Is it time to put on the heat/light the fire?

_Kaiser_

So it's mid-September and it's cold out there people!

Weather like yesterday doesn't bother me but I HATE the cold - but I hate the gas bills even more! Don't know if I'll be able to hold out much longer though.. damn ground floor apartment and its cold hallway!

Who's relented and turned on the heating/lit the fire already?

get something for the back of your hall door to keep out any drafts.

Turn the heating on

The Backwards Man

I put on the stove every day, summer and winter. Cosy to look at, heats the water and keeps my bum warm. Stoves rock.

Wacker The Attacker

Wait until winter arrives

I've been lighting the fire since last week. Had the heating on for a few days too but only because the electric shower and immersion packed in at the same time. Shower now working, just as we'll as the oil has ran out!

seosamh1980

We turned on the heat one night two weeks ago and not since, but thinking of lighting the fire tonight, more because I'm in the mood for it than I need to for heat.

bumper234

Had a nice blazing coal fire last night:D

Links234

nope?

not getting that cold at all yet, hopefully won't have to put the heating on until November

I miss my open fire so peaceful to sit and stare into it on a cold night

judgefudge

I'm a student and live alone so I'm tryin to avoid big gas bills. Doesn't help that I live in an old house and it's freezing.

Wear lots of layers!

bumper234

Jake1 wrote: »

I miss my open fire so peaceful to sit and stare into it on a cold night

My young lad (20 months) was fascinated by it.

seosamh1980

judgefudge wrote: »

I'm a student and live alone so I'm tryin to avoid big gas bills. Doesn't help that I live in an old house and it's freezing.

Wear lots of layers!

I work from home quite a lot and it's awful in winter, don't want to turn on the heating because I'll have to pay for it, but am freezing all day. So many layers, but my feet still freeze

SCOOP 64

just put a extra jumper on,
suppose to get warmer at weekend

bumper234

bumper234 wrote: »

My young lad (20 months) was fascinated by it.

haha, me too, I could and watch it like a telly

judgefudge

seosamh1980 wrote: »

I work from home quite a lot and it's awful in winter, don't want to turn on the heating because I'll have to pay for it, but am freezing all day. So many layers, but my feet still freeze

And fingers! Sometimes even my face. I just end up going to bed really early!

Catari Jaguar

Hoodie, blanket on the couch, heat and/or fire on. I hate the cold. I don't care how much it costs. House I rent has awful draughts and little insulation, it gets down to 8 degree and it's physically painful.

shruikan2553

Living above a shop causes the living room/kitchen to be warm but the bedrooms tend to be cold in the mornings. Find it hard to justify turning on the heating for me to be a bit more comfortable for 10 minutes . The hot water uses electricity so trying to keep bills down.

seosamh1980

judgefudge wrote: »

And fingers! Sometimes even my face. I just end up going to bed really early!

It's so horrible, prolonged cold extremities. My nose is always cold too My feet and hands have been cold since last week, that'll be it now until April probably.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Coal fire lit every evening since Sunday. Cosy, heats the whole house and lashings of hot water. Coal is great value and has hardly rising in price in years.

shuffles88

Weston Juicy Lava wrote: »

Coal fire lit every evening since Sunday. Cosy, heats the whole house and lashings of hot water. Coal is great value and has hardly rising in price in years.

Shhh....say nothing the budget is coming up:rolleyes:

leahyl

Weather is meant to be in the 20's again next week so don't worry OP it's a false alarm - autumn/winter isn't setting in just yet!

Links234

I do wish I had a stove though, for those cold winter months, nothing'd beat it

Mint Sauce

Put the heating on yesterday for about an hour or two, first time since last winter. Same again today.

Fire has not been lit yet, but could be this weekend if weather stays the same.

Flutterby80

The heating is on full whack in my house since I arrived home from work, cannot stand being cold! I'll worry about the gas bill when it arrives!

I am holding off, it is going to get warmer at the weekend its not that cold yet.


My idea of the essence of comfort is a day when it lasing rain and freezing out side and I am inside with a big fire on preferable turf and I would just sit and look at the fire.

