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

Old_Grey_Mare

HertsLad said:

Anthear said:

Bonkers.  I have a number of layers on my mid-section - two body warmers and thick scarf and am still cold.  To keep my legs warm would have to wear ski trousers and even then, I think I would struggle.  I don't heat to anywhere near 20 degrees - 17 is pushing it but any colder is miserable, in my view.

I know layering to stay warm without heating is not for everyone - far from it judging by the lack of take up on this thread. But you are not even trying. I would probably be as cold as you at 17C if wearing as little. I suggest you are bonkers for being so prepared to spend whatever it costs to keep the air where you live, so warm.

I would like to thank you for this thread. It’s been very interesting. Due to a problem with our boiler and a catalogue of errors into trying to sort it, we have lived without heating and hot water since just before Christmas. We have one working gas fire in our large 1920s house that is used for a couple of hours in the evening. By dressing adequately in layers of clothing we have not felt really cold. We are both quite active around the home and in the garden. The house has dropped to as low as 9 degrees and never higher than 13.5 but we have remained healthy.

Eldi_Dos

It would be worth reading the 'Keep warm' advice issued by the British Frozen Food Federation to employees if you find yourself in a situation where you have no heating for a length of time.

HertsLad

Eldi_Dos said:

It would be worth reading the 'Keep warm' advice issued by the British Frozen Food Federation to employees if you find yourself in a situation where you have no heating for a length of time.

I'd be interested, except it says 'members only'.

Eldi_Dos

You can find it under Working in a Coldstore Environment /Keep warm advice on the bfff website.

EssexHebridean

This information, I assume? https://bfff.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Working-in-a-Coldstore-Environment.pdf

HertsLad

EH - it's so good of you to have found the document and posted the link. You succeeded after I failed! There are some interesting points mentioned. I will post some further comments later.

Jyana

Due my boiler being unusable for most of this winter, I have had to make do without the central heating up until now and had to rely on layering up. It's something I have been used to in the past, though it has been a few years so I did pick up a few tips from this post.

Now the weather has improved, I have ditched the polyester base layers the last couple of weeks, and with them have finally got to the bottom of why my skin has been so dry and flaky since around Christmas time. It's cleared up very quickly now I'm not clad in polyester any more, but my elbows in particular were dreadful. I tried every dry skin cream under the sun and they still peeled and felt very tender for a while. I've always had dry skin, and do spend rather a lot on my girlie lotions and potions, but this was another level and I'm not sure I want to be wearing the base layers again next year to save a few bob if it's going to do that to my skin again unfortunately. 

HertsLad

Jyana said:

Due my boiler being unusable for most of this winter, I have had to make do without the central heating up until now and had to rely on layering up. It's something I have been used to in the past, though it has been a few years so I did pick up a few tips from this post.

Now the weather has improved, I have ditched the polyester base layers the last couple of weeks, and with them have finally got to the bottom of why my skin has been so dry and flaky since around Christmas time. It's cleared up very quickly now I'm not clad in polyester any more, but my elbows in particular were dreadful. I tried every dry skin cream under the sun and they still peeled and felt very tender for a while. I've always had dry skin, and do spend rather a lot on my girlie lotions and potions, but this was another level and I'm not sure I want to be wearing the base layers again next year to save a few bob if it's going to do that to my skin again unfortunately. 

I am sorry to hear the polyester base layers appeared to cause skin dryness in your case  I'm lucky that I haven't noticed any side effects whatsoever.  You could try merino wool but it's more expensive. The savings can be far more than a few bob, of course. I suggest it can be in the thousands of pounds, depending on what you would otherwise spend on heating.

dealyboy

I have suffered intermittent itchy raised red patches on the fingers of my right hand these past three months but they have now mostly cleared up. I didn't know what it was until about a month ago when somebody had a look.

I thought it was odd that my left hand was completely unaffected, but thought it likely to be contact dermatitis. I suffered it a bit last winter but not during the summer. I am right handed, but not exclusively.

The local pharmacist had a look and she said it looked like chilblains to her and when I explained that I generally don't have the heating on but use the layers technique as popularised by the lad down the road, she went 'mmm'. 'It generally doesn't go below 10 degrees' I said, ... 'mmm'.

'Oh I know what it is, it's me on my laptop early in the morning. I am a one-fingered typist and mouse user, all right handed', ... typing my replies to moneysavingexpert ... doh!

Alnat1

I used to have the same problem. I now have a small throw which goes over my right shoulder and covers the hand with the mouse. A scarf would probably work too.