What Preps are you doing this week? Part 13

[GillyBee]

Added some more hot water bottles. Such a low tech way to stay war. With the way things are for rubber products and energy bills they may be like hens teeth next wi tet.

[Kiwififer]

Absolutely, we have two as well as fleece throws for the couch. ‘Use stuff yer granny would recognise’ is a pretty good motto, be that water bottles or food.

My Granny cooked with lard, ate butter, two sugars with her tea and ate a lot of stuff that would be considered not healthy these days, yet lived to mid eighties with very little colds or bugs.

I keep getting adverts for throws that basically cocoon you, might have a look at them

[Yorkshire Andy]

Added a bigger 1.5kw oil filled radiator £10 and a 650w oil filled radiator £6 to the stores (reduced from £39 for the bigger one). B&M are purging their winter stock to make way for summer desk fans and such like

This is mainly as a backup if the gas CH fails in cold weather to tide us over till Mario or Luigi turns up to repair the boiler ...

This goes with the 2kw convection heater I got cheap last year .. must remember to spread big loads across several circuits in the house to avoid overloading.. in our case cooker socket in the kitchen the legacy boiler circuit in the lounge for the long gone back boiler that's now a 13a radial socket on a 16a rcbo. Then upstairs plugged into the ring main ...


Have a hot water bottle each etc and a pile of blankets

[Frnc]

I'm more thinking about the warm weather coming next week.

So, got my heating off, trickle vents open, cellar window open. Summer duvet is on standby. It's a synthetic tog 1, so it can easily be washed. I can add a cotton throw on cooler nights.

Currently using a 1.5 cotton filled one. In theory it can go in washing machine, but it's risky, so I'd probably do it in the bath. I don't want to break the machine.

I did the sofa cover in the bath, and looking back that was quite comical. It was so heavy when wet, I did think of cutting it in half! But I got it out, and draped over a clothes horse and the garden table! Never again. Sofa is covered with a throw, anyway.

[Yorkshire Andy]

All hot weather preps are within reach if needed they are all at the opposite side of the loft hatch

2 big desk fans for the kids rooms

One pillar desk type fan for ours

2x battery fans (cordless drill type battery packs) currently in use to move air around the teenagers room after I attacked the carpet due to the amount of makeup ingrained in it

And AC unit will be a 5 minute job to set up in the lounge if required

[Frnc]

I forgot the fan. Had it in my room a few weeks actually, as it was quite warm for a few days. I decided to give it a clean. Not the easiest of jobs, but I got it done in the end. Next time it will be a lot easier. It only had a small amount of dust in it.

I did look at portable air con units, but am still on the fence. The Meaco one I looked at was about £380 plus the cost of running. It is 1,000 watts. My whole house uses about 170 on average. So my electricity use would increase by nearly 7 fold. Not sure I can justify that.

[GillyBee]

Currently using a 1.5 cotton filled one. In theory it can go in washing machine, but it's risky, so I'd probably do it in the bath. I don't want to break the machine.

I did the sofa cover in the bath, and looking back that was quite comical. It was so heavy when wet, I did think of cutting it in half! But I got it out, and draped over a clothes horse and the garden table! Never again. Sofa is covered with a throw, anyway.

Do you have a launderette nearby? Their commercial machines should be able to handle throws & duvets.

[Frnc]

Currently using a 1.5 cotton filled one. In theory it can go in washing machine, but it's risky, so I'd probably do it in the bath. I don't want to break the machine.

I did the sofa cover in the bath, and looking back that was quite comical. It was so heavy when wet, I did think of cutting it in half! But I got it out, and draped over a clothes horse and the garden table! Never again. Sofa is covered with a throw, anyway.

Do you have a launderette nearby? Their commercial machines should be able to handle throws & duvets.

Good idea. There might be one or two. I'm just glad I didn't put it in the machine. I put a very minimalist Ikea seat cover in, and even that took a lot longer, as the machine tried to get the balance right.

[Kiwififer]

Actually, it was on here I learnt a new trick for hot water bottles.

If your good lady is peri or full menopausal, fill a bottle with cold water and stick it in the fridge. Take it out before it freezes and becomes a deadly weapon that might become evidence A in a future murder trial after you had the audacity to breathe incorrectly, and give it to her to cuddle.

Here to help!

[Frnc]

I suppose the air con might be ok if I just ran it for a few hours, on a few days. Apparently they are too noisy to sleep through anyway. The other issue is I don't want to be sticking kits to my new window, and some I believe stop you locking it, but I could try to block most of the gap with something soft and temporary.

I don't really want to blow that kind of money, but I struggled to sleep in the heat last summer, so it could be a good investment.