I thought it must be April 1st when I read that in Scotland they have been running trials of 'ELECTRIC WALLPAPER'.
The wallpaper, it seems, is pasted on the ceilings, and is somehow plugged into the mains. My first thought was that heat rises, so why not paste it on the floors. Maybe it IS April 1st after all.
I do remember seeing an edition of the UK TV programme 'Tomorrow's World' where they talked of personallised central heating. Some form of microwave (I imagine) followed you around your home, and kept your body warm, rather than heating the whole house around you. It was hailed as the future of heating, but I never heard any more about it. Maybe all the human Guinea-pigs died.
I'm not over-keen on central heating; I'd much prefer an open fire or wood-burner. We did recently turn on our heating for half a day, just to make sure it still worked, but it was turned off again as soon as possible. It hasn't been cold here yet, and we'll stick to our 'thermals' and extra jumpers as needs arise. Central heating will be a last resort. Our current interior temperature is just over 20 C, which is fine for me! We even have our back doors open for much of the time.
There's been a lot of fuss over the Socialists taking away the pensioners 'winter fuel payment'; and rightly so. The 'nasty party' have handed huge pay rises to rich Union members, and taken money away from the old and frail. I imagine they would prefer that they die of cold; which a few certainly will.
One of my pet-hates is over heating. I cannot stand houses that are over heated, and the same goes for shops; I have to leave.
I advocate more clothes in Winter, and fewer in Summer. QED.
Still 27c here. Just last week I stopped turning on the air conditioner in the morning.
ReplyDelete16 C here today. Not too bad. Still no need for warm clothes.
DeleteI wish you hadn't mentioned heated ceilings. That dimwit Miliband will be on it. Perhaps not as there isn't much scope for creaming off a percentage.
ReplyDeleteI presume you mean 'Ed', but 'David' was even worse; taking half a £million from donors to International Rescue in NY. I expect that's gone-up by now!!!
DeleteMy childhood home had no heating or insulation and only single glazed metal framed windows. We froze in Winter.
ReplyDeleteI do like the luxury nowadays of being able to keep my house to a warm 20C in cold snaps.
I always had heating at home, but not at school. Our bedside water would literally freeze over night in the winter.
DeleteTemperature numbers mean nothing to me. I don't bother checking and altering dials. I go by what I feel like. A bit cold and I put extra clothes on, maybe give it a quick blast for an hour. I go into a neighbours house to get their dog out for a walk. It's like entering a furnace, the heat blasts me in the face. A quick hello, and does the dog want to go out, and I am out of there.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I can't stand over heated houses. I just want to get out!
DeleteMost people of my age grew up in homes that did not have either central heating or double glazing. A much remembered sound from my childhood was of my father raking out the downstairs fireplaces and in the depths of winter I knew that by the time I descended the stairs the front room and the kitchen would be warm and toasty.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember radiators in the house my father designed and had built. There were fireplaces in the main downstairs rooms, but not in the bedrooms. Maybe we had some form of heaters; I really don't remember. A hot-water-bottle in winter was always nice.
DeleteThe heated ceilings are a radiant heater.... we have underfloor upstairs of the same stuff... and it can be installed in walls. Ceilings are the easiest to install, with underfloor the next and walls last, both the latter because of furniture... no point in putting your room heating where the radiant energy will be blocked!!
ReplyDeleteI had to decide where all the furniture was going to go and send the manufacturers a plan.
They did the calculations and sent the materials and a floor plan for instalation.
It is a carbon mat with 1/4" mesh "wires" fused in at the side... which can be nailed or screwed through without breaking the circuit... and it all runs at 24v, keeps us cozy upstairs and doesn't cost much to run... about a quarter the price of storage radiators and a heat that is more evenly distributed.
The ceiling system which is the easiest to retro-install is the least comfortable because the radiance is such that your head is hot and your feet cold [unless the room below also has the system] The walls are the easiest, but the most restrictive... viz: once installed to the plans, you can't move that wardrobe/dresser/ or other wall hung things that you put on the plan!!
But large furniture in rooms tends not to move [especially wardrobes and beds, etc.] so floor is the most convenient!! As a result, our whole house is a comfortable 20° Centipede!!
