Heating for SHTF and in general.

[Waterbaby]

I read recently that while woodburners are efficient for heating,with open fires,not only does heat go up the chimney,but to feed the fire with oxygen,cold air is drawn in from outside via any little crevices.But on the other side,open fires are meant to be great if you have a damp living space.

My top tip is an electric blanket and a dog or two.

[featherstick]

Get used to lower temperatures.

I know I sound flippant, but I'm not being deliberately so. Like a lot of men, I run hotter than my wife. When we moved in together we had battles over the heating. She has since got used to wearing more clothes and leaving the heating off. I was proud of her yesterday - it was around 19C in the room but she was snuggled up with a hot water bottle and several layers on.

Of course, this is not necessarily helpful when there are sick or very young or very old people in the household.

[jansman]

I read recently that while woodburners are efficient for heating,with open fires,not only does heat go up the chimney,but to feed the fire with oxygen,cold air is drawn in from outside via any little crevices.But on the other side,open fires are meant to be great if you have a damp living space.

My top tip is an electric blanket and a dog or two.

There is an air exchange it is true. However, no house should be completely sealed, it cannot be healthy. I like the solid fuel as it doesn't aggravate my Asthma. Gas heating does.
Featherstick, I agree about men running warmer than women. It is the same in our house.

[grenfell]

It wasn't unknown in some older properties for vents to be fitted next to the fireplace in wooden floors to encourage airflow under the floor . Feeds the fire and the airflow kept the joists dry.

[bettersafethansorry]

Lots of Great Idea's people, Thanks.

Im trying some while we house hunt.

[Deeps]

Get used to lower temperatures.

I know I sound flippant, but I'm not being deliberately so. Like a lot of men, I run hotter than my wife. When we moved in together we had battles over the heating. She has since got used to wearing more clothes and leaving the heating off. I was proud of her yesterday - it was around 19C in the room but she was snuggled up with a hot water bottle and several layers on.

Of course, this is not necessarily helpful when there are sick or very young or very old people in the household.

We're the same, Missus Deeps is a lot better than she was, she's not as 'stoic' (or frugal with the heating if you prefer) as I would like but all year round we only have a summer duvet, even when I'm not in the bed she's fine with it where as in the past it had to be the 15 million tog jobbie which left me sweating like err, a fat bloke under a 15 million tog duvet Its one of life's mysteries, women generally have a higher fat content than men (not in our case, I'm the chunky) so should in theory not feel the cold as much but for some reason it doesn't seem to be the case.

[ojiu0u4]

Hi,

There is another way to go, which also dove tails with financial investment for keeping warm if needing to bug out. Don't bother trying to heat the house, insulate the human. A ECWCS solution can protect easily down to -20C and even as low as -40C if using all seven layers of a Gen III system. The clothing does not require a source of consumable fuel that needs to be stocked. You can also look at expedition type sleeping bag (snug pack special forces complete will do -20C) + bivi + tent (http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/4-Season-Tent-Reviews) pitched inside the house.

Then as others have said putting plastic sheet over the windows / doors, my black out material also has a thermal layer.

A little is easily added to the roam via lighting (with fire precautions) I have 500 tea light candles for light and heat. Also the Bushbox XL will warm food and warm the room which I have 60kg of pre-cut wood kindling which I can split down further with hatchet.

If we ignore the danger of burst pipes when things thaw out again, I don't really see a need to heat the building to keep me warm.

I guess it is then a balance of whether you are best spending the money on fairly expensive clothing, tent and sleeping solution (which you can take with you for BO) or battery packs, inverters, wood burners, camping gas. Does it matter if the house is frozen solid if you can still stay perfectly warm inside it.

[Waterbaby]

Seems I'm the exception that makes the rule.
I'm always the one complaining its too fuggy!

[ojiu0u4]

And my woof can always snuggle with me and warm me if it gets that cold rather than in his own 4 season bag

[nickdutch]

I read that one can put up clear shower curtains behind your main curtains and draw them, but leave the main curtains open in the day time. Creates a nice greenhouse effect and keeps in the infra red radiation in the place and it means you can open them in the summer and keep them closed in the winter to best regulate the temperature. It therefore has some advantages over the iron on clingfilm stuff, but it wont be a total insulation. If you did use the iron on plastic stuff as a DIY secondary insulation, then why not double up and add the clear plastic shower curtains too?

Polystyrene tiles on your ceiling is also an idea, heavy curtains over the interior doors can help. Only living in one room would help too and only heating that one room (which is possibly pretty close to the way that people lived in the old days of real fires and the like).

Assembling some kind of hook on netting with a plastic ground sheet on it to cover the stair well to keep the downstairs heat downstairs until bedtime (thats if you have a downstairs bathroom and you aren't habitually going up stairs in the day time)