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How to live without heating - save £000s

edited 24 February 2022 at 4:10PM in Energy
777 replies 76.8K views
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  • QrizBQrizB Forumite
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    HertsLad said:
    All I can suggest is that others try it, to see if it works for them, rather than be deterred by the doubters and sceptics.
    And congratulations for trying it, and finding that it works for you.
    You're right that umpteen previous generations will have lived like this and humanity survived. But (as has been mentioned in several previous replies) there are a relatively large number of people alive now who wouldn't cope - many of them older and/or with chronic illnesses.
    Best not to assume it will work for everyone.
    N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Go elec & Tracker gas / Voda BB / Lyca mobi. Ripple WT2 member.
    2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 2.5kw inverter. 29MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.
    Kinda busy right now but I try to pop back to the forum every so often. Drop me a PM if you need me!
  • HertsLadHertsLad Forumite
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    QrizB said:
    Best not to assume it will work for everyone.
    I agree. Well said. I certainly never have thought it will work for everyone but I would hazard a guess it could help a significant number of people who either can't pay or (like me) won't pay sky high prices for heating energy. I intend continuing with this as long as I can. If I am lucky enough to live to my mid-eighties I wonder if it will still be possible. I know full well that if social services, a care assistant, GP or anyone needs to visit they will be shocked, unable to understand and will probably do everything they can to move me away or turn the heating on, if it still works by then, which seems unlikely. I guess there will be one almighty row, if I still feel as warm as I have this winter and every winter for the past 11 years.
  • JGB1955JGB1955 Forumite
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    Just thinking - I'm guessing the last time people lived without heating was in the Stone Age?  Or had they discovered fire already?
    #2 Saving for Christmas 2023 - £1 a day challenge DONE and DUSTED! £1460£1460
  • QrizBQrizB Forumite
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    JGB1955 said:
    Just thinking - I'm guessing the last time people lived without heating was in the Stone Age?  Or had they discovered fire already?
    Apparently homo discovered fire before we were homo sapiens, around 2M years ago:
    It's longer than I thought, to be honest.
    N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Go elec & Tracker gas / Voda BB / Lyca mobi. Ripple WT2 member.
    2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 2.5kw inverter. 29MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.
    Kinda busy right now but I try to pop back to the forum every so often. Drop me a PM if you need me!
  • edited 10 February 2022 at 10:22PM
    SwipeSwipe Forumite
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    edited 10 February 2022 at 10:22PM
    I think running the boiler and heating the house to 12C-15C is a much more civilised compromise that shouldn't cost that much. I'm sitting here right now at 18C with a thick fleece on and my feet inside my electric foot warmer. I've sat at 16C for long periods of time but my hands start to go cold and need my woolly hat below that.
  • edited 11 February 2022 at 12:14AM
    SpiesSpies Forumite
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    edited 11 February 2022 at 12:14AM
    I've decided to adjust my thermostat, I used £78 of gas on my last bill  :(

    8.30 - 17.30 = 16c
    17.30 - 21.30 = 19c
    21.30 - 8.30 = 14c

    House is occupied all day. 

    See what it saves me as I had heat set to 16c overnight so on cold days the heating was starting to come on about 5am and 18c between 8.30 and 10.00
    4.29kWp Solar system, 45/55 South/West split in cloudy rainy Cumbria. 
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