Goodness me! It all sounds very complicated, but if the final results are good, that's all that matters.
DeleteWe have central heating installed but haven't used it in years because of the price of heating oil. I would turn it on for a few hours every week just to dry out walls and keep the damp at bay. Though we do have a dehumidifier which does ab excellent job of removing moisture which used to sit and turn into mould. Our wood fire burner heats up most of the house and cooks as well. An electric blanket turns those chilly sheets into a warm nest
ReplyDeleteWe also have an electric blanket, but I usually find it too hot. In France we have one that stays on all night, but over there we had terrible frosts.
DeleteI guess the electric wallpaper is a bit like underfloor heating. We had underfloor heating put in the new conservatory/kitchen ..... I have to say it is lovely and, as I am someone who goes barefoot all year in the house, the underfloor heating is very nice ! We haven't put our central heating on yet as I don't like to be too hot. Like JayCee and other commenters. we only had open fires as children. It was freezing when you got our of bed and there was ice on the inside of the windows ! We just got on with it. I loved sitting by the fire downstairs. My sister and I had really blotchy red shins as we sat so close to it !!! XXXX
ReplyDeleteI don't remember being cold as a child. We had a coal fired stove in the dining room, and we'd all sit around it on winter nights and listen to the radio. I remember that very well.
DeleteAre you saying we don't really need to spend all that much on heating, yet wealthy pensioners who will be getting a 4.5% increase when inflation is only 1.7%, still need the winter fuel allowance?
ReplyDeleteSome will certainly need it. Others, like us, can survive without. We don't even bother to put the heating on unless it's essential.
DeleteAll the homes I've lived in had central heating. They all had fireplaces too. I love the ambience of a wood fire. It is 36-45 degrees F nights and that is a bit cold. I set my heat pumps to 67 degrees F and this warms the house for breakfast. When the sun hits the house, the heat pumps turn off automatically and the sunshine provides warmth.
ReplyDeleteFor now, no oil is being burned.
Our central heating is Gas. We're fine for the moment as it's actually quite warm. I would love not to use the heating at all, but that's wishful thinking.
DeleteIt's still warm here during the day (around 29ºC outside and 24ºC indoors), but I've noticed that this morning, for the first time in months, a very slight chill in the air. Not enough to run to turn the heating on, but seems winter is on the way.
ReplyDeleteWe had central heating when I was a child, (a coal fired boiler) with radiators in each room, and wall mounted electric fires in the bedrooms, so I don't remember being cold in winter. Going to some friend's houses was a very chilly experience and came as something of a shock!
Keeping warm is easy if you're active, but I feel very sorry for pensioners who are unable to keep moving.
We had one morning recently of 3 C. Brrrr. Now we're back to blue skies and pleasant sunshine. Yes, some OAP's will suffer this winter.
DeleteMuch to my surprise, the central heating was on this morning when I woke up! I had left the boiler turned on over the summer, knowing it would be too hot to work.
DeleteOur Aga is my favorite heating spot...
ReplyDeleteI used to have one. A very old, two-bum, solid fuel, example. It was wonderful, then during the Miners Strike we couldn't get the fuel, and had to use Polish imported stuff instead. It completely ruined the interior workings.
DeleteFunny your post this morning was on heating. I just built my first fire of the season this morning. It was 59 degrees in the house at time of lighting.
ReplyDeleteI really miss having a pukka fire. Before I installed the Wood Burner in France, I used to burn metre long Oak logs. It was wonderful.
DeleteI have a wood burning stove in the middle of the house with a tile lined brick chimney. The stove is cast iron and home made, box-style . Burning 20 inch firewood pieces that the husband cut with a chainsaw and split out of tree tops from a neighbors logging of acreage.
DeletePeople seem to wander around their overheated houses in t-shirts and shorts these days...seems nobody thinks of putting proper clothes and a warm jumper on and turning the heating down! Ours is usually off unless it's really cold (the heating, not the jumper...) and when it does go on it's never over 18c and frequently down to 15c as the heating doesn't seem to be able to keep up with cold weather in our ancient house.
ReplyDelete