Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

ALI the one thing about Log Burners is once you have one installed it makes budgeting for heating much easier. You pay for your wood ahead of use and are not presented with a huge bill after using electricity or gas for heating your home. You can also get wood supplies in the warmer weather at reduced price which you can't do with electricity or gas. If you want an idea for cooking in the garden you need some old bricks and an old oven shelf. Build yourself a pile of bricks, you don't need to stick them together, to make a raised hearth, then make a 2 or 3 brick high edging on opposite sides of your pile, balance the oven shelf on top and you have an instant open raised hearth to cook on, so easy and no money, Cheers Lyn xxx.

ALIBOBSY

I keep trying to make the argument with OH but all he can see is several thousand up front costs. Unfortunately as we are in a house from the 80's we don't have a chimney so we are looking at log burner and a full flue/lined metal chimney outside so we reckon £1800-£2000 fitted have looked around. OH still sees this as almost 2 years gas/electric, which I can see.

TBH first job this year is to get the garage converted to a bedroom as 4 kids, 2 adults and only 3 bedrooms is tight lol.

Ali x

craigywv

hello all xxx bloody gorgeous weather we having snow,slush more snow , ice and its really fab driving in it. i went out this morn at 6.40 am to get petrol as i knew the weather was bad and i needed it, 1st petrol station i went to the pumps had frozen!!!!!!!!never heard of this in my life anyway went to next 1 and filled car up as i remembered GQ quoting not long ago to always keep car filled.........think it was you GQ! lol. our electric went off for a bit earlier but came on quicklyits stared to flicker again so i have all my candles at the ready. came in from work at 3 and have had oil heating on so at least we can get a bath and our house is tiny so it holds the heat in. we all ate early so dinner is over us and washed and cleaned up. ihave laptop charging up also all our mobiles we dont worry about kettle as i have a gas range into gas bottles outside. if electric goes off for any big length of time i will salvage my good meat from freezers and cook and this can be frozen when it comeson again. oh ironing my clothes and sons for tomorrow as i go to my mums shopping so that should be us covered now lol.have a lovely evening all, i away out and shall be back later xxx

pineapple

I've got a multifuel stove which is supposed to be quite efficient - but I find burning either coal or logs is actually more expensive than the gas ch and logs the most expensive of all. My stove eats logs - even when closed down and I find that solid fuel, like Excel, lasts longer, with less refuelling and less ash and the stove is more controllable. I would possibly get better results with a dedicated woodburning stove though.

[Deleted User]

CRAIGY and everyone else having to deal with this awful cold and crazy weather take care of yourselves and stay safe, we have cold and wet but so far no snow down here so are luckier than most I think!!!

PINEAPPLE If we had to buy all our fuel it would cost us reasonable sums of money, we maximise on wood by accepting any offered to us in any form as long as it can be seasoned and used. He Who Knows has invested in log splitters and a Chop Saw and axes and big hammers and can deal with whole tree trunks if needs be. We take anything from garden trees to pallets and old garden sheds. I know we are luckier than some as we are both retired and have the time to process all this wood but that certainly helps to keep costs down. I work on the principle that if you ask and the answer is no you are no worse off than if you hadn't asked at all and lots of folks are just grateful to dispose of unwanted wood without having to take it to the tip thierselves. We are tuned in to all possibilities when it comes to aquiring firewood and always keep a weather eye to an opportunity for getting it, Cheers Lyn xxx.

pineapple

Just looked outside.
!!!!!!... It's getting worse :eek:
My lounge looks like a bug out zone as I need to take the hound out every couple of hours. My gear and the dogs gear is hung up to dry inbetween forays into the arctic wilderness.
Then there are the candles at the ready, hot water bottles....

