Heating solution for this winter ?

What is your experience with different heating devices ? What works the best/worst and what has been expensive or cost effective ?

Comments

  • +13

    I layer up clothes and look quite hobo-esque at home during winter.

    You'd easily mistake me for a moving mountain of laundry. Holding a cup of tea.

    • What is a waterlogged turnip? I mean i've eaten turnips but not waterlogged.

      • +1

        we live in hope?

      • +3

        A dear friend of mine made the comment of my head being so oversized, that it looks like a waterlogged turnip. Or at least what you'd expect a waterlogged one to look like.

        My defence is that he has a pinhead and my head is simply regular sized in comparison.

        • May you post an image of your beautifully compared head? I'm interested to see how round and gorgeous it looks.

  • +3

    Air Conditioner uses less power than traditional methods including wood burning.
    Always use a small range of temperature choice as advised by state power providers web site.
    Heatpumps and geothermal heating /cooling may work for you, if you own land and are good at digging.
    As waterlogged turnip quipped, clothes layering, doonas,duvets, blankies work well
    Warm body [bodies if you like]snuggling [any and all positions or places].Please.
    DON'T overheat babies in cots and elsewhere, but for all beanies.
    Nightcaps and nightcaps work well. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=nightcap+pictures&rlz=1C1… and https://www.google.com.au/search?q=nightcap+pictures&rlz=1C1…
    Use the latter and the former will not matter!

    • +1

      Yes! Beanies and thick scarves make such a crazy difference in keeping you warm.

      You'd be freaking amazed if you haven't tried it before.

      I expect that most guys probably don't give scarves a try. You may feel or look like a goose all layered, beanied and scarved up at home, but you'll be the one laughing at the others shivering and demanding you turn the heating on.

      TL;DR - scarf. beanie. thermals under jumper and trackies. Oooh yeah.

      • +2

        Who wants to stay inside covered up so heavily, its really uncomfortable. For me its worth heating the whole house and being able to move freely and not worry about packing on layers. In Europe and US it really is warmer in winter than Australia, because you spent alot of time inside and these places are insulated and heated well. At least in Australia its not that bad, don't get me started on NZ and their shoddy houses. At least in most parts here except for Vic/Tas/ACT/Mountain its not too bad as it heats up during the day. In NZ during the day its cloudy windy and cold and the house is freezing all the time.

        • I used to live in ACT. Lived alone in a one bedroom unit, and blew over $500 on one quarter electricity bill because I had the heater on for most of winter. Without it, I would've died.

          Didn't make that mistake twice. lol probably how I got so used to layering on clothes and remaining rather comfy. It's nice to be all rugged up :) depends on the individual.

        • +1

          Yeh I guess it does depend on personal preference. Unfortunate the few months you really need heating does not justify the extra cost so many landlords/home-owners neglect insulation and proper heating solutions. I can't really blame them either, as many have the Ozbargain mentality as well. So for most people they either have to pay up big bucks for a comfortable shelter or else do the clothes stack thing. Luckily for me I have access to cheap and effective heating solution.. but I would prefer cheap central heating for all!! What about cheap gas, we have so much LPG but why don't we use it for a central heating system in the cooler cities like melbourne, adeliade, hobart,canberra. It the one thing the soviets did right, in the eastern bloc there is quality heating everywhere which doesnt break the bank.

  • Log fire. I live on a half acre so semi rural areas are pretty close. Grab a trailer and pick free jarrah wood from the ground around national parks. Few trailer loads and your set. Gives good some good exercise and is like a nature walk. Even stumbled upon a pot grow once, extra bonus :D. Watch out for the rangers though.

    • Collecting wood from the national parks is illegal.
      A cop hassled me last time we were camping for collecting some fallen wood from the roadside on the public side of fenced private land. He suggested this was illegal too, although he let me take it.

  • +1

    Your feet and hands are the coldest part of the body, so it is logical to get at least some socks and or gloves.

    Then I'll cover up with whatever clothing I have that is made of either wool, flannel or fleece

  • +1

    Electric throw blanket. You can unplug it and walk around the house.
    Did it last year and only had the heater on if visitors came.
    Very low heating bills, didn't have bulky clothes on, very cosy and snuggly.

