Before central heating!

[judimac]

We had coal fires in the lounge and dining room. So in the winter you used to have a hottle bottle, and your bedroom windows would freeze up on the inside!
One year I decided to forgo my hottie until Christmas Eve! (I wish I could harness that willpower now!) I can still remember how special it felt when I put my feet on that gorgeous heat!
Last year our CH packed up on Christmas eve and thankfully we have a coal fire, but it was the coldest Christmas I can remember!

 

[mommyB]

I can remember frost on the inside of the windows, and also my mum boiling water in a saucepan to take upstairs for washing in the morning. We were fairly lucky in that we had electric blankets ( this was late 60's/early 70's) but i can also remember only having a gas fire in the lounge and how fast i had to run up to the loo cos it was soooo cold away from the fire.

Kids today just dont get it !!

 

[Sticky]

I have the opposite problem. Our house was always relatively warm when I was a kid and my Mum used to put the CH on for a while before bed (my bed was next to it) so it was always nice and warm.

Now however, I live in the worlds coldest house! It's quite open plan downstairs and the ceilings are very tall upstairs, and it's just never what I'd say is cosy. Thank goodness for slippers and sweaters! When the CH packed in last year just as we moved in, it took 3 days to get someone to fix it - and by the time it was you could see breath - very weird! I was ready to pack up again and move back out lol!

xxx

 

[Circes]

Well I don't have any central heating - just an electric fire in the sitting room and no heating elsewhere! And I don't find it a problem

 

[evilpenguin]

My bfs parents don't have CH and their house is always freezing. I thought CH was just standard and didn't realise some houses don't have it. Even with CH my flat has been really cold recently, good old Scottish winter for you. I guess if you're used to having no CH it would be different.

 

[Circes]

I suppose it will be standard for new builds but I'm in an old Edinburgh tenement and can't afford to put in CH.

 

[Roz V]

I too remember frost on the inside of the windows, hot water bottles, and racing downstairs to the kitchen boiler when we first got up!

Not QUITE the same, but last year, with gas and electricity prices rocketing, we decided to cut back as much as possible - microwave cooking where appropriate, hot water temperature reduced, and central heating never above 20 degrees!

This meant that we had to wear much thicker clothes indoors, even a fleece a lot of the time, and bought a stepper thing from Tesco that we could each have a go on if we were really cold! Sadly, this didn't get much use - pity it couldn't have generated some actual HEAT, maybe that would have been more of an incentive!

This year, I said that we wouldn't put the heating on till we got home from Cornwall - the Travelodge is always lovely and warm - and couldn't believe it when I found Hubby sitting with his GLOVES on as well!!!

Still, our efforts last year definitely saved us money, so we'll continue with this regime as long as we can!!!

One thing that REALLY bugs me, is driving past blocks of sheltered accommodation, and loads of them have their WINDOWS open, even in the depths of winter! You just know it's because their heating is included in the rent...!!!

 

[evilpenguin]

Circes, I know the price of installing CH is what has put his parents off of getting it. It's not a neccessity but rather annoying when you have it and you're still cold!

 

[Claireloulou]

My mum and dads house is still like that if you discount frost on the windows. They have an open fire in the front room and when its going it heats the whole downstairs and the upstairs is bearable. Unless my sons there they never put the ch on ( apart from when mums ill) and the fire doesnt get laid until 5 in the afternoon. I used to love how cold the bedrooms where when i still lived at home as I love a warm bed and a cold room, running to and from the loo was necessary though as its either outside or upstairs.

 

[Polyanna]

We don't have CH on our house, we have a wood burner in our sitting room, that keeps the rooms warm, if it is very cold I put a electric heater on the the kitchen. We also have an electric blanket at night. And yes when it is very very cold the windows do ice up.

 

[Roz V]

I don't think I'll ever take central heating for granted! Even now, I still rejoice in the fact that you can just press a button to turn it on, or set the timer, and it's totally automatic - what magic!!!

We only had an open fire with a back boiler, at first, in the house when we got married, and the EFFORT involved in getting that lit,
and waiting for the room and the water to heat up, and all the clearing up afterwards...

Those of us who do have central heating should all thank our lucky stars for the privilege!!!

 

[charlottegrace1]

Well I don't have any central heating - just an electric fire in the sitting room and no heating elsewhere! And I don't find it a problem

I bet you don't get many colds either. I find since central heating, more colds go round our house than ever before. I was brought up in a house with 1 coal fire and a gas one in the front room, which was only used on high days and holidays, no heating anywhere else and colds were very rare. I don't like it hot in our house so don't put the heating on, but the rest of the family, blimmey, its like a sauna sometimes here. I have been known to go outside when its -3 and sit on the bench to cool off!

 

[Donnie46]

We have only had central heating fitted this Summer, before that we had 3 expensive electric storage heaters and a 'real' fire in the lounge.

We have no gas at all in my village, so we now have oil fired central heating, we also have the coal bunker full of smokeless fuel and logs, but as yet we have had no need to light the open fire in the lounge, as the heating has been adequate, but I shall definately have a log fire on Christmas day even if we have a heatwave, LOL....