Your tips to keep the house warm

muffin_man_7

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

You could try putting aluminium foil behind your radiators to reflect the heat out and stop the back of the radiator heating the wall behind it unnecessarily.

I have a wood-burning stove and we forage scrap untreated wood for that and make natural firelighters from dried citrus peel (dried on the top of the wood burner , or when the oven is cooling down) and by chopping off the fronds of the Christmas Tree (real, obviously) and storing these dried out for the next winter. Both contain lots of oil to get the fire going. With some twisted newspaper to initially light it, this is pretty marvellous, and smells a lot nicer than commercial firelighters

Oh yes, and I have a 10w convector heater in the bathroom so that is toasty warm when I want to have a shower or bath and the heating is not on.

SL

I like the idea of bathroom heater without having to heat the whole house could I ask where you got the heater and does it have to be installed by an electrician tia

missbiggles1

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

You could try putting aluminium foil behind your radiators to reflect the heat out and stop the back of the radiator heating the wall behind it unnecessarily.

I have a wood-burning stove and we forage scrap untreated wood for that and make natural firelighters from dried citrus peel (dried on the top of the wood burner , or when the oven is cooling down) and by chopping off the fronds of the Christmas Tree (real, obviously) and storing these dried out for the next winter. Both contain lots of oil to get the fire going. With some twisted newspaper to initially light it, this is pretty marvellous, and smells a lot nicer than commercial firelighters

Oh yes, and I have a 10w convector heater in the bathroom so that is toasty warm when I want to have a shower or bath and the heating is not on.

SL

Are you sure you don't mean 100w? You wouldn't be toasty warm with a 10w heater, that's what you'd use to warm an aquarium.

Austin_Allegro

The simplest and quickest way to keep warm in a cold house is to wear long thermal underwear. It's not expensive and you only need two sets because you can wear it over your normal underwear. (You may need to buy a larger size however if you wear it over normal underwear).

Wear two pairs of socks, cotton underneath and thick woolen ones on top.

On top wear wool, tweed or fleeces. Tweed or woolen trousers will make a real difference as well. So many people wear jeans in winter, but they are very thermally inefficient.

Suffolk_lass

muffin_man_7 wrote: »

I like the idea of bathroom heater without having to heat the whole house could I ask where you got the heater and does it have to be installed by an electrician tia

I cannot find an example of the exact model we have but this page shows the most similar. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hylite-HHT205-Slimline-Heater-thermostat/dp/B007W0WV1M/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1450131480&sr=8-3-fkmr1&keywords=100w+greenhouse+heater
If you are putting it in a bathroom you should use a qualified electrician but in our case, the wall socket is the other side of the wall so we plug it in outside the bathroom. It does need to be wall-mounted as it does get rather hot

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Are you sure you don't mean 100w? You wouldn't be toasty warm with a 10w heater, that's what you'd use to warm an aquarium.

You might be right - the example I can find online is a 55w low energy model. I thought ours was smaller than the example I have posted a link to, but I can't find anything on it to say.

Edit - I have found a 45w version - again on-line so cannot be certain. I can assure you they are adequate to heat a modest sized bathroom
SL

Wednesday2000

I am feeling chilly in my house today. I have made draught excluders but I can still feel a draught. Probably sitting here with wet hair isn't helping!

I have furry slippers inside (and furry boots outside) which help keep me warm.

Lots of hot drinks all day and in the evening.

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Are you sure you don't mean 100w? You wouldn't be toasty warm with a 10w heater, that's what you'd use to warm an aquarium.

:rotfl:

jk0

My granny used to have these, and they were brilliant.



I have since bought some from Ebay, and use mine every night from November to March. Costs about 1p per night to warm my bed, so about £1.50 per year!

The great thing about these is that the bed is so warm you drop off almost immediately.

missbiggles1

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I cannot find an example of the exact model we have but this page shows the most similar. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hylite-HHT205-Slimline-Heater-thermostat/dp/B007W0WV1M/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1450131480&sr=8-3-fkmr1&keywords=100w+greenhouse+heater
If you are putting it in a bathroom you should use a qualified electrician but in our case, the wall socket is the other side of the wall so we plug it in outside the bathroom. It does need to be wall-mounted as it does get rather hot


You might be right - the example I can find online is a 55w low energy model. I thought ours was smaller than the example I have posted a link to, but I can't find anything on it to say.

Edit - I have found a 45w version - again on-line so cannot be certain. I can assure you they are adequate to heat a modest sized bathroom
SL

We've got a 500 watt towel rail and it gives a small pool of warmth around it - certainly not enough to warm the bathroom to any level, much less make it "toasty warm".

45 watts is only the same amount of energy as used by the bulb in a small reading lamp!

ETA

From your link,

"are ideal for preventing dampness, condensation and freezing in a wide range of environments including built-in wardrobes, conservatories, sheds, garages, caravans and mobile homes"

Totally inadequate for heating a bathroom.

springdreams

This is the heater I have in my bathroom

http://www.qvsdirect.com/1800w-adjustable-heat-wall-mount-infrared-bathroom-heater-w-pullcord?utm_source=google&utm_medium=googleshopping&utm_campaign=googlebase&gclid=CLvvrsW34MkCFRFmGwod2moMOQ

Suffolk_lass

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Totally inadequate for heating a bathroom.

Have you actually tried it before you ridicule and condemn somebody else's method? I suggest no. Just like the so-called scientists when someone suggested the earth was not flat.

My bathroom is small. The heater provides sufficient warmth to mean there is no need to fire up the boiler for 45 minutes in the morning. My bathroom also has a shower, when that has been running it also warms the bathroom, so that when I step out it is warm enough.

The normal convention on this forum is to speak from experience and offer advice. I suggest you have strayed outside that remit.

I won't post on this thread again. Clearly my suggestion has diverted us away from the original objective "Your tips to keep the house warm."

I daresay someone will want to pass judgement on this post too.

Merry Christmas
SL

missbiggles1

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Have you actually tried it before you ridicule and condemn somebody else's method? I suggest no. Just like the so-called scientists when someone suggested the earth was not flat.

My bathroom is small. The heater provides sufficient warmth to mean there is no need to fire up the boiler for 45 minutes in the morning. My bathroom also has a shower, when that has been running it also warms the bathroom, so that when I step out it is warm enough.

The normal convention on this forum is to speak from experience and offer advice. I suggest you have strayed outside that remit.

I won't post on this thread again. Clearly my suggestion has diverted us away from the original objective "Your tips to keep the house warm."

I daresay someone will want to pass judgement on this post too.

Merry Christmas
SL

There's no point posting tips that are inaccurate and to suggest that someone spends money on something designed just to keep damp out of a greenhouse is definitely not MSE. To then say that'll keep the bathroom "toasty warm" is just risible.

My post was based on my experience (my comment about the inadequacy of my 500w towel rail) I don't need to try to heat it with something 10 times less powerful to know that it doesn't work. Your recommendation was equivalent to saying that you heat your bathroom by turning the light on.