Other ways to keep warm?

wittynamegoeshere

I haven't done the maths, but I'd assume that if you are actually buying the wood then any open fire will cost much more than electric heaters, particularly as around 90% of the heat will go straight up the chimney.

Also, whether using it or not, that open fire is basically the same as having a window open.  It's a hole in the wall that goes directly out of the roof.  If your room is warmer than the sky (almost always), then the rising heat will act as an extractor fan, so it will be constantly pulling cold air into the room from elsewhere.

Try blocking it, I've done this in our current and previous houses and the change was absolutely massive.  There are various sorts of things you can get to put up the chimney - inflatable bags, special umbrellas etc.  Just ensure there's some sort of visible clue that it's there.  I didn't buy anything for mine, I just used a bright yellow carrier bag that I stuffed full of various bits of padding.  Tie a dangly ribbon to it if you're worried someone else might light a fire.

theoretica

I am a fan of wrist warmers and ankle warmers - they really help keep warm more than you expect.  Also another vote for an electric foot warmer - mine has 30w and 60w settings.  Basically target where you feel cold first - for me it is my feet when sitting still.

Also exercise, of course - I was out sawing wood this morning at temperatures not much above zero and had to take my fleece off.

socks_uk

Thank you all so much for your answers.
Both my husband and I are working so thankfully I don't think we'll have a problem paying the energy bills, it'll just eat into our 'fun money' we put away each month for days out or holidays when things are more normal.
We've lived in our little bungalow for 16 years and we only opened the fire up 3 years ago.  We had an open fire in our old house before we downsized and we only have it lit as a treat, especially when we are watching the winter Olympics, but only when we are both at home to enjoy it.  We get the bags of smokeless fuel and logs from B&M.
We have 4 cats that were my daughter's before she moved out got married and had children.  She couldn't take them with her because my son-in-law has asthma.  How old do cats get?  They are all between 12 - 14 years old (I won't miss them!) We don't allow them in the bedroom.
I have placed an order for the Costco heated throw (£42).  It'll be handy for times like this where I get up early and don't see the need to put the heating on yet, if at all, as we both leave the house at about 7:30am.

CraigInnes

Welly socks, big slippers, dressing gown.

FreeBear

socks_uk said: We have 4 cats that were my daughter's before she moved out got married and had children.  She couldn't take them with her because my son-in-law has asthma.  How old do cats get?  They are all between 12 - 14 years old (I won't miss them!) We don't allow them in the bedroom.

Cats will often live up to 18 years, some even longer. In exceptional cases, 30+ years - https://a-z-animals.com/blog/the-top-10-oldest-cats-ever/

I let mine have free run of the house. Saves on having a hot water bottle when one of them decides to curl up on the bed at night.

wittynamegoeshere

socks_uk said:

We've lived in our little bungalow for 16 years and we only opened the fire up 3 years ago.  We had an open fire in our old house before we downsized and we only have it lit as a treat, especially when we are watching the winter Olympics, but only when we are both at home to enjoy it.  We get the bags of smokeless fuel and logs from B&M.

Sadly they've become a trend in recent years.  If it doesn't have some kind of built-in manually closeable flap at the top then it would be very worthwhile to find a removable way of sealing it when it's not in use.

Also, if you have an open fire then you should also have an air inlet vent elsewhere in the room, this is normally a requirement to avoid the risk of carbon monoxide asphyxiation.  Again, this is also equivalent to having a window open all the time.  Blocking this would save lots of heat and therefore money, but it would be impossible to do this without the risk of forgetting, lighting a fire then dying.

Really it's just not possible to have an energy efficient home while having an open fireplace.  That's why people sealed them up in the past, now everyone seems to have forgotten the lessons that people learned before.  Hopefully this illogical fashion will come to an end as energy costs rise and more people work this out for themselves.

QrizB

Bumping this thread so I can share this article:

https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2022/01/the-revenge-of-the-hot-water-bottle.html

The Revenge of the Hot Water Bottle

Imagine a personal heating system that works indoors as well as outdoors, can be taken anywhere, requires little energy, and is independent of any infrastructure. It exists – and is hundreds of years old. The hot water bottle could save a great deal of energy and money without sacrificing thermal comfort.

It's a good read and includes this snippet:

For example, one study revealed that lowering the air temperature in an office from 20.5 to 18.8 C and giving employees a heated chair to compensate for the discomfort leads to 35% less energy use and consistently higher scores for thermal comfort. There are few interventions in the building envelope that can achieve such large energy savings for such a small investment, and yet the decrease in air temperature was far from radical in this experiment.

Seems like my heated work seat wasn't such a crazy (or original) idea after all (PS it's still working well, I was using it this morning).

wild666

I use a hot water bottle in winter. It saves me putting the heating on as I put it under my dressing gown and it warms me through whilst I'm sat at the PC surfing the net. It's the best £3 I ever spent and it's covered with a wool outer layer.

socks_uk

I just wanted to update on us using the heated throws...  we love them!
The central heating thermostat is set to 14 degrees and when we sit down to watch TV we turn them on and they warm up in seconds.
One thing I had to do yesterday was to try and explain to my late brother's wife that, even though she is on a fixed rate for her energy, that does not mean that her £120 a month direct debit will stay the same if she cranks up the thermostat.  I tried to explain it by saying that bunches of grapes cost 10p per grape and if she ate a bunch with 30 grapes it would cost her £3 but if she ate a bunch with 60 grapes it wouldn't still cost just three pound...  it would be £6 because there was more! 
How else could we explain 'fixed rates' and 'price caps' to people who think they will still pay the same amount however much energy they use? 

ProDave

My wood burning stove.  So far I have always got wood for free but I suspect more people will install stoves and burn stuff and the free wood will be harder to find.