period colds?

[robgil]

anyone else having to do without central heating at this time of year? i still havent got ours in yet and now all three of us have a stinking cold.

 

[asenath]

Count me in - I'm flipping freezing!

 

[middi]

Serves you right, you should have gathered the wood in the summer instead of wasting your time chatting on this site about how good open fires are :wink:

 

[robgil]

We cant even have an open fire yet , not until i get up into that roof space to check the pointing on the chimney. Knowing my luck my open fire would consist of a roof and most of the house.

 

[TomW]

I went through the worst of last winter with no central heating and no floor in the living room, you have my commiserations.
If you haven't got an electric blanket on the bed, get one asap. Sheer bliss, and I wouldn't be without it now.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

For those of you who remember the pics of my "minimalist" radiators over the past two winters, I have good news!

Our Irish government bonds have provided sufficient financial returns* for us to order the cast iron rads - they arrive in a couple of weeks. Wahay - we'll be warm for Christmas.

The log burner is burning wood at an alarming rate and causing such a draught through the house that the downwind side of you is roasting whilst the upwind side has frostbite from the windchill!

Am also bidding on a couple of AGAs on eBay, with a view to re-enamel and recondition works in the spring. More warmth.

*(OK, so they're junk but we've been saving instead!)

 

[middi]

There is a perfect solution to stop your backside frost bites when facing a GOOD log burner.

Even heat is the answer and you achieve that by sitting on a motorised barbers chair, just like a chicken on a spit ( :wink: )

The proper way of course is to have a hit and miss fronted 100mm air inlet as close to the fireplace as you can, then the air required for the updraught will not be "sucked" from the cracks, crevices and vents from the rest of the house creating these draughts across the living space.

Middi

 

[Tom]

We're still in our 2 bed static van (14th winter) and, as usual, have only a 2kw convector heater to keep warm. It's not that bad really. We obviously lose a lot of heat but compared to a house it's only a small-ish space to warm up. Worst things are ice on the inside of the windows, frozen toothpaste in a morning and, in the depths of winter, having to get the gas fired space heater blowing underneath to thaw the pipes out. Meanwhile, the log burner is keeping the house toasty warm :roll: :lol:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Middi - thanks.

Had been thinking of how to bring in airflow closer to the fire. Sadly, the chimney is in the middle of the house. But I have a plan.....

Tomorrow's job is to finally fit the register plate which will help somewhat. Although I am sad that I will no longer be able to look up the cavernous 7-foot wide castle-like chimney.

 

[Tom]

Why are you having a register plate? Is the log burner an 'open' one?

 

[Penners]

We're still in our 2 bed static van (14th winter) and, as usual, have only a 2kw convector heater to keep warm.

Years ago when we did the same as you, Jaqy, our 30ft caravan (which housed two adults, two children, two dogs and two guinea pigs), was heated solely by a small solid fuel stove. This heated the van and the hot water.

Although the elderly caravan lost heat dramatically quickly, the stove was more than able to keep up with it. I can remember occasions when, with snow on the ground and icicles hanging from the caravan, we would have all the doors and windows open, to cool down!

I suspect that was roughly when the problem of global warming started.

 

[Tom]

I suspect that was roughly when the problem of global warming started.

:lol: :lol:

That's the one thing I wish I'd done...install a wood burner. Knowing what I know now, I'd have taken the gas fire out (which we never use because it creates too much condensation) and installed a stove straight away. But I'd never had a stove then and was quite scared of them We have insulated underneath and have a two-layered carpet inside, so we don't get the cold striking through the floor like we did the first winter, and we close the curtains earlier in the winter, too, to keep some warmth in. We also use a dehumidifier to keep the air drier and, therefore, warmer. I guess, all in all, it's not too bad. I mean, I'm sat typing this today in just a t-shirt and jeans

Our van is 27.5 feet and only houses us two, two cats who drift in and out and two 3' tropical fishtanks. You must have very tight on space! :shock: Mind you, our space can be tight. We both work from here, too, so end up with piles of papers everywhere!! :roll: :lol:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Why are you having a register plate? Is the log burner an 'open' one?

No - it has a liner up the chimney. But the chimney is vast (even bigger than stove which is either 11 or 16kW with back boiler). So much of the heat goes straight up the chimney and not into the room. I'm assuming a register plate will help keep more of it in the room.

 

[Flyfisher]

If you haven't got an electric blanket on the bed, get one asap. Sheer bliss, and I wouldn't be without it now.

Absolutely!

I rank the electric blanket as a wonder of the world and one of life's absolute essentials. I'd even give up radio 4 before our electric blanket.

 

[Tom]

Our chimney is quite large and the stack is external but the inside of it is the landing wall - if you know what I mean. I was bothered about that part of the wall being cold and that we'd end up with condensation forming on it. Plus, like you, I like to look up the chimney In fact, most people who walk into the room...that's the first thing they do!! Why do we do that? Who knows? Anyway, because of that, we don't have a register plate at all. Yes, we lose a little heat up there but once we've lost a chimney's worth (you can't possible lose any more than that), the rest comes into the room. Plus, the landing wall stays warm.

One more plus point is that when the stainless flue fails (which it will eventually) it'll be an easy job to replace it without having to remove a register plate and god knows how much vermiculite/LECA/whatever

And the final and most convincing point that really swung it for me......how the hell would Father
Christmas get in ???????!!!!!! :shock: :wink:

 

[Penners]

I'd even give up radio 4 before our electric blanket.

Oh, come now, FF! Let's keep some sense of reason about this. Give up "Today", "The Now Show", "A History of the World in 100 Objects", Desert Island Discs", "The News Quiz", "Crossing Continents", etc.? Just for warm toes?

Bet you couldn't!

Mind you, I could happily do without "The Archers", which is a religion with Mrs P. :roll:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Not forgetting "Any Questions/Answers", "ISIHAC", "Just a Minute" , "PM" and "Feminists' Hour"

I must admit though that I prefer the R2 hourly news bulletins -they're about 90 seconds longer and have slightly more content.

 

[Penners]

Not forgetting "Any Questions/Answers"

I can usually listen to "Any Questions" without grumping excessively, but "Any Answers" is another matter entirely. It seems to attract the most boring of the anorak set. Why do I care what Mr Jones at Number 23 thinks about Ed Miliband's paternity leave (whoever Ed Miliband is)?

Oops - I grumped there, didn't I?

 

[robgil]

that poetry show is a bit much , the archers is just not my thing either.
ive got draughts coming up from the floor , through the walls , windows etc etc, its going top be a cold winter.
lemsip , jammies and bed i think.

 

[Jill]

Night Night Rob, are you sure its just a cold and not man-flu. For some reason men always seem to get worse colds than women :lol:.

You have my sympathy though as i've also got a cold, but it hasn't stopped me going out and clearing some snow and moving some floor tiles. We do have a snuggly warm house as we installed all of the heating before last winter, if my feet get cold I get my big electric boot out - best christmas present ever.