How to live without heating - save £000s

Chris_English

HertsLad said:

Chris_English said:

OP, do you have no wife, or children? Do you not have visitors to your house, or family staying over?

No/none to all those questions, as it happens.

I just don’t understand why you are choosing, in a developed 1st world country like ours, to live as you are.

What’s the point of it all?

GingerTim

HertsLad said:

Multiple layers will add up more than you might expect, especially those lined trousers you were talking about. It's a physiologically uncontroversial fact that your heart works harder when you carry more weight.

You may be correct but it seems unlikely. Weight training is supposed to be good for you and I see joggers out carrying rucksacks with weights inside. Perhaps it's good for me as a sort of micro weight training for 16 hours a day.

It's not unlikely, as I said it's an uncontroversial fact. Weight training is good for you but is done in short bursts not prolonged periods. Those joggers will carry weights for relatively short periods at a time to build up cardiac strength, and don't run around all day with bags full of bricks on their backs. Anyway, you're clearly confirmed in the genius of what you put yourself through, so what's the point?

On a less flippant note, have you ever considered using the money saved on heating costs to properly insulate your home so you don't have to do this? Or at least not to the same extreme extent?

HertsLad

GingerTim said:

On a less flippant note, have you ever considered using the money saved on heating costs to properly insulate your home so you don't have to do this? Or at least not to the same extreme extent?

I don't think the insulation can be too bad as it is because, as I said, the interior temperature has never gone below 2C, as far as I know. It's always warmer indoors. Outdoors always feels colder. So any small gaps could be good for ventilation. What good would further insulation do? I am not creating any heat indoors, so there is nothing to retain. I keep blinds closed, so there's not even much of a warming 'greenhouse' effect from sunlight.

HertsLad

Chris_English said:

What’s the point of it all?

I suppose it gives me something to do; it's interesting, fun and something a bit different, in addition to saving a lot of money. I see it the other way round. What's the point of heating an entire house - all the air - just to keep one or two adults warm? To me, it seems inefficient.

GingerTim

HertsLad said:

GingerTim said:

On a less flippant note, have you ever considered using the money saved on heating costs to properly insulate your home so you don't have to do this? Or at least not to the same extreme extent?

I don't think the insulation can be too bad as it is because, as I said, the interior temperature has never gone below 2C, as far as I know. It's always warmer indoors. Outdoors always feels colder. So any small gaps could be good for ventilation. What good would further insulation do? I am not creating any heat indoors, so there is nothing to retain. I keep blinds closed, so there's not even much of a warming 'greenhouse' effect from sunlight.

Just imagine, with proper insulation the indoor ambient temperature might stay above 10 degrees!

Your comment suggests you don't understand what insulation does and how it works. Put it this way - I'm fortunate to live in a very well insulated flat. I haven't had to put the heating on for any considerable time in the last two weeks, and it hasn't dropped below 20 degrees indoors since December. I'm not saying it would instantly raise your indoor temperature to that, but it would be a damn sight warmer than 2 degrees indoors (which is basically like living outdoors, anyway).

drphila

GingerTim said:

  and don't run around all day with bags full of bricks on their stbacks.

No, but hod carriers do (at least walk around and up ladders) and the ones I've known are some of the fittest people I've come across. And what about all the other professions that involving carrying weights (porters, warehouse persons etc etc)?

And since when does 2 sets of thermal underwear, padded trouusers and jacket and jumper equate to a bag full of bricks?

Tahlullah.H

Hello Herts Lad.  Have you managed to get away this year skiing?  I have missed out again this year, 3rs year running! - but hope next year will be it!  At least, as you said, you are prepared for the cold and can probably stay out long after I have retired inside in front of the open fire in the hotel bar!

You have a plan and it works for you, so carry on.  I still prefer to heat the room, but totally understand heating yourself, especially when on the slopes, so why not translate that to back at home!

HertsLad

Tahlullah.H said:

Hello Herts Lad.  Have you managed to get away this year skiing?  I have missed out again this year, 3rs year running! - but hope next year will be it!  

Hello Tahlullah My last trip was in January 2020. Soon after, Covid became a bit of an issue. I looked into going this year but decided against. I hope to return in January 2023. I regard the risks as being the flights, the transfer coach, cable cars and gondalas, especially when packed. 