  • Heating solution for this winter?

    a jumper. no heating bills.

  • +1

    Sealing up your home, if you haven't already done so. Noticed a big difference in my home as soon as I installed weather seals around all my external doors and heavy curtains for the bedroom windows.

    If you own your home, might be worth investing in insulation. In the long run, it should save you money and keep you comfortable. I remember going through a winter where I had electric blanket, 2 quilts and a beanie and was still chilly… installed insulation, next winter just the beanie and 1 quilt.

    • +1

      Even if I was renting, I would install insulation in at least the living room. You can get batts on Ebay for enough to cover a room for $50.

      • Though I'm late in this thread, any link to the EBay 50$ insulation stuff?

  • We put in ducted gas heating last year - brilliant!! I don't think it was that expensive to run (obviously a lot more than nothing if u like wearing layers!)

  • +1

    Problem with just rugging up is that if you regularly let your house fall below 18C you will likely start getting dampness problems which will lead to getting sick And potential worsening of allergies and asthma. Keeping yourself warm with clothes won't help that. Personally I'd rather pay for heating than jeopardize my health!

    Depends on where you live. I find in Melbourne with the insulation i have that the house is very unlikely to fall below 18C anyway. May be a problem in some other areas though.

  • My husband and I live in the ACT. We have sliding doors that close off our living room from the rest of the house. We use a heater to heat that part of the house and leave everywhere else unheated. When we get into bed, we have an electric blanket on for a few mins to take the cold out of the bed. We open the door that separates the kitchen and living room while we're cooking and let the heat created from that (using the griller or oven for example) go into the living room. Then once dinner is done, we close all the doors and spend our evening in the living room. It's just so that we're not heating multiple rooms unnecessarily. Plus we wear a beanie (most heat lost through your head), socks and jumper and cover ourselves with a blanket while cuddling on the couch. Our curtains in the living room and bedroom are the double-insulated ones (whatever they're called) that go from floor to ceiling and so they don't let the heat out that is generated from our body heat and the heat we let in from the kitchen. We have a thermometer in the living room as well and turn the heater off when it gets to say 21 degrees but we don't let it fall much before we turn it back on again. All this has worked pretty well for us in keeping our gas and electricity bills down.

  • Oil filled column heaters can be very expensive to run…avoid them.

  • I bought one of these today…

    what are oz bargainer's view on this

    https://www.aldi.com.au/en/special-buys/wednesday-16-april-2…

    thinking of using it to heat a bedroom.. with a timer so that it turns on and off through the night so that I don't overheat or wake up cold…

    I don't like wearing a lot of clothes to sleep … it's very hard to maintain a reasonable temp in my place as I have lots of windows and glass to the external …

  • Layering
    Warm up with hot beverages
    Steal body warmth from partner
    Live in Brisbane

  • I'm surprised OB's resident Coral Fleece fan hasn't turned up yet so I'll throw in a vote for it; I love the stuff - traps heat without the 'stuffiness' (and weight) of normal polyester.

    When I make/save enough money to achieve my Dream Build/Grand Design, it'll have Scandinavian/German-level windows and insulation!

    But back to the OP's question…ever since I saw them in the Korean movie 'The Host', I've been obsessed with these radiator oscillating fans (also dunno where and how to buy them). Dunno how energy-efficient they would be though (perhaps an OB scientist would like to chime in?)

    https://www.google.com.au/search?newwindow=1&rlz=1C1NOOH_enA…

  • There's this sleeping bag like outfit around, with a separate top and bottom. Does anyone recall what they were called? They're based in Melbourne, and have a orange logo if that helps.

  • +1

    When watching tv, we have spare blankets and quilts in the living room. I wear a robe on top of what I'm wearing if I'm cold, don't know why it makes such a difference as it is only cotton and not particularly thick but it does. I agree that scarves make a difference. We also have a pot belly fire place but that only gets lit at night for about 3 hours during/preparing dinner, with wood we got free from gumtree. Firewood is too expensive otherwise!

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