Meanwhile - for those who can get Sky HD (which I can't), Revolution is due to start on 29th March. It's about post apocalyptic USA after the lights go out.
Great depressing stuff!
http://sky1.sky.com/sky1hd-shows/revolution

westcoastscot

well we've had a lovely afternoon - the power has been out since about 1pm - came on a little while ago. We have baked potatoes in the bottom of the stove today, rice pudding in the dutch oven and I test-drove my ghillie kettle on it's side in the stove - if you can picture it the whistling end pointing out of the open doors? Worked a real treat - loads of water for tea and no cost. It's so efficient i'm thinking of using it most of the time rather than the electric kettle - save more money. I'm definitely going to use the stove for cooking more - think I need something to extend the hearth a bit though - it's a bit tight with the stove doors open and pans etc on the hearth - shall look out for a suitable bit of stone.
WCS

2tonsils

I have just been told by a friend in Cyprus that the shops and petrol stations etc are only accepting cash and not credit cards or debit cards for goods or fuel. The suppliers are refusing to give credit to the supermarkets so they can refill shelves and they have only supplies to last two or three days. There is starting to be a sense of panic and desperation about the situation.

Meanwhile I have just seen on twitter that the Troika have increased by 900 million the amount the Cypriot government must come up with to get the bail out.......and that the Cypriot president warned his colleagues, friends and business pals to take their money out before the date the banks got closed. Disgusting....

GreyQueen

Evening all.

Well, I went to w*rk and one of the first things a colleague said to me this morning was did I know about the gas? Pointed out that I did. There were some interested and thoughtful comments along the lines of what would we do, etc etc? Some LBMs happening near me today and none of my making.

I'm having my KK delivered to the parents' place as they're retired and home all day. I also intend to visit with them and I want to show them how it works. Mum just realised in talking to me today that she doesn't even have an electric kettle any more, just the one used on the gas stove, so that if the gas is off they have no means of cooking or getting hot water.

Another LBM moment. I reckon she'll see the KK in action and decide to get one herself. Knowing her appeciation of a handy gadget, I would be astonished if she doesn't; I have already clarified that she ain't having mine. Heck, she even asked me if I knew about hayboxes and we discussed those; double LBMs today.

Craigy, it was me advising keeping the fuel up in your tanks, but I expect many others also thought of that independantly. If things get wobbly there'll be a run on the fuel stations and also TPTB might close them down to control the mobility of the civilian population.

Went to the c.s. a couple of hours ago and got the platewarmer I had been eyeing up. It's a Brab*ntia one, they sell for just over £20 new, so was very pleased. Will be having a play around as well as getting in some mashed potato and cous cous (thanks for all the tips, everyone, it's all noted and appreciated).

I'm horrified at the measures for controlling what people are allowed to do with their own money which are being suggested in Cyprus. Appreciate that it's not a done deal but the longer they sit on their hands the worse it's likely to be when they unveil it.

I have to say that I'm not overly-believing that we're OK for gas and will be having a precautionary bake-off with bread rolls in the next few hours, just in case the gas goes off. I wouldn't take too much harm if the CH went down as this flat is very small and well insulated, but it would still be uncomfortable.

Right, off to get hot food, bread dough started and a hot bath before bedtime, in case we end up with the gas off for a while. May do a little other bit of cooking ahead, too.

Have got that book we were mentioning last night, and that's a doorstopper and no mistake. Shan't be short of stuff to do if we're snowed in!

thriftwizard

It's all very odd, this gas business; last night & tonight we haven't had enough pressure to operate the two smaller rings on my hob. They won't light, there's nothing coming through. Aha, we thought, when we heard about the 3rd pipeline being "down" BUT on reflection, that doesn't explain the fact that this has been happening on & off for weeks now; we know the hob is OK as the engineer's been out to change the oven seals recently. We're some way out from the city centre here, on the fringes of open country, and not much further out, there's no supply at all, so I assume we're more or less at the end of the line. Come to think of it the boiler's been off when the thermostat says it should have been on, too, and if I remember correctly that can shut it self down due to insufficient pressure. I didn't think much of it, just assumed the thermostat was playing up, but I did feel rather cold. In true OS style, I just went & put my thermals on...

I'd say the tank has been wavering towards empty for a while now...