What is it like living in a house with no central heating?

[Rickyss]

...Other than COLD! 13% of Yorkshire homes lack central heating, do you live in one of them? How is it for you?

 

I am not sure how much weighting this should have on my disadvantages list of a potential rental home. Please help me out on this one!

 

Would you advise against moving into an old house with a gas fire in the kitchen & living room and just individual electric heaters everywhere else on this alone?

 

There is outside space to dry the washing...is this enough to prevent it from getting damp over the winter?

 

On the other hand, did you just move out of a house because of the lack of heating alone?

 

Questions, questions, questions! Thanks for your input

 

I'v been living in a house without central heating and it was so hard.

 

The problem with that is you just can't avoid cold feeling. When you are outside you feel cold, and you go back home you feel colder. It just like hell and you have to keep on wearing clothes and laying underneath some bed covers.

 

Moreover is when you want to take a shower. Since I'm a little bit chilly, taking a water jet when the house is so cold is a torture.

 

In conclusion, I would rather live in a house with central heating than not.

[watchcoll]

i lived in a ground floor flat that was part of a converted house and it had no central heating.

was fine in summer but in winter it was awful.

 

my bedroom had a huge sash window that wasnt double glazed and really draughty, and i dont think it was really well insulated, not that it really mattered as i was on the ground floor so all my heating went upstairs to the flat above!

 

in winter it was regularly down to 4c in my bedroom and all i had was a little bar heater to warm the place up to about 10c max, and i couldnt afford to run it all day so i just had to wear lots of layers and rely on hot water bottles. there was always ice on the inside of the window, and i got used to seeing my own breathe all winter!

 

think the only thing that kept me from getting ill was that i had a steaming hot bath every other day to keep the chill away.

 

as for doing it again?

NEVER.

 

and i remember the next place i lived after that, once i could afford summat better, the feeling i had when i had walked the 45min journey home in freezing snow, wet feet, numb fingers - opened my front door to feel the heat of the radiators on my cheeks. it was so comforting!

central heating all the way

[millhouses24]

My home has no central heating. Summer was fine, of course. This last winter was harder, but still doable, even though I am admittedly a bit "nesh" and feel the cold easily.

 

I got into the habit of wearing my coat and fingerless gloves in the evenings, which is slightly uncivilised but worked. At night, I used a sleeping bag under my duvet. And when it got colder I dragged the sleeping bag around with me if I wanted to sit still for any period of time. I probably ate a lot more than I would if it was warmer (lots of stodgy food and hot drinks), so put on a few pounds.

 

Getting changed/dressed was a bit of a 'mare, but Ok if I had all my clothes ready and to hand (wandering around naked for any length of time was a bit of an invitation to pneumonia).

 

I had access to some gas portable heaters, but I have to say that given the lack of insulation, they just seemed to heat up the space immediately around them for a short period of time, without providing any long-term warmth the way central heating does.

 

So that was me. I love where I live, but if I had to move again, I'd probably go for somewhere with proper heating!

[RiffRaff]

Up to 7 years ago, single glazing and no central heating, with only a "living flame" gas fire in the front room...immersion heater in the bathroom cupboard, manual switch only. Forget to turn on, no hot water. Forget to turn off, sweating over electricity bill!

Lived there for 22 years, and I suppose there must've been days when I wished we'd had CH.

Moved here, to double glazing and CH, with at least one radiator in each room. Within days, we'd turned the bedroom rads off....and they've never been switched on since.

Far too stuffy - snuffling, runny noses, all the symptoms of a cold that never broke.

Yes, CH fine, but not in a bedroom, thanks....

[*binty*]

My nannans house didn't have central heating in but she had 2 fires so that kind of kept it a bit warm. Mind you, it was cold upstairs so we had electric blankets

 

Don't think i could actually live in a house without central heating now though

[charlie9865]

I can't live without heating im always cold and have kids to so need it. We hae a combi boiler in our house and its great having instant hot water, not having to set heating to warm it up for us first.

[MrBump]

If the house is in Sheffield, it might be worth having a word with the council - the have a section about non-council housing - have a look on the website. Different areas of the city have had help over the years with grants to improve old properties, not sure if they are for owner-occupiers rather than landlords though.

 

http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/housing-services/private-sector-housing

 

Thanks for this Macbeth.

 

I also just noticed that there is free insulation on offer for those in the Walkley area on the councils web site.

 

Thanks for all the help folks!

[matt.E.1987]

I've lived in University accommodation several times before that only used electric radiators, in some ways I prefere these because you can move them closer to you when you first switch them on, and rest your feet by them.

I paid a fixed utilities bill at the time though, I don't really know how economical electric heaters are, I had a look around though and found this blog on heaters. It has a lot of good information about what the best kinds are to get and there running costs. Hope it helps.

[Number Six]

We lived in a house with no heating whatsoever 3 winters ago. No fire, not hot water, nothing, apart from an electric radiator in the bedroom. Our boiler packed up, and we were too busy to get it replaced until February.

 

It was fine. We used to go to the gym to shower, and let the electric radiator on low overnight in the bedroom. We also had blankets for on the sofa, but more often than not we'd have tea and go to bed and watch tv there. It was quite nice actually.

 

That said I wouldn't recommend it if you have kids, obviously - and I don't know if we could have managed without the tumble dryer too - and it's not an experiment I'm particularly keen to repeat!

[Farslad]

I have central heating, but I hate it. I don't like artificial heat. I would rather wear a jumper. It's a constant cause of bickering between me and her.

 

When I was a kid we didn't have central heating or double glazing or anything like that. I didn't even have an inside toilet, and I'm only 34.

 

On the plus side, I seem to be a lot more hardy than most folk. It is very rare I feel cold in Sheffield.