the ice man cometh! (merged with keeping warm)

HOLsale

Chipps wrote:

Oh, storage heaters!!!!!!
We used to have those, they were lovely in the morning - if anything a bit too warm, but by the evening they were hopeless. As we home educated out 2 youngest it was ok because the house was always warm throughout the day. But as you couldn't adjust them much once they had taken in the heat overnight, it did mean that if the day was warmer than expected you had to open windows to cool down in the daytime. Or freeze if you expected it to be warmer, and hadn't made them take in enough overnight.
Worst of all, if there was a power cut in the night there was NO hope of heat in the house until the next day, cos they had to heat up all through the next night before being of any use whatsoever.
Can't say I miss them much!
ps. we had a combination of very old ones & brand new ones, & there was not a great deal to choose between them, although the new ones were a little bit better & looked nicer.

i hear you with the problems with them! can't stand them myself but we're in rented flats and as i said we don't pay for the heat so can't complain too loudly.

these particular heaters have a special feature i've not seen before... they have boosters on them. unfortunately THAT function is hooked up to our electric meter so we have only used that twice over the last 16 months for about 15 min each time BUT if there was a powercut during the night we could have heat once the power went back on. we'd pay through the nose for it but under circumstances like that I could probably be persuaded to leave it on for an hour or so to take the worst of the chill off the room we were mainly using (the rest of the rooms could stay cold!)

when i was a kid we had a flat that we lived in that had something rather similar to the storage heaters but they were individually controlled. we must have had some kind of economy settings (this was in the states and as an adult i'd never heard of it but it probably exists there too) so she'd only allow us to turn the heaters on in the bedroom at night.

we were also only allowed to have it on for 30 min max (we were desperately poor) my bedroom had two windows so it got really cold too. heaven help me if i forgot to turn on my heater half hour before bed because my mom set a very strict bedtime for me so if i forgot i just didn't get heat that night :eek: (i grew up REALLY fast back then!)

even with the heat on it was still desperately cold and i would go to bed fully clothed with several pairs of socks on. i slept inside a sleeping bag that folded over at the top to form sort of arms. over this i had 3 wool army blankets and a heavy quilt. i'd crawl in and shiver so hard sometimes it made me feel ill. i used to sing myself to sleep to keep my mind off the cold. i was 10 years old then and pray i'll never have to resort to that sort of thing except in emergencies... i'm only 34 now so it's not like it was some sort of war time effort...

i've also lived in two houses on skye with only an open fireplace for heat... now THAT is damned cold let me tell you

there is a saying about open fireplaces
'warms the hands
freezes the back
heats the sky'

ain't that the truth! what i wouldn't give though for an aga or a woodburning stove... though i think the landlords might take acception to me installing those kinds of things :rotfl:

jen_jen_2

Given we're being told that this winter will be more cold than normal and we all want to save money on our fuel bills what are the old style ways of keeping the heat in and keeping ourselves warm.

i am aware of:

wear layers to trap the heat in

if your feet are cold and you have socks on put on another pair and your feet will get warm

What other tips do you oldstlyers have???

squeaky

Hi jen

We have an older long running thread on Old Style about keeping warm this winter and so I'll merge your post into it.

Since posts are listed in date order you'll need to read from the beginning to catch up with us.

Penny-Pincher!!

Not very OS, but bought a pair of microwavable heated slippers from ebay last week and they are brilliant! 90 seconds and there toasty! I have Raynards in feet and hands and these have helped alot.

They were £9.00 and had a free voucher for postage up too £2.50. Cheapest Ive seen is £15

PP
xx

tootles_2

squeaky wrote:

Hi jen

We have an older long running thread on Old Style about keeping warm this winter and so I'll merge your post into it.

Since posts are listed in date order you'll need to read from the beginning to catch up with us.

Can you put a link in to this thread, I'd like to read it too.......

squeaky

You are now IN it tootles, just start reading from the beginning

chinagirl

Smashing_Blouse wrote:

Our house, 3 bed semi. is all electric so we dread the power cuts. We also have storage heaters which never seem to kick out much heat other than the one in the bedroom which is too hot. No heating in the kitchen or bathroom. Mind you the office at work still have the air con on. :eek:

Our house was heated just like that when we moved in a year ago. First thing we did was rip the heaters out and install gas central heating. I love it !
On cold days you can usually find me hugging a radiator, nothing quite like it. My washing is dry in a few hours draped on the radiators (especially the ladder radiator in the bathroom, meant for towels, but brill for drying jeans, trousers etc.) Also, heating by gas has got to be cheaper than electric.

frizz_head

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

Not very OS, but bought a pair of microwavable heated slippers from ebay last week and they are brilliant! 90 seconds and there toasty! I have Raynards in feet and hands and these have helped alot.

They were £9.00 and had a free voucher for postage up too £2.50. Cheapest Ive seen is £15

PP
xx

I got some for my mum for Christmas from John Lewis - they smell lovely (lavender).

HOLsale

jen_jen wrote:

Given we're being told that this winter will be more cold than normal and we all want to save money on our fuel bills what are the old style ways of keeping the heat in and keeping ourselves warm.

i am aware of:

wear layers to trap the heat in

if your feet are cold and you have socks on put on another pair and your feet will get warm

What other tips do you oldstlyers have???

clean or dance around when you're cold, it'll warm you up

if you're doing a lot of activities that require sitting get up every 20 minutes and move around for a wee bit. sitting for long periods lowers your metabolic rate so you'll get colder!

if you keep your hands and your feet warm the rest of you usually follows

1purplefairy

Well, growing up in a much warmer country (where the coldest temp in winter would be around 10 degrees) i am experiencing my first real 'cold' winter over here! Having read this thread has helped me a lot to warm up..

Quick Tip: Visited France this wkd and came back thinking this country is really warm!!

Does anyone have any tips for the condensation in our bedrooms on the windows and windowsills? have laid out some newspaper to soak up the puddles, but i am still not liking the idea of the windowsills and window frame getting mouldy...opening the window too big doesn't help for the cold as we dont keep the heating on during the night...or would we have to get a de-humidifier?