Maybe I should think again as to whether carrying quite heavy skis along the road, up steps to cable car stations, etc is bad for my heart. Heavy boots, too. Could the warning have any basis of validity? It must have made me think because I woke up at 4am with it on my mind. Actually, I first woke up in the middle of a dream where I had left a bag on a train with all my possessions including wallet, house keys, mobile phone, almost everything. It would be a nightmare. Then the warning about strain on the heart from wearing multiple layers of clothes came to mind and I had to decide whether that was real or a dream, too.

Given that I find it effortless to walk up and down the stairs in my house multiple times and can walk up hills such as Scafell Pike, Snowdon and Ben Nevis without difficulty, I find it very hard to believe it's a health risk. For someone who is already obese, maybe they should think again and my approach is only likely to be suitable for people who are fit and healthy. But for anyone suffering fuel poverty, living in cold and miserable conditions what have they got to lose? They could try wearing thinsulate and/or down, with polyester base layers and see if it keeps them warmer. Or do nothing and possibly run the risk of a very poor outcome.

EssexHebridean

Chris_English said:

HertsLad said:

Chris_English said:

OP, do you have no wife, or children? Do you not have visitors to your house, or family staying over?

No/none to all those questions, as it happens.

I just don’t understand why you are choosing, in a developed 1st world country like ours, to live as you are.

What’s the point of it all?

And this is the thing - for the OP it IS a choice. This is perhaps the thing I find most offensive about the sweeping "everyone should do this and you're all a bit daft for not realising it" approach - we deal with people ALL THE TIME on here - particularly for those of us active on the DFW boards - who simply for whatever reason do not have the income to make this any sort of choice. Not using their heating, for them isn't a great way of being able to afford a skiing holiday, it is their ONLY option to be able to ensure they can pay their other priority bills and put food on the table. Sure, they could go out and buy fancy base layers, down filled this and that - but which priority bill do they fail to pay to afford it? The rent perhaps? Or maybe they skip a week's food shopping to kit little Johnny out in longjohns and a jacket (which he'll grow out of inside a few months). Skiing holidays - in fact, holidays at all are a luxury, not just for people in tight financial situations but for everyone - but if you're struggling to afford to meet even your basic outgoings then spending a four-figure sum on something which is pure frippery is simply not an option. There are pensioners who post on this board who already heat just one room, and wear coats, hats, gloves indoors - they've got no way of increasing their income, and the bills are going up and up - how many more layers should *they* put on? Sufficient that perhaps their mobility is impaired and they begin to be at increased risk of falls when navigating stairs, maybe? A broken hip from a fall would always be a serious thing and particularly for someone elderly - but if that happens in an entirely unheated house, and the person then lies there for several hours before being found, the outcome is almost guaranteed to be far graver. It's truly appalling that people literally end up in this situation through lack of choice in the matter, and to my view, someone "playing at it" and then suggesting - however obliquely - that others are foolish for not doing the same, is completely inappropriate. 

I repeat - it's not what the OP is doing that many are raising issue with - it's the way it's being presented. Sure - live in whatever squalor you want yourself, that's your call so long as you're not harming others by doing so, but trying to convince people that everyone else should be doing the same with scant regard for differing situations is not a good - or responsible - approach. Failing to acknowledge your privilege - both financial and in relation to health - is just arrogant. Viewing choosing to live in a way that causes misery to many who have no choice as "a bit of fun" is beyond insulting to those many (and increasing numbers of) people. 

It's not the approach, it's the attitude. 

HertsLad

EssexHebridean said:

- spending a four-figure sum on something which is pure frippery is simply not an option.
 - suggesting - however obliquely - that others are foolish for not doing the same, is completely inappropriate.
 - trying to convince people that everyone else should be doing the same with scant regard for differing situations is not a good - or responsible - approach. ;

As before, you are mis-representing what I have said. None of your accusations quoted above is valid or what I said.

Individuals living with heating one room could buy all the garments I suggest for £100 if as lucky as I was in making use of some pre-owned items, e.g from eBay or charity shops. So your claim of a 4 figure sum is absurd.

Millions of people rely on heating only one room. I explained why I think it's worse than heating no room. It is highly unlikely that these people are heating the stairwell so if dressed in far less clothes than I wear, then if they fall, they will get colder far quicker than if wearing more layers. So your warning is invalid, dangerous and offensive if it deters people from trying to keep warm by wearing more layers with good insulation properties.