How to live without heating - save £000s 10 February 2022 at 11:59AM edited 24 February 2022 at 4:10PM in Energy 777 replies 76.8K views

EssexHebridean

GingerTim said:

EssexHebridean said:

I'd hope Ray Mears would at least be sensible and responsible enough to understand that just because HE chooses to do something, it's not a good thing to give as general advice to everyone! 

Amen to that! More seriously, this sort of 'advice' is actively dangerous to some people and I'd be inclined to delete it.

I'm actually debating whether the OP needs reporting to the forum team. 

theoretica

I find it very interesting to wonder what the best environment for a human actually is - I suspect there are aspects to shutting ourselves up in climate controlled houses which are similar to junk food.  Not the best for most of us, we like it, and a hard to avoid feature of our modern world as it ties into things like jobs which need us to sit mostly still for hours.

kimp22

It's not much different then my child hood no central heating, gas fire in front room colar gas fires on landing at top of stairs. Having to sleep in sleeping bags then covers over the top .having 1 bath a week and that was with two working parents one with three jobs. That's what we are going back to. But we shouldn't have to live like that now. This government needs to do something to stop this from happening. Hope they are not hoping to stay in power next time. They are hitting everybody with this.

Kim

QrizB

theoretica said:

I find it very interesting to wonder what the best environment for a human actually is - I suspect there are aspects to shutting ourselves up in climate controlled houses which are similar to junk food.

Palaeoanthropologists generally agree that modern humans evolved in tropical Africa. That's where we're adapted to live without technological assistance.

With the addition of clothing and shelter, we've been able to live almost everywhere else on the land surface of the planet.

I've camped in weather where there's been frost on my tent (not exactly Ray Mears, I realise) and I agree with the OP that suitable clothing can keep you warm enough in almost any UK conditions.

But it seems quite an extreme move to give up on heating altogether, rather than just turning the 'stat down.

HertsLad

QrizB said:

it seems quite an extreme move to give up on heating altogether, rather than just turning the 'stat down.

With respect, I suggest that's fine, if you have the money to pay for the heating at a lower level. I do but I'd sooner spend the money on other things. I am troubled that the main message from other members is that it's better for old, frail or otherwise vulnerable people to die from the cold, rather than for anyone try following my advice. Do they think that if these people wear as many clothes as I do, then they will die even quicker.

The comment about hands and feet getting cold is interesting. My finding is that if my hands get cold inside the house, then I am not wearing enough on my body; especially on my legs. So anyone could try that. You could start by wearing two layers of polyester base garments, top and bottom, to see how much lower you can set the heating and still stay perfectly warm. My guess is that it might allow you to stay warm at 16C or something like that.

bargainbetty

HertsLad said:

QrizB said:

it seems quite an extreme move to give up on heating altogether, rather than just turning the 'stat down.

With respect, I suggest that's fine, if you have the money to pay for the heating at a lower level. I do but I'd sooner spend the money on other things. I am troubled that the main message from other members is that it's better for old, frail or otherwise vulnerable people to die from the cold, rather than for anyone try following my advice. Do they think that if these people wear as many clothes as I do, then they will die even quicker.

Literally no one said that.

What people have said is that for many people your recommendations are effectively unworkable. If it works for you, lovely. However, small children cannot live like that. Sick people cannot live like that. To suggest that the government should give out packs of clothing (as opposed to using their frankly unlimited powers to apply windfall taxes to the power company profits and thereby help fund those in need) is bizarre. 

There are any number of reasons that your idea is not workable for a number of people and, given that there are workplace regulations regarding the recommendations for temperatures for workers, to suggest that low temperatures is safe for all with creative clothing choices is ableist and in potentially dangerous advice. 

theoretica

HertsLad said:

QrizB said:

it seems quite an extreme move to give up on heating altogether, rather than just turning the 'stat down.

With respect, I suggest that's fine, if you have the money to pay for the heating at a lower level. I do but I'd sooner spend the money on other things. I am troubled that the main message from other members is that it's better for old, frail or otherwise vulnerable people to die from the cold, rather than for anyone try following my advice. Do they think that if these people wear as many clothes as I do, then they will die even quicker.

The comment about hands and feet getting cold is interesting. My finding is that if my hands get cold inside the house, then I am not wearing enough on my body; especially on my legs. So anyone could try that. You could start by wearing two layers of polyester base garments, top and bottom, to see how much lower you can set the heating and still stay perfectly warm. My guess is that it might allow you to stay warm at 16C or something like that.

Well no, strangely you advice has been tried - historically it was the default.

The thing is for clothing to work to keep you warm your body needs to be generating enough warmth, and distributing it with decent circulation.  As you get a less active metabolism there may not be enough warmth generated to cope as well with the loss levels through the clothing - even at the lower loss levels through your sort of clothing. My older relatives had all grown up without central heating, several were experienced all weather campers and knew a lot about dressing for the conditions - but found that what they had been doing just wasn't working as well. 

schnegge_london

HertsLad said:

QrizB said:

it seems quite an extreme move to give up on heating altogether, rather than just turning the 'stat down.

With respect, I suggest that's fine, if you have the money to pay for the heating at a lower level. I do but I'd sooner spend the money on other things. I am troubled that the main message from other members is that it's better for old, frail or otherwise vulnerable people to die from the cold, rather than for anyone try following my advice. Do they think that if these people wear as many clothes as I do, then they will die even quicker.

The comment about hands and feet getting cold is interesting. My finding is that if my hands get cold inside the house, then I am not wearing enough on my body; especially on my legs. So anyone could try that. You could start by wearing two layers of polyester base garments, top and bottom, to see how much lower you can set the heating and still stay perfectly warm. My guess is that it might allow you to stay warm at 16C or something like that.

No, simply no! What the majority is saying that nobody in the UK in the year 2022 should be forced to make that decision to try to live without heating in the winter, simply because heating is a luxury for them. 

What we need is not a government giving out more clothes to people, we need a government that cares more about the people rather than big businesses which are making millions over millions... 

HertsLad

theoretica said:

As you get a less active metabolism there may not be enough warmth generated to cope as well with the loss levels through the clothing - even at the lower loss levels through your sort of clothing. My older relatives had all grown up without central heating, several were experienced all weather campers and knew a lot about dressing for the conditions - but found that what they had been doing just wasn't working as well. 

I agree I may reach an age when my approach no longer works. I will see. I am currently in my mid 60s and have not yet noticed any change in the ease of leaving the heating off, than when I started in my 50s. But anyone who is cold will almost certainly be warmer if they wear more layers, especially on their legs, so I still hope my finding are of interest. Media articles and photos of people suffering in cold homes suggest they are not wearing enough, while trying to keep warm under a blanket on the sofa, for example. I would be cold if I acted like that and I would hate being stuck on the sofa or in bed all day, rather than being able to move around freely, as I do, without ever getting cold. 

Astria

The comment about hands and feet getting cold is interesting. My finding is that if my hands get cold inside the house, then I am not wearing enough on my body; especially on my legs. So anyone could try that. You could start by wearing two layers of polyester base garments, top and bottom, to see how much lower you can set the heating and still stay perfectly warm. My guess is that it might allow you to stay warm at 16C or something like that.

My hands, feet, nose, ears, etc all get freezing cold because of a lack of blood supply, caused by the cold temperatures narrowing the blood vessels. There are 2 ways of fixing this - doing enough physical activity to increase blood supply or by wearing a mask and gloves. The latter only delays the problem though - my extremities would still get cold enough to be painful, and exercising for 24 hours a day really isn't viable.