If the power went out for a week or so, I is there any realistic way of heating in?

[Jan]

I live in a 80's built house, with gas central and it does not have a fire place.

[NorthernRaider]

(29 October 2012, 20:49)Jan Wrote: I live in a 80's built house, with gas central and it does not have a fire place.

Put one in , Stainless steel double skin liner, then nice wood burner, not cheap but priceless in the long term.

[Hrusai]

hmmm best thing i can think of really would be to insulate a room and live in that one room, choose the one with the best insulation, ceiling insulation being most important, hang some blankets over windows to help keep heat in, then make yourself comfy, as for producing heat theres not many options i can think of offhand without buying extra heaters and suchlike...but you could probably rig up a little fire dish type thing in the room away from anything flammable, whack a plank of wood or something underneath whatever you use to contain the small fire so it protects anything underneath then just make a small fire, with some duct tape, cardboard and ingenuity you should be able to rig up a chimney outlet to the window without letting in a draft.

however if you want to spend some money, get some calor gas bottles and a heater that runs off them, nice n simple

[IB1]

Calor gas fires are good for that type of situation. You can get a decent one off ebay for about £25. Expect to pay £30+ for a 15kg bottle of gas but that will last you a lot longer than a week if you use it carefully

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oops, hrusai just said that

[Straight Shooter]

you can use a generator......go plug to plug to run the power for the fire and pump but turn EVERYTHING else OFF. plug in extention into the geny then change the other end of the extention to (another plug ) then plug this into any point but only turn on the gas fire and the pump your away !

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or just plug in the fire and pump only

[Geordie_Rob]

Calor gas heater + camping gaz stove for cooking. Do as others say & try to concentrate on living in 1 room.

Half a dozen tea light candles can surprisingly keep the chill off a room as well as giving a lot of light.

[Hrusai]

(29 October 2012, 21:29)Geordie_Rob Wrote: Half a dozen tea light candles can surprisingly keep the chill off a room as well as giving a lot of light.

i always keep several bags of 100 tea lights around the house for cold days and times when the powers out

and they're pretty cheap too!

[Familyguy]

a balanced flued wall heater ... basic and solid called a baxi brazillia

[Scythe13]

The simplest solution, as suggested is to heat one room. However, that's no way to live. Thermal clothing is going to be vital!!! A few duvet's is always a nice thing to have.

Keep curtains closed, to hold in more heat, and then just set up a camping stove and cook up some hot meals!!! If your home is totally out of elec, but you have gas, consider baking a few bricks in the oven and using them the same way a person uses a storage heater.

One thing, hugely overlooked, is.....exercise. If you pump out a small workout, if your home has relatively low ceilings, the heat from a workout can be enough to steam up a room's windows. There are many other 'exercises' that steam up windows. They are also a viable way to produce heat in a room, stay warm, and entertained. Pretty cool hu?

Other than that, good old fashioned hot water bottles!!! Maybe a small fire in the garden, boil up a LOAD of water, and hotwater bottles all round!!!!

Tea lights and other candles are great too. But be careful, they will burn/scorch whatever surface they are on.

[Jan]

Thanks for all the tips, I'm sure there are many in a similar position, I thought if a SHTF event occurs I could knock a hole through the walls and make a make shift fire place, but either my house gonna fall down or I choke to death from smoke inhalation.