Preparedness for when

moneyistooshorttomention

There are storage heaters and storage heaters though.

Many years back (ie we would be talking over 30 years ago) I had some in the place I was renting. Mygawd - they were somewhat old-fashioned and absolutely enormous. They didn't half do a good job of heating the place up though (and that is a very good point re the residual heat for a while afterwards if the power went).

The Housing Association who owned those places went round replacing them all with much smaller/slimmer ones of a more up-to-date variety whilst I was there. I would imagine they were better still - though I didn't get mine done (ie because I asked the HA not to do them yet in mine in case I was able to find a way to buy a house of my own ever....).

I'd be quite okay about having storage heaters again - provided I could choose nice modern ones. Would be a sight cheaper to install than anything else I would think??

mardatha

Yes GQ Hawick is Hoik not Hay Wick lol

[Deleted User]

pineapple wrote: »

Tonight I just have heat from the awful storage heaters.

Might be worth investing in a portable convector heater, just in case.

greenbee

Pineapple - the point about storage heaters holding residual heat is a good one. And it's always worth having some backup options living in the sticks (it must be VERY annoying for you being so close to gas yet so far - our nearest is three miles away). I have a couple of oil-filled electric radiators that I can use if the electricity goes off taking out the oil-fired boiler and CH with it. That and the jetmaster fire (worse than your unreliable stove at a guess, although now I've got some smokeless I can keep it going while I'm out as it has a fitted fireguard) make life bearable. I also have a gas camping stove so I can boil a kettle for hot water bottles! That, a BBQ and a smoker mean I can still cook. When I (eventually) do the kitchen I'll have a gas hob running off bottled gas. The radiators/fire and electric underfloor heating in the bathroom are also handy in case I run out of oil...

pineapple

Thanks folks. I suspect mine just aren't very good. Plus they have those dials where you have to stick a knife in a slot in the control to turn it and on one the slot has got worn away and it is getting more and more difficult to adjust. The other issue is that when you are on Economy 7 the day rate of electricity is massively increased - so careful calculations have to be made. Anyway I came on here this morning to talk about what I have learnt from the situation here in Cumbria.
It's been TSHTF for many and it came without much warning. In this instance it's been flooding but it could be anything - even terrorist action on the infrastructure.
So some people without food, without heating and unable to get to places. The main thing however is lack of community spirit. They keep going on about it on the news but it certainly isn't happening in this village. It's not some commuter belt village where no one knows each other. Many have lived here 30 or 40 years. So if it's anywhere it should be here! There have been isolated instances of course but not generally., We all knew the cottages at risk. Not of danger to life and limb but the misery of being flooded. I expected to see a battalion of residents helping out those affected but they were left to get on with it by those snug in unaffected homes. Meanwhile there were young fit people wandering around encased in wet weather gear, taking pics and wondering how on earth they were going to get to the pub that night (before anyone asks yes I did help out myself)
I went to check on a couple in their 80s and they told me how they had knoched at their windows to get someone passing to bring some coal or wood into their home for them. I find it shocking that they even had to ask.
Then when the waters subsided there were people setting off to try to get into town in their fancy 4 wheel drives. There was no checking to see if their neighbours needed anything.

I am sure there will be many wondrous incidents of community spirit trotted out on the news in the coming days but there will also be a lot of people just left to get on with it.
The message is to try to build in 'self reliance' as much as possible, to have as many alternative forms of heating/cooking as possible and to maintain food and other stocks including things which can be eaten cold. Of course we all know this. That's why we are here! But it has certainly reinforced it for me.

moneyistooshorttomention

That is rather shocking Pineapple. Maybe it doesn't occur to people that there is any help they could usefully give - unless they are asked directly for it?

I was wondering what I would do if I spotted a house with flooding problems in the vicinity (and I can think of some that are at risk imo) and there are definitely some houses here that we know "cop it" regularly. Bar a couple of my immediate neighbours (who wouldn't be at risk anyway - the same as I'm not) who I would just leave to deal with themselves (long story of the way they've treated me behind that:().

For anyone else here though - ie strangers - then I guess I'd be looking for some visual cue as to whether help was wanted (eg people visibly sweeping out water/throwing out ruined goods)? If I saw that - then I think I'd probably say "Got a spare broom for sweeping that water out?" or "Need a hand removing that stuff?" or whatever seemed applicable from what I could see from those visual cues. So - yep...overall...I'd help if I could physically see that help was needed.

Maybe peoples reactions are down to whether someone has "trained" them into keeping an eye out for anyone looking "fragile"/helpless (ie in that case that would be my father then...). Maybe that's the thing and, if someone hasn't been "trained" into thinking that way - then maybe they don't tend to help? My nicest ex-boyfriend had been "trained" by his mother into keeping an eye out to see if anyone needed help. So - I guess parental upbringing is probably where that sort of viewpoint comes from?

jk0

If this is your storage heater Pineapple, you can order most items for it including new knobs:

http://www.storageheater.co.uk/dimpex/xl-xt/xt24.html

BTW, I use a 2p piece to adjust mine. I think that is what you are intended to use.

pineapple

jk0 wrote: »

If this is your storage heater Pineapple, you can order most items for it including new knobs:

http://www.storageheater.co.uk/dimpex/xl-xt/xt24.html

BTW, I use a 2p piece to adjust mine. I think that is what you are intended to use.

One of the controls is beyond using anything imo but I didn't realise you could get replacements thanks. Been trying to decide whether to replace them with programmable versions. Alternatively have heard good reports about oil free radiators.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dimplex-Electric-Radiator-Electronic-Climate/dp/B002SIU1P6/ref=sr_1_15?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1444980310&sr=1-15&keywords=dimplex+heater

fuddle

I don't think it's being trained etc but I do think it's based upon the community you've grown up in and the community spirit that you've experienced growing up. That's why I tend to get on my high horse about good old communities of old slowly disappearing.

It doesn't matter how much I try to help my children learn their manners or to show empathy, they aren't having the same kind of influence that I did and the mentality that 'it takes a village to bring up children' has all but gone from what I can see (but I have moved around a bit) and I personally feel my children are losing out because of that. I find it very sad.

mardatha

geenbee my calor gas cooker is the best thing I own, I love it.
Pineapple, older people here used to always pop in and ask if we needed anything as they were going to the village but the newer younger people don't.