Karl Stein

I just intend to put an extra few layers of blubber on like a big fat Elephant Seal.

*munches on double cheese & bacon burger*

DoozerT6

re: heating - is it normal with STORAGE HEATING, to have bills of €300+ every two months for a one bed apartment???? It's purely the heating driving up the costs like this, I live alone and during the summer my two-monthly bills are under €100. These bills crucify me, but it's really too cold not to have it on all the time as it takes too long to heat up overnight otherwise

Links234

DoozerT6 wrote: »

re: heating - is it normal with STORAGE HEATING, to have bills of €300+ every two months for a one bed apartment???? It's purely the heating driving up the costs like this, I live alone and during the summer my two-monthly bills are under €100. These bills crucify me, but it's really too cold not to have it on all the time as it takes too long to heat up overnight otherwise

Storage heaters ****ing suck, they eat up electricy, so check the settings on it and make sure it's not turned up full. also, if you're finding yourself leaving them on all night, try just turning it on for a couple of hours either before you go to bed, or as you get up in the morning, which should be doable on a night rate electricity. like for example, if you're going to sleep at 1am, turn it off before you go to bed

SCOOP 64

Why didn't they built new houses with back boilers,so at least when your burning Coal your heating the water as well.

DoozerT6

Links234 wrote: »

Storage heaters ****ing suck, they eat up electricy, so check the settings on it and make sure it's not turned up full. also, if you're finding yourself leaving them on all night, try just turning it on for a couple of hours either before you go to bed, or as you get up in the morning, which should be doable on a night rate electricity. like for example, if you're going to sleep at 1am, turn it off before you go to bed

This is the thing - once I turn on the heating I don't turn it off at all - ie, I turn the heating on (2 rads in living area) in say, October and turn it off again around April/May... I thought it had to be left on, as once you turn it on it takes it overnight to heat up, so what would be the point in turning it on and off when you would be waiting so long for heat? I also have no means of setting or timing it to come on/off, so I would be relying on having to remember to physically turn it on/off every day which is not ideal. I fiddle with the heat settings on the rads themselves if it's too hot or cold, but there is no 'master' switch or panel to control the heating system. I switch them on (winter) and off (summer) at the wall beside the heaters themselves.

Am I doing this completely wrong??

jimgoose

I've one of these three-zone automatic thermostat-controlled setups, with a new super-efficient gas boiler. I had it fitted a couple of years ago, and I just dial in a civilised 22 Celsius and let it sort itself out. Cheap-as-chips compared to the old heap I had. :cool:

jimgoose

Charlie Rock wrote: »

I just intend to put an extra few layers of blubber on like a big fat Elephant Seal.

*munches on double cheese & bacon burger*

Promote that man. Grizzlies have the right of it.

seosamh1980

DoozerT6 wrote: »

This is the thing - once I turn on the heating I don't turn it off at all - ie, I turn the heating on (2 rads in living area) in say, October and turn it off again around April/May... I thought it had to be left on, as once you turn it on it takes it overnight to heat up, so what would be the point in turning it on and off when you would be waiting so long for heat? I also have no means of setting or timing it to come on/off, so I would be relying on having to remember to physically turn it on/off every day which is not ideal. I fiddle with the heat settings on the rads themselves if it's too hot or cold, but there is no 'master' switch or panel to control the heating system. I switch them on (winter) and off (summer) at the wall beside the heaters themselves.

Am I doing this completely wrong??

You leave your heating on, completely on, from October to April? We turn ours on for 2-4 hours a day when needed (not storage heaters though). When I lived in a place with storage heaters we had them timed to come on for just a few hours, the one in my room didn't have a timer so I turned it on and off every time, it's not rocket science and saves spending that much! Ours never took overnight to heat up?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

Why didn't they built new houses with back boilers,so at least when your burning Coal your heating the water as well.

They do! If you're having your own home built you can of course out a decent back boiler in.

Stargate

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

So it's mid-September and it's cold out there people!

Weather like yesterday doesn't bother me but I HATE the cold - but I hate the gas bills even more! Don't know if I'll be able to hold out much longer though.. damn ground floor apartment and its cold hallway!

