Is your heating ON or OFF?

BigSpender2_2

yep- ours is on, two small children...
bled radiators the other day it made a big diff

ceridwen

Further mental note to self - if I go and stay with someone else for a night or two and the place is too cold - do a quick mental sussout of whether that is down to the state of their finances (and consequent worries re fuel bills) or they're just plain mean/blowing their money on luxuries. If I note that it looks like its down to worry re their finances - then try to work out tactful/helpful way to say "Dont worry about the cost of the fuel bills whilst I'm here...I'm a cold morsel and cant stand being cold - so do you mind if I whack it up please? - and heres some money to cover the extra cost" as well as the standard "guest" obligations bit.

(Had a few nights in a b & b recently where it was too cold and I had to ask repeatedly for extra bedding for my bed and there was no way of heating my room - but in those circumstances one thinks "Darn them...I'm paying to be here...this is down to meanness...." and I used blasts from my hairdryer to warm up the room as much as possible and made mental note never to venture over their threshold again.:D )

mardatha

a nice woolly dressing gown beside the bed, whizz through to the bathroom, wash and dry fast with a nice big soft towel, then to the kitchen for a giant pot of tea and pot of porridge ! If desperate, then some running on the spot while the porridge is cooking LOL
I have to admit I wish our bathroom was warmer. Even with the radiator on full belt its still just above freezing and there's no way to warm it up...

natzini

Gosh no we don't have it on! We don't have central heating, but storage heaters, but don't use them. We found that oil filled units are better, but they won't go on for aaaaaages yet.

sweetserendipity

Guilty!
Had it on last night for about 2 hours BUT I have a stinker of a cold so felt justified! Had tried the brandy first (purely for medicinal purposes of course:rolleyes: ) & I was still shivering so the heating went on.

ceridwen

mardatha wrote: »

a nice woolly dressing gown beside the bed, whizz through to the bathroom, wash and dry fast with a nice big soft towel, then to the kitchen for a giant pot of tea and pot of porridge ! If desperate, then some running on the spot while the porridge is cooking LOL
I have to admit I wish our bathroom was warmer. Even with the radiator on full belt its still just above freezing and there's no way to warm it up...

This suggests to me something is amiss in the construction of the room - is it an extension added on to the main bulk of the house? Does it have a flat roof (which, if so, could well be missing the insulation that also should be part of the roof construction)?

ceridwen

Does anyone know if OAP's can get free cavity wall insulation please? My parents are on too low an income to be able to pay 2009 level fuel bills - but not quite that low as to get any benefits of any description (ie Pension Credit or whatever). I see pensioners on Pension Credit can get help - but have the awful feeling that my parents are stuck in the "Poverty Trap" (ie just high enough income not to qualify). I feel it would be fair enough for them to get a bit of help - as I think the only thing they have ever claimed for is about 2 months worth of unemployment benefit once for my father and they took the child benefits for both their children (ie my brother and myself) back in the 1950s/60s. They wouldnt even claim the free school lunches my brother and myself could have had at one point.

My mother is worrying herself about fuel bills - so hasnt put on her central heating yet. They have some savings - so I know, in extremis, they could put the heating on and dip into savings to pay bills - but I suspect its not that high an amount and, if it had to be used for everyday living, then wouldnt be available for savings purposes (eg healthcare costs or if the house needs some maintenance work). I'd just tell them to "blow it" and whack on the heating and keep their savings intact if I was on reasonable income myself - so could afford to pay their bills, as well as my own - but I'm on a low salary myself and with even that looking somewhat "precarious".

Grrr! Feeling angry now - "Thats not any little old woman - that little old woman is my mother and she shouldnt be sitting feeling cold."

dND

I don't know if anyone else as found the same as this but when I lived in a stone cottage I eventually found it cost me less to have the heating on low - and continuously in very cold weather - than let the walls get really cold and therefore damp.

The energy required to heat the rooms plus the walls and the moisture to something that felt warm over a short period (and it never did feel warm) was greater than keeping it ticking over in the background and not letting the house chill. The house did have good roof insulation though so the heat wasn't just disappearing that way and I'd draught proofed where necessary.

jembie

I have given in I am afraid.
I live in an upstairs maisonette and last year we didn't need to put the heating on until November as there was plenty of heat coming from downstairs but I think that downstairs must be holding off this year too as it has been like an ice box in here in the evenings.
Last night I had family round but didn't put the heating on at all as they are in and out for smoking so it wasn't worth it but it was so cold I slept in my big thick fleece coat.

mumoftwo

I have, but only on very low, to get the chill off. The wind and rain are beating around the house brrrr and the kids and OH are complaining how cold they are..