How to live without heating - save £000s

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@Scot_39 I put my desiccant ones on the timer in my unheated spare rooms to stop window condensation on frosty nights and use the refrigerant one in my heated hall to supplement my storage heater on the low setting (13C - 15C ambient temp). 

Scot_39

Yes I keep my halls and bedrooms at 14/15 too.

It keeps the bills managable.

I used to try 15 in LR - but even layered 15 getting to be a bit of a push. I was resorting to fingerless gloves at my computer desk.

Back to 16/17 this winter.

Green_hopeful

We have a large draughty house with wooden double glazed windows. We get lots of condensation on the windows in the rooms we use but rarely get any condensation in the rooms we don’t use and as a result we don’t heat. The rooms we heat we roughly follow the warm house principles of heating to 15 degrees all the time but topping it up to 17 degrees a couple of times a day. I think the idea is not to let the building get too hot or too cold. We are home all the time. We try to minimise the humidity indoors. We run dehumidifiers on a timer in the rooms we use and window vac our bedroom windows and any that have condensation. We also window vac the shower every use. We dry our washing outside. We get barely any mould and with a few layers we are warm enough. I realise not everyone can afford to heat their house like this but it has worked for a couple of years for us. 

mmmmikey

Good to see you back @HertsLad you deserve a knighthood for this thread. Lots of good ideas here, even for someone like me who keeps the house warm 24x7, mainly because of health issues.

What are your top 3 tips for anyone thinking of going "full HertsLad" this winter?

HertsLad

lilac_dawn said:

HertsLad said:

Will the loss of the winter heating allowance (£300 in my case) lead to more people getting cold or even dying this winter? See here:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/a-bad-winter-would-finish-me-off-the-pensioners-facing-fuel-poverty/ar-AA1pm2Wh?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=d5ebe278ac524058a6d52463f6d069b5&ei=19

Anyone familiar with this thread will probably guess my opinion. For a relatively small outlay on some base layers, plus down or Thinsulate insulated clothes on top, nobody needs to get cold at all. That's provided they are reasonably fit and healthy without underlying medical conditions. Basic message: don't waste money heating the home or even a single room but be sure to keep your core body temperature at a safe temperature.

That depends on the person though. In very cold weather, my heating has previously struggled to get above 16 degrees at full pelt (old storage heaters).It's down to 8 at night.  I wear heatgens as a matter of course, and I do find it patronising when someone says just put on another layer, especially if I have on heatgens, under the thermals, then normal layer, then wool jumper (as they are warmer) 2 layers on feet plus slippers, then top it off with a throw or an Oodie. Thermal curtain linings at windows, thick curtains, electric blanket... we all know these things but the bottom line is that some people feel the cold more than others and suffer more. 

I'm sorry if you find any of the suggestions patronising, I woudn't use a simplistic phrase like 'putting on an extra layer' because it's nowhere near as simple as that if you want to keep warm at lower temperatures. And how does it vary much between people if you leave out anyone who who has health issues?  I'm now almost 68 years old so I would probably be excluded by some 'experts'. It reads like you probably wear enough for 16C but you could probably cut back on heating if you added down or Thinsulate layers on top, and on your legs. Greater details and suggestions on specific products, with prices, were given further back in the thread. Throws or Oodies sound too loose and inconvenient, as well as having nowhere near the insulation qualities of down or Thinsulate.

Bendo

Spies said:

HertsLad said:

Will the loss of the winter heating allowance (£300 in my case) lead to more people getting cold or even dying this winter? See here:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/a-bad-winter-would-finish-me-off-the-pensioners-facing-fuel-poverty/ar-AA1pm2Wh?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=d5ebe278ac524058a6d52463f6d069b5&ei=19

Anyone familiar with this thread will probably guess my opinion. For a relatively small outlay on some base layers, plus down or Thinsulate insulated clothes on top, nobody needs to get cold at all. That's provided they are reasonably fit and healthy without underlying medical conditions. Basic message: don't waste money heating the home or even a single room but be sure to keep your core body temperature at a safe temperature.

You don't heat your house anyway so why should you get the £300?

The heating allowance should have always been means tested, my dad and my grandmother aren't short of cash (like really really comfortably well off) so they shouldn't be entitled to it, and I've have no issue telling them that to their faces.

But in their eyes, big bad labour are taking away something the Tories gave them 

It was Labour who gave it to them in the first place.

HertsLad

mmmmikey said:

Good to see you back @HertsLad you deserve a knighthood for this thread. Lots of good ideas here, even for someone like me who keeps the house warm 24x7, mainly because of health issues.

