of anthracite eggs.

diddly74

My Mom and Dad never let their fire go out when I was small I remember . We have a tall thin thing more like a boiler than a fire in the corner of the kitchen in our mobile home and OMG did the place feel cold if it went out.

I also remember that it used to draw away terrible when the wind got up and many a night have we sat running off a tank of hot water because the fire was heating up the water too hot and making it bang in the pipes.

Oh the joys of being a child of the 70/80s lol, Mum taking out the ashes and hoping the wind wasn't blowing up the garden, standing in front of it with the ash door open feeling the heat on my feet and warming my hats and gloves on the top so they were all toasty for school.

mardatha

We're still doing that LOL ! running off boiling water and taking ashes up to the top of the gaden to the ash pail I love my coal fire.

redlady_1

Ah, I have gone all modern with my ashes - I have something about a foot tall which looks like a dustbin but is a "feature" so when its full off I trot down the garden but it is covered.

You do need to be keeping it in all day/night though so practice is the thing to do. Start with lots of fuel and then work down would be my advice. I put half a skuttle (tall one) of new flame on before I leave at 8 and when I get home at 7 it is still in. Also get some seriously thick curtains up. They make a huge difference.

diddly74

mardatha wrote: »

We're still doing that LOL ! running off boiling water and taking ashes up to the top of the gaden to the ash pail I love my coal fire.

I miss the nostalgia of it all Mardatha, but I don't miss the mess Mum used to get! Ash and coal dust. But then because it was a boiler we never got the benefit or comfort of sitting in front of a roaring fire and warm grate. I do remember lying on the lounge floor with my feet on the radiators to trying to warm them up and Mom chasing me away telling me I would get chillblains. lol

God I miss that woman.

Eenymeeny

Does anyone using mittens? I'm feeling nostalgic of making marvellous snowmen when wearing them. (well, in my imagination they were!) I'm thinking that they would keep your fingers warmer as they'll all be together. Can you still get them? I had lovely sheepskin ones...

diddly74

Eenymeeny wrote: »

Does anyone using mittens? I'm feeling nostalgic of making marvellous snowmen when wearing them. (well, in my imagination they were!) I'm thinking that they would keep your fingers warmer as they'll all be together. Can you still get them? I had lovely sheepskin ones...

Mittens - help shape snow much better than gloves for sure. I was in Aldi yesterday and they had adult mittens in there - I nearly put a pair in my trolley! I have just checked the special buys and they are not advertised on there but you never know! They are part of the ski things I think.

Hope that helps you