How will YOU keep warm on cold winter nights?

How are you preparing
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peejay
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Re: How will YOU keep warm on cold winter nights?

Post by peejay »

Arzosah wrote:Erm, that describes *my* childhood, never mind my grandparents!
Ditto! This topic has just reminded me of when my parents first house (well, first they lived in with us kids) had an outside toiled that was part of the house, but the door was outside. Remember it vividly as a youngster, as well as having our baths in the kitchen sink as we didn't even have a bathroom!

Eventually the toilet was turned 90deg & outside bricked up & what was the old kitchen was then converted to our first bathroom.

Good memories actually :)
jansman
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Re: How will YOU keep warm on cold winter nights?

Post by jansman »

jeebus wrote:I've read somewhere before (I think it was on this forum) that putting a tent up indoors to sleep in is a good way to keep warm if you have no central heating. I've not tried it myself but if it's true then you wouldn't need a particularly good tent as it would be inside, so just a cheap £20 one would probably do the job.
Now don't get me wrong,I am not taking the mickey. :D Showed the above to Mrs J.As spoken of elsewhere here, we don't have gas central heating anymore,its been replaced by modern electric heating to back up the stoves.She said," we have not got CH,so do you expect me to watch Emmerdale from the door of a tent?" :lol:
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.
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Brambles
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Re: How will YOU keep warm on cold winter nights?

Post by Brambles »

Noddy65 wrote:Well back in the day of our grandparents there was no central heating or radiators for the less wealthy they got by with one fire burning in the home layering blankets on beds heating beds with pans or bottles wrapped in towels or cloth the only part of you left outside the covers was the nose the family was cuddled up together for heat of a night. An idea I have been toying with is buying vintage fur & sheepskin coats from charity shops to make into blankets or wraps if it’s works for the Eskimo why not
Yep, I remember having my Dad's great coat on the bed when I was a kid. It was a toss up between being warm and able to move. The weight of all the stuff on our beds prevented a lot of rolling about. My abiding memory is opening the curtains to find the nets frozen to the windowpanes. In the morning it was a race down the stairs to get dressed in front of the fire which was never allowed to go out. I wonder how many other old coffin dodgers like me can remember how to bank up an open fire to keep it in overnight, it's a dying art.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain~anon
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Panther
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Re: How will YOU keep warm on cold winter nights?

Post by Panther »

Brambles wrote:
Noddy65 wrote:Well back in the day of our grandparents there was no central heating or radiators for the less wealthy they got by with one fire burning in the home layering blankets on beds heating beds with pans or bottles wrapped in towels or cloth the only part of you left outside the covers was the nose the family was cuddled up together for heat of a night. An idea I have been toying with is buying vintage fur & sheepskin coats from charity shops to make into blankets or wraps if it’s works for the Eskimo why not
Yep, I remember having my Dad's great coat on the bed when I was a kid. It was a toss up between being warm and able to move. The weight of all the stuff on our beds prevented a lot of rolling about. My abiding memory is opening the curtains to find the nets frozen to the windowpanes. In the morning it was a race down the stairs to get dressed in front of the fire which was never allowed to go out. I wonder how many other old coffin dodgers like me can remember how to bank up an open fire to keep it in overnight, it's a dying art.
Thank you for that Brambles. You've just brought back many long-forgotten memories from my childhood. Yes indeed, I remember getting the fire going by holding a sheet of newspaper over the fireplace to get it to draw more quickly and hopefully getting the paper away in time before it caught light! And as you say banking it up so it would still be alight in the morning. As I recall the ash from the living room fire was about the only thing that went into the bin for the dustman to collect. Virtually everything else was fully used up or recycled in those days.

It's a pity we don't have a "Reminiscing" section! :)
There may be trouble ahead
But while there's moonlight and music
And love and romance
Let's face the music and dance
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Brambles
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Re: How will YOU keep warm on cold winter nights?

Post by Brambles »

Panther wrote:
Brambles wrote:
Noddy65 wrote:Well back in the day of our grandparents there was no central heating or radiators for the less wealthy they got by with one fire burning in the home layering blankets on beds heating beds with pans or bottles wrapped in towels or cloth the only part of you left outside the covers was the nose the family was cuddled up together for heat of a night. An idea I have been toying with is buying vintage fur & sheepskin coats from charity shops to make into blankets or wraps if it’s works for the Eskimo why not
Yep, I remember having my Dad's great coat on the bed when I was a kid. It was a toss up between being warm and able to move. The weight of all the stuff on our beds prevented a lot of rolling about. My abiding memory is opening the curtains to find the nets frozen to the windowpanes. In the morning it was a race down the stairs to get dressed in front of the fire which was never allowed to go out. I wonder how many other old coffin dodgers like me can remember how to bank up an open fire to keep it in overnight, it's a dying art.
Thank you for that Brambles. You've just brought back many long-forgotten memories from my childhood. Yes indeed, I remember getting the fire going by holding a sheet of newspaper over the fireplace to get it to draw more quickly and hopefully getting the paper away in time before it caught light! And as you say banking it up so it would still be alight in the morning. As I recall the ash from the living room fire was about the only thing that went into the bin for the dustman to collect. Virtually everything else was fully used up or recycled in those days.

