How to live without heating - save £000s

EssexHebridean

Astria - my first reaction on reading that post from the OP was that he has NO understanding of Reynauds syndrome, or the purely miserable levels of pain it can cause. Lucky him! As I said I my original response - pure ableism!  

HertsLad

Astria said:

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. 

I am sorry to hear that. If it's (only) cold temperatures which narrow the blood vessels, then is there a possibility you probably wouldn't be cold if you wore more clothes? All I know is that I am perfectly warm in myself (underneath the clothes), or I would probably suffer from the same problem.

MattMattMattUK

This all sounds insane, the solution is far better insulation. Even over winter the lowest temperature my flat drops to is 14c, and that is when I have not been at home generating any other heat for days and with the heating off, in normal being at home an generating heat it rarely drops below 17c and an hour with the heating is more than enough to keep things at 19c.

EssexHebridean

HertsLad said:

Astria said:

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. 

I am sorry to hear that. If it's (only) cold temperatures which narrow the blood vessels, then is there a possibility you probably wouldn't be cold if you wore more clothes? All I know is that I am perfectly warm in myself (underneath the clothes), or I would probably suffer from the same problem.

The person you are responding to in such patronising terms has a MEDICAL CONDITION which causes the issues they are talking about. I suffer from it in a (thankfully) fairly minor way too - hands and feet going pure white, cold and numb to the touch even when the rest of the body feels warm - I can be out running and my fingers will - in spite of me wearing gloves and my hands literally feeling warm  - turn white and rapidly become painful. Doctors are unable to do anything to cure this issue, yet you think that "wearing more clothes" might sort it? Away with you - registering on here purely to troll like this is cheap and nasty. I had my doubts when someone else suggested your post was a mickey take - but now I suspect they're right. Go and have your fun elsewhere, please, rather than being downright offensive on a forum where, mostly, people are here to help others. 

KittenChops

For the OP:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/raynauds/
Note the section entitled 'Things you can do to help Raynaud's' - number one on the list is "keep your home warm"

Rosa_Damascena

HertsLad said:

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. 

My suspicion is that you may have a good distribution of brown fat but I also worry that in your mid-60s you may be so used to being cold that you won't recognise hypothermia when it hits.

I turned my thermostat down to 12degC and I am consequently glued to my HWB, have a thick coat over my layers AND an snuggling under 2 thick throws. I'm not badly off but the increase in energy bills has hit me hard! I'm not ashamed to say that mild as it has been this winter, this lifestyle is making me miserable.

HertsLad

EssexHebridean said:

registering on here purely to troll like this is cheap and nasty. I had my doubts when someone else suggested your post was a mickey take - but now I suspect they're right. 

I am sorry you accuse me of being some kind of troll. Which aspects of what I've said do you feel are the most likely to be a wind-up or downright lie? I know I stay perfectly warm by wearing enough clothes, and not burning money on heating. I can't be unique even if we need to exclude anyone with a medical condition such as Raynauds. I hoped others may be interested in my findings, given the sky high price of energy, but it seems not. 

Rosa- I am quite slim so I doubt if I have much fat. Moreover, I know I get cold like anyone else, if I am not wearing enough clothes, so I cannot accept that I am in some way conditioned to being cold. 

theoretica

HertsLad said:

EssexHebridean said:

registering on here purely to troll like this is cheap and nasty. I had my doubts when someone else suggested your post was a mickey take - but now I suspect they're right. 

I am sorry you accuse me of being some kind of troll. Which aspects of what I've said do you feel are the most likely to be a wind-up or downright lie? I know I stay perfectly warm by wearing enough clothes, and not burning money on heating. I can't be unique even if we need to exclude anyone with a medical condition such as Raynauds. I hoped others may be interested in my findings, given the sky high price of energy, but it seems not. 

Rosa- I am quite slim so I doubt if I have much fat. Moreover, I know I get cold like anyone else, if I am not wearing enough clothes, so I cannot accept that I am in some way conditioned to being cold. 

It is your extrapolation from what works for you to that also working for other people, especially those sufficiently vulnerable to die from lack of heating that is offensive.  Blaming people for dying because they are too stupid to wear proper clothes?

If you had presented it as a personal choice that your own situation allowed you to make that would be less outrageous.

wild666

I feel the cold but extra layers of clothing combats the cold in winter. Thermal vests and leggings with fleeced jogging pants over the lower half and a T-Shirt and fleeced dressing gown over the upper body means only my hands get cold, the cold hands don't bother me.  

PennineAcute

As Bors has found out, just because you can, doesn't mean that you should.