What are your top 3 tips for anyone thinking of going "full HertsLad" this winter?

Thank you for your kind words and positive attitude.

I must say I have been disappointed by the near-zero take-up of hardly any of my findings and suggestions, as set out in this thread. I accept that anyone on a high income probably doesn't need to bother, unless it's to help 'save the planet'. My income is low to mid £20K as a pensioner, so it's in my interest to cut back on energy costs, so I have more money to spend on holidays.

Tip 1: most people could benefit, surely, by being able to reduce the temperature a little or more by buying and wearing two layers of polyester base garments, top and bottom, like I do every day from roughly October to April. These are not very expensive from Decathlon or Sports Direct at around £7 each. Or pay 2x or 3x more, for no benefit, from shops such as John Lewis or Trespass. The total outlay for 2 sets (one set to wear and one to wash) is around 8 x £7 = £56. I regard it as a great investment, compared to the cost of energy to heat the air around you. Be sure to buy long sleeved tops. Add a shirt, pure wool jumper, denim jeans, and a Thinsulate hat, and I will be perfectly warm down to 12C or 13C. I would still suggest having a Thinsulate or down coat/jacket ready in case you haven't eaten enough or feel a bit colder for some reason, sometimes. I may occasionally wear the jacket at 12C or 13C but, most of the time, adding the jacket would allow me to stay warm down to perhaps 8C.

Tip 2: improve your quality of life by rejecting measures such as heating one room (to around 22C) or covering yourself in fabrics such as a throw, blanket or duvet. It must be so difficult to move around. Also reject ideas such as wearing electrically heated gloves, pads or similar. 

Tip 3: perhaps aim for heating your property to only 12C or 13C to build up confidence. I regard these temperatures as  so easy when I wear the relatively few clothes described above. If you have never worn two layers of polyester base garments, please try. It only gets more challenging when going down to 1C or 2C.

HertsLad

The temperature around here was 20C last week and 18C in my house this morning. But, this evening, I started to feel chilly after the thermometer went down to 17C. If anyone feels I am super hardy and have some immunity against the cold, it's simply not true. I was better prepared than at the end of Summer last year, and knew exactly where to find my base layers. I ended up picking two pairs of long johns from Sports Direct and two long sleeved tops bought from Decathlon. I also added a Thinsulate lined hat for good measure. Within a few minutes I no longer felt the slightest bit cold. My other clothes are the same as for between 18C and 20C, i.e denims, a shirt and a fleece.

I will update this thread as the temperature continues to drop and I add further layers.

wrf12345

I have lost ten percent of my body weight due to Keto diet, basically took out all the stubborn fat on stomach, love handles and backside, so back to where I was when a teenager, fifty years ago... which means no insulating layer of fat on my body so will be interesting to see how I do in the cold this time round. Usually only run the CH for two hourly sessions a day during Dec-Feb (less last year as it was relatively mild) and have managed to insulate my house quite well but most of the time am under ten degrees and layered up. THe loss of the WFA means I am inclined to use even less gas than before but not sure how my "new" body will react. My second layer is going to be a tight fitting quilted jacket that I got off Aliexpress for £6 (over a long-sleeved tee-shirt) whilst I have some tight fitting tracksuit bottoms as my first layer on the lower half (some of my trousers are now a bit loose from the weight loss so they fit nicely over those), and then layer up with pullovers and perhaps a larger quilted jacket when in the house. All good fun, I guess.

HertsLad

wrf12345 said:

 My second layer is going to be a tight fitting quilted jacket that I got off Aliexpress for £6 (over a long-sleeved tee-shirt) whilst I have some tight fitting tracksuit bottoms as my first layer on the lower half (some of my trousers are now a bit loose from the weight loss so they fit nicely over those), and then layer up with pullovers and perhaps a larger quilted jacket when in the house. All good fun, I guess.

I don't want to be too critical but what exactly is the filling type in the jacket from ali express, and how thick is it? My guess is relatively thin polyester. If so, it will have nowhere near the insulation qualities of good Thinsulate or down filled jackets. Down jackets can be bought on ali express at low cost, too. But you need to make sure the down is thick enough.

Also, I haven't tried tracksuit bottoms but they are looser fitting than base layers like I wear and more bulky too. I suggest you try base layers from Decathlon or Sports Direct instead of the tracksuit bottoms. One set will cost about 4 x £7 as an experiment. That's two pairs, worn one over the other, top and bottom.

Finally, is your pullover made of pure wool and quite thick? If not, replace it!