Who's relented and turned on the heating/lit the fire already?

Same here Kaiser . I hate the winter months with a vengeance !!
When it was 25/28 degrees i was in my element lol , I'd rather it too hot then too cold Have an open fire , but no back boiler , total waste of heat , and the price of oil is just nuts !

Stargate

DoozerT6

seosamh1980 wrote: »

You leave your heating on, completely on, from October to April? We turn ours on for 2-4 hours a day when needed (not storage heaters though). When I lived in a place with storage heaters we had them timed to come on for just a few hours, the one in my room didn't have a timer so I turned it on and off every time, it's not rocket science and saves spending that much! Ours never took overnight to heat up?

But my storage heaters don't have a timer the little heater in my bedroom does and I set it to come on for a few minutes in the morning and that's it, maybe throw it on for a few minutes before going to bed. There seems to be no other way to control the heaters in my living room other than physically turning them on and off. Is this how you work it?

jimgoose

DoozerT6 wrote: »

But my storage heaters don't have a timer the little heater in my bedroom does and I set it to come on for a few minutes in the morning and that's it, maybe throw it on for a few minutes before going to bed. There seems to be no other way to control the heaters in my living room other than physically turning them on and off. Is this how you work it?

Get a clatter of these. Any electrical or DIY place will have them:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hour-Mains-Plug-Timer-Switch/dp/B00B26ASVC

DoozerT6

jimgoose wrote: »

Get a clatter of these. Any electrical or DIY place will have them:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hour-Mains-Plug-Timer-Switch/dp/B00B26ASVC

My heaters were wired into the wall when the place was built, so no plugs to be seen to use these unfortunately

SCOOP 64

Weston Juicy Lava wrote: »

They do! If you're having your own home built you can of course out a decent back boiler in.

Only if your paying for your own build , new housing estates and one off builds to sell on rarely come with back boiler.

starlit

Yes occassionally the last few days but i try to layer on clothes.

Ruu

It is yeah....

DoozerT6

DoozerT6 wrote: »

re: heating - is it normal with STORAGE HEATING, to have bills of €300+ every two months for a one bed apartment???? It's purely the heating driving up the costs like this, I live alone and during the summer my two-monthly bills are under €100. These bills crucify me, but it's really too cold not to have it on all the time as it takes too long to heat up overnight otherwise

Turn off the storage heater and get an electric fan heater, 5 minutes blasts a room with heat, they're awesome.

FanadMan

Fire on since the weekend storms and been on every evening since - bloody freezing up here!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

Only if your paying for your own build , new housing estates and one off builds to sell on rarely come with back boiler.

Oh dear! Just as well I paid for my own build then.

I did say "if you're having your own house built. :rolleyes

woodoo

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I put on the stove every day, summer and winter. Cosy to look at, heats the water and keeps my bum warm. Stoves rock.

Thats a bit mental. One of my neighbours had the fire on even in July during the heat wave. I couldn't believe it.

seosamh1980

DoozerT6 wrote: »

But my storage heaters don't have a timer the little heater in my bedroom does and I set it to come on for a few minutes in the morning and that's it, maybe throw it on for a few minutes before going to bed. There seems to be no other way to control the heaters in my living room other than physically turning them on and off. Is this how you work it?

Didn't I just say that my heater had no timer? Turn it on and off yourself! Pretty sure people survived with heaters that didn't individual timers for a long time...

flutterflye

Is it not a bit of a strange question?
A bit like "I'm hungry, should I eat something?".
If you're too cold, you put on an extra layer - If that doesn't help, put the heating on.
Hardly rocket science.

0ph0rce0

A lot of cheap whores in here. It would seem most of you would rather freeze to death than shell out a few pence for an hour or two of heat.

seosamh1980

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

A lot of cheap whores in here. It would seem most of you would rather freeze to death than shell out a few pence for an hour or two of heat.

Or, people don't have money to spare and only want to spend it when really necessary?

Galwayguy35

Had a coal fire on since Sunday, don't light the fire till about 6ish, bought a pallet of coal last Feb and still have most of it, coal is great value.

Ihatecuddles-old

No Its cuddle weather!