How to live without heating - save £000s

HertsLad

I got back to my car, parked in the Crawley area, at just gone midnight. My phone shows the temperature to be minus 2C. I think I will leave my day clothes on (not least to hold heat in) and climb straight into my sleeping bag. Colder than anything ever experienced in my house, for sure. 

Sea_Shell

HertsLad said:

I got back to my car, parked in the Crawley area, at just gone midnight. My phone shows the temperature to be minus 2C. I think I will leave my day clothes on (not least to hold heat in) and climb straight into my sleeping bag. Colder than anything ever experienced in my house, for sure. 

Could you not have just extended your holiday and booked in for a cheeky night in a budget hotel?   

It just seems so depressing to have come back from a lovely warm holiday and then choose to sleep in a freezing car.

Assuming it was a "choice". 

casjen

HertsLad said:

I got back to my car, parked in the Crawley area, at just gone midnight. My phone shows the temperature to be minus 2C. I think I will leave my day clothes on (not least to hold heat in) and climb straight into my sleeping bag. Colder than anything ever experienced in my house, for sure. 

I'm beginning to question how much of this saga is pure fiction IMO    ?...

Swipe

casjen said:

HertsLad said:

I got back to my car, parked in the Crawley area, at just gone midnight. My phone shows the temperature to be minus 2C. I think I will leave my day clothes on (not least to hold heat in) and climb straight into my sleeping bag. Colder than anything ever experienced in my house, for sure. 

I'm beginning to question how much of this saga is pure fiction IMO    ?...

Why do you say that?

Mstty

I suspect going from 28oC to -2oC will have been a shocking night in the car. Real bump back to your reality.

EssexHebridean

Sea_Shell said:

HertsLad said:

I got back to my car, parked in the Crawley area, at just gone midnight. My phone shows the temperature to be minus 2C. I think I will leave my day clothes on (not least to hold heat in) and climb straight into my sleeping bag. Colder than anything ever experienced in my house, for sure. 

Could you not have just extended your holiday and booked in for a cheeky night in a budget hotel?   

It just seems so depressing to have come back from a lovely warm holiday and then choose to sleep in a freezing car.

Assuming it was a "choice". 

I think we've established from the OP's posts previously in the thread that this is very much a matter of choice - almost a personal challenge, if you like - rather than in any way necessity. 

I hope you were right about the pipes being OK OP - it was -7 across the county boundary from you first thing this morning - and as you have said that previously your house has got to 2 degrees with you in it, cooking happening, lights on etc, I'd be surprised if a completely empty house for a week hasn't come closer to freezing than that. 

Alnat1

Let's hope we hear from the Lad soon and that he survived a night in the car.

zcfbg06

I'm a Brit living in Norway, where we get temperatures well into the minus double digits every year. I've never turned a heater on since I arrived here 8 years ago, but I'm in my 20's with a strong metabolism (professional athlete). I've also climbed in the Himalayas (where low partial pressure of oxygen attacks your ability to produce heat just as much as the actual temperature) so a bit of -10 deg is always going to feel ok in comparison. While I largely agree with the OP's view on the lack of focus on layering up (wool, merino wool, duck down feather with high fill numbers are all your friends), I can never fully experience what others will feel - so others can do as they please. Humidity is the big challenge at lower temperatures: opening windows, doors, reducing damp items, keeping draws/cupboards only half full to allow air circulation, and using a dehumidifier if needed - are all useful here. I also heat my room through 3-5 hour indoor cycling sessions (one for pro athletes only I guess) - but this also has a humidity issue. Keeping the head warm is a big deal as blood vessels around the cranium lack the ability to vasoconstrict (and thus save heat) to the same extent possessed by blood vessels from the rest of the body. 

PennyForThem_2

Thank you for the comment on keeping head warm - big advocate of that!  Wear a hat all the time, even in house and Victorians had right idea about a 'nightcap' - not the alcoholic sort though.

It also helps if you have a cat who drapes itself around your head when in bed (though there are other disadvantages to this).

fabsaver

I am not quite as extreme as the OP but I do live without any central heating and have done so for many winters already. I wear thermal underwear, fleeces and a furry lined jacket with a warm hood. I agree that keeping the head warm is very important. My right hand is coldest, from using the computer mouse on my desk, but I have partly solved that by wearing gloves and covering my hand / mouse with a furry hat 

When the temperature in my living room drops below 10C I switch on a small oil filled radiator next to my desk. In the exceptionally cold temperatures recently, the temperature in my living room in the morning has been around 5C to 6C. That is too cold even for me For the past week I have needed to run it for over 8 hours a day, hopefully that won't need to continue for much longer.

The rest of the house is unheated and I dread to think what the temperature is currently. I do use an electric blanket, so warm and toasty in bed, and wear hooded fleecy pyjamas.