Best idea to keep warm without central heating.

One thing that makes a big difference is having the reflective foil behind your radiators, then when you do put the heating on, it maximises the efficiency and keeps the house warm for longer, rather than going out through the walls.

J52

petra

Buy blackout curtains to line your existing curtains.
Or, if you have a friend who’s handy with a sewing machine it’s cheap to buy by the meter.
Plus the fact that they keep out the heat.

In the past I have just hooked the ready made to the unused openings on the header tape. Of course wouldn’t work with eyelet style curtains.

You can buy clips that attach the linings to the curtains’ eyelet rings , I have them for thermal linings.

Try again

Chardy

I bought a long hooded velvety dressing gown from Amazon, last year. I think it was around. £20 - certainly it was cheap.
And lined fluffy slippers as bending to put socks on, hurts!
Snug as a bug

It's like this one but totally full length. They seem to be called hoodie blankets this year

keplin-online.com/blogs/home-and-lifestyle/heated-throw-vs-electric-blanket-uk?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=24349674369&utm_content=&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gad_c

I just wanted to say that an electric blanket is different to an electric heated throw. That's if you didn't already know of course.

Maybe this would be of help to some of you.
The link is just for information ...

keplin-online.com/blogs/home-and-lifestyle/heated-throw-vs-electric-blanket-uk?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=24349674369&utm_content=&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=24354825350&gbraid=0AAAAACkYdI-rDWNzgSPAa7XfOb2zZkP4Z&gclid=CjwKCAjw_9bWBhBGEiwAomyTInqOr3TlwDKaOOcNjaUjiKLCDh93vIo1hXI-RvIw870u0CkLyDwMERoC5UYQAvD_BwE

We have oil central heating, bottled gas for cooking and a wood burner. Our large conservatory is heated by an air pump. We have not yet had the central heating on. Just a log fire in the afternoon.
If we have a power cut we can heat soup etc on the wood burner. We have several knitted blankets also. We think of it as a bit like camping.😁

Very good point 72kit
Reminds me we need to replace a carbon monoxide alarm which expires next month.

Lots of good tips here. One thing worth planning for: heated blankets and electric radiators all stop if there's a power cut, which tends to happen in the same stormy weather when you most need them. I keep a couple of hot water bottles, a wool blanket and a flask by the kettle so I can fill them while the power's on if a storm is forecast. And please never bring a camping stove, barbecue or patio heater indoors to keep warm, as the carbon monoxide risk is real. A battery carbon monoxide alarm is cheap and worth having if you use gas or Calor heaters.

I bought a tv and sound bar for my bedroom, never had a tv in there but it can get cold and bleak on a dark winters night in my living room so might as well be cosy watching tv in bed, with my orange blue- blocking over glasses on of course

A log fire sends me to sleep in my chair and I expect a heated throw would do the same, then by the time I get upstairs I would ne wide awake, hence the tv. It is 36" and I put it on a swivel stand, should be very comfortable viewing

Our biggish house consists of many small rooms and we’ve not been tempted to go open-plan.
It’s very much easier to close doors and keep heat where you want it.
The Conservatory is closed off completely during Winter.

Some interesting ideas. Some of you have very large houses to heat without heating.

My ch is down. Service due in 2 weeks, so in the meantime I have a small electric fan which works hot or cold and has a thermostat to switch off when it reaches a set heat. I’ve been using it in my lounge which is a large room and it only takes about 20 minutes to heat the room up. I am seriously considering using it instead of ch as it’s probably cheaper to heat just one room.

I'm considering getting one for my husband to use in the garage, but can't find anything about running costs. Electric space heaters are usually very expensive to run.

A little from AI

Thanks 😀

Ok Doodlebug

A genuine recommendation isn’t advertising.

I covered the brand as didn't want to advertise,,,

A friend has supersers,she says they are economical to run, I myself havnt put on the oil central heating yet, I bought 4 ceramic heaters and checking my energy app they are very economical, 1 in each bedroom that's used and 1 in the garden room, if it gets really cold I will try on the ch to warm up the house ,but oil is so expensive now and these heaters are brilliant,warms a room fast,

I have my phone on its charger cable next to me in bed, and one night the dog, not me, got tangled in the cord, so I'm always wary of any cord now at night!

Unlikely if it’s on a thin cord. You would put it on the bedside table when sleeping, but the point was to have it to hand in case you fall, which is more likely in the dark. Also, as fewer people are around at night, shouting for help is less effective.

get a whistle to blow if you need help and your phone is dead, and wear it on a lanyard, specially at night
Wouldn't you run the risk of strangling yourself in bed?

I watched a YouTube video about keeping safe and warm in a long power cut, and will try to remember the advice.
*Hats, socks and gloves, even in bed.

*Those self-heating hand warmers - never against the skin or in bed with you, but use to warm the bed before getting into it, or wear over clothing.

*Gas long-lighters to light gas rings on hobs when the pilot switch doesn’t work. Never use the cooker as a heat source, but you can at least heat soup or make hot drinks.

*Duct tape round doors and windows, and draught excluders on internal doors.

* Emergency blankets (the cheap silver ones) between blankets/duvets to trap heat in the bed.

* battery powered lights on the stairs, so you don’t fall if carrying things in the dark (eg if you are keeping a blanket round you with one hand, you don’t want to use the other to carry a lantern and be unable to use the banister.

* get a whistle to blow if you need help and your phone is dead, and wear it on a lanyard, specially at night.

*Be sure you have a manual tin opener, and try to choose tins with ring-pulls for stored food.

*check that carbon monoxide detectors have working batteries. I can’t remember why, but there is more chance of being poisoned by CO2 in a power cut (maybe because of sealed windows etc).

That’s all I can remember for now, but if anything pops into my head I’ll post it.

Believe it or not but wearing an old fashioned apron (full length one) tied firmly at the back over warm clothing really keeps the heat in.