It's a pity we don't have a "Reminiscing" section! :)
Yes it would be great, we could call it living in yesteryear. :D
I remember those days with a mixture of fondness and relief that they are firmly in my memory. I like that I can still remember how to do a lot of things, but I'm equally happy that most of the slog my poor mum put in to simply keep us and the house clean tidy and fed is a thing of the past.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain~anon
ForgeCorvus
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Re: How will YOU keep warm on cold winter nights?

Post by ForgeCorvus »

jansman wrote:
jeebus wrote:I've read somewhere before (I think it was on this forum) that putting a tent up indoors to sleep in is a good way to keep warm if you have no central heating. I've not tried it myself but if it's true then you wouldn't need a particularly good tent as it would be inside, so just a cheap £20 one would probably do the job.
Now don't get me wrong,I am not taking the mickey. :D Showed the above to Mrs J.As spoken of elsewhere here, we don't have gas central heating anymore,its been replaced by modern electric heating to back up the stoves.She said," we have not got CH,so do you expect me to watch Emmerdale from the door of a tent?" :lol:
This is the reasoning behind having a four-poster bed. You have a canopy and heavy drapes that come all the way down to the floor, effectively creating a small room inside your big room.

Then we have the 'Box bed' or 'Shut bed'
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jansman
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Re: How will YOU keep warm on cold winter nights?

Post by jansman »

Panther wrote:
Brambles wrote:
Noddy65 wrote:Well back in the day of our grandparents there was no central heating or radiators for the less wealthy they got by with one fire burning in the home layering blankets on beds heating beds with pans or bottles wrapped in towels or cloth the only part of you left outside the covers was the nose the family was cuddled up together for heat of a night. An idea I have been toying with is buying vintage fur & sheepskin coats from charity shops to make into blankets or wraps if it’s works for the Eskimo why not
Yep, I remember having my Dad's great coat on the bed when I was a kid. It was a toss up between being warm and able to move. The weight of all the stuff on our beds prevented a lot of rolling about. My abiding memory is opening the curtains to find the nets frozen to the windowpanes. In the morning it was a race down the stairs to get dressed in front of the fire which was never allowed to go out. I wonder how many other old coffin dodgers like me can remember how to bank up an open fire to keep it in overnight, it's a dying art.
Thank you for that Brambles. You've just brought back many long-forgotten memories from my childhood. Yes indeed, I remember getting the fire going by holding a sheet of newspaper over the fireplace to get it to draw more quickly and hopefully getting the paper away in time before it caught light! And as you say banking it up so it would still be alight in the morning. As I recall the ash from the living room fire was about the only thing that went into the bin for the dustman to collect. Virtually everything else was fully used up or recycled in those days.

It's a pity we don't have a "Reminiscing" section! :)
Ha ha! :lol: pretty much how my drum is now!
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.
Yorkshire Andy
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Re: How will YOU keep warm on cold winter nights?

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

Well I'm sat supping beer after a busy day a friend of mine moved house today and we've all mucked in....


Well new house has a boiler that didn't work ( I guessed at the fault rents have the same back boiler) friendly local Gas Safe man comes out and concludes it's the gas valve (looks proudly smug) and then I watched him look glumly at his pressure testing U tube . Somewhere in the house is a gas leak......... So he capped the meter off till Monday...


Brrrrrr

Well people turned up with fan heaters and electrical radiators and until that point as a day to day thing is you never think about power usage.....

Well most ring mains in old houses are rated at 30a....




Mates brother "it smells funny in this corner" ( of the room)

Me " what damp?

Him "yeh"...

30 seconds or so later me "that fishy smell"

Him "yeh"

Well he's a electrician for a big national firm and has never smelt burning bakelite...

Well the penny dropped as soon as I mentioned it as we run round unplugging heaters rather quickly.



So beware of what you plug in as in a shtf boiler down situation it's very easy to overload a ring main. .




The fuse had a bit of bloody wire in place of fuse wire


We concluded that most 2kw heaters draw about 10a in use ok it's more like 8.333 a but 3 heaters on a ring bring you dangerously close to maximum without considering TV / kettle / everything thing else you have plugged in!
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
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Deeps
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Re: How will YOU keep warm on cold winter nights?

Post by Deeps »

ForgeCorvus wrote:
jansman wrote:
jeebus wrote:I've read somewhere before (I think it was on this forum) that putting a tent up indoors to sleep in is a good way to keep warm if you have no central heating. I've not tried it myself but if it's true then you wouldn't need a particularly good tent as it would be inside, so just a cheap £20 one would probably do the job.
Now don't get me wrong,I am not taking the mickey. :D Showed the above to Mrs J.As spoken of elsewhere here, we don't have gas central heating anymore,its been replaced by modern electric heating to back up the stoves.She said," we have not got CH,so do you expect me to watch Emmerdale from the door of a tent?" :lol:
This is the reasoning behind having a four-poster bed. You have a canopy and heavy drapes that come all the way down to the floor, effectively creating a small room inside your big room.

Then we have the 'Box bed' or 'Shut bed'
Image
Image
You need to put the wee shits somewhere when you're planning on making some more, a cupboard seems perfectly acceptable for the required 30 seconds. Or is that just me. :roll:
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diamond lil
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Re: How will YOU keep warm on cold winter nights?

Post by diamond lil »

Those beds make me shudder- imagine the PIDERS :shock:
I really enjoy getting a fire going, have done it all my life and don't mind it at all. I remember too well the newspaper bursting into flame and being stuffed up the chimney lol. The good thing about stoves though is that they stay in 24/7, do save you work.