How do you heat your living room when the central heating goes off?

**Samba** · 02-04-2012, 11:03pm

What I mean is, do you have some kind of separate heater/stove/fire that you can use?

We have a little mock solid fuel stove in the TV room ... but it's electric and just blows out hot air. Its pretty crap really, doesn't look great and I don't like the very dry air it results in. It does heat up the room quickly though.

We also have another public room that we don't really use (yet) and there's a ghastly 70's gas fire in there which has to go at some point...

I'm not sure what I'd like really, but would be interested to hear about different options and whether you rate them.

My mum has a living flame gas fire with lovely fireplace etc but she thinks its really expensive to run - not sure if that's because she's on bottled gas or something to do with the auto pilot light (she now switches this off all the time).

Is somewhere like B&Q a good place to look at options, or are there better places to start?

**'Line** · 02-04-2012, 11:06pm

We only have the central heating but Re lucky our lounge and dining rooms are on the front of the house. My parents have a gas fire with flames (looks like a real fire with coals) and that kicks out a hell of a lot of heat.

**parkejm** · 03-04-2012, 09:10am

We have an open fireplace but only use it a few times a yer nd mostly for a cosy atmosphere

Once the central heating is off, that's it. I can't think of anyone I know who has another heating method that they use regularly apart from couple of very old people who don't have their heating on much.

**Lemony Posset** · 03-04-2012, 09:20am

We have an open fireplace too, use it a couple of times a week in the winter if it is cold. Very draughty Edwardian house!

ETA: If you are interested in an open fireplace / "proper" stove, it might be worth checking out smaller independent shops / reclamation places as well as B&Q type shops. Our fireplace isn't original to the house but came out of another similarly aged house in the same town and looks fab.

**Anne** · 03-04-2012, 09:24am

We have a large lounge and use an electric fire to heat it. Its very effective and have to turn the fire off after 10 mins anyway.

**bluekat** · 03-04-2012, 09:52am

We have a living flame fire too. I can't comment on how much it costs. We have a free standing electric ceramic blow heater that we used to use in the kitchen before it was done up and we got double glazing and underfloor heating. It wasn't that expensive and could warm up the room quickly. It oscillated and I think had a cold air option too (never used that funnily enough).

**bluekat** · 03-04-2012, 09:58am

this looks like an updated version of our one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingavon-Rot...443424&sr=8-18

**littlerose12345** · 03-04-2012, 10:04am

We have an electric fire.

**VivB** · 03-04-2012, 02:43pm

I have a fake stove thats electric ,it blows heat but also has elements depending on what setting its on.I only use it withthe lights/fake flames tho .My heating is on constant depending on the thermostsats so dont need to use anything else

**bubbasweet** · 03-04-2012, 03:36pm

We have a proper open fire place, which we use quite a lot when it's cold and we turn the heating off altogether if we're going to be in the sitting room all evening. Otherwise we've got a little blow-heater, but tend not to use that except if I'm up in the middle of the night with pregnancy munchies, as they're expensive to run!

**Dunkling** · 03-04-2012, 03:39pm

We have a woodburning stove in the living room.

It is great as a back up say in summer, when the heating is off but the evening gets nippy.

During the winter though it is too much as well as heating so we have to turn the living room radiator off..... and that makes that room unusable during the day as it is bl**dy freezing in there!!... but I don't have time to tend a stove during the day.

I still love it though and it is our best buy ever!!

**Velvet Chain** · 03-04-2012, 05:01pm

We don't actually have anything, once the rooms have heated up they tend to stay pretty wam for a while afterwards so it hasn't been an issue this winter.

**Samba** · 03-04-2012, 08:28pm

Originally Posted by parkejm

I can't think of anyone I know who has another heating method that they use regularly apart from couple of very old people who don't have their heating on much.

You saying I'm an old codger then?!

What I mean is, I don't usually have the central heating on at all in the summer months, but it can get chilly when you are sitting in at night. Doesn't seem worth switching the central heating on for the whole house when you just want to heat one room.
Having said that, it'll probably cost ££ to install the kind of heater I would like and we'd be as well just flicking the heating on

Thanks for all your comments

**Daisy66** · 03-04-2012, 08:58pm

Originally Posted by Samba

What I mean is, I don't usually have the central heating on at all in the summer months, but it can get chilly when you are sitting in at night.

Could you not just turn the radiators off in all the other rooms during the summer?

We have a little electric fire in our fake fireplace (don't like it but it was cheap

) which blows out hot air. 10 mins is all it takes to heat the room.

**bubbasweet** · 03-04-2012, 09:15pm

If it's summer i just stick a blanket over my knees.

**suemarie** · 03-04-2012, 09:29pm

We have a gas fire in the living room which TBH doesn't get used anymore as the house stays warm after the heating has gone off.

**Chell** · 03-04-2012, 09:30pm

We have an oil filled radiator from Argos. I work from home so don't want to heat the whole house all day. It is effective to heat our own plan downstairs kitchen/dining/living room.

Our heating goes off when the children go to bed otherwise upstairs is too hot for them. We use the oil filled heater if we are chilly although dressing gowns are the first option.

**Rosa** · 03-04-2012, 09:33pm

I don't turn my heating off, I just turn the thermostat down so it doesn't come on much and boost it in the evenings.

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**Eliza79** · 03-04-2012, 10:12pm

Our (oil) heating system keeps the place really warm but has no thermostat so is either on and blasting it out or off. We had it on for 3 hours in the morning and evening and ad-hoc during the day if needed. Has been off for the last 3 weeks or so now. OH refuses to turn one radiator (i.e. bedroom or living room where it gets way too hot imo) as he reckons it will unbalance the creaking system or something.

Luckilyj OH mostly works from home and does his best to keep the home fire burning

with an open fire in the living room. The chimney breast runs through the middle of the house so keeps the bedrooms warmish too (the walls are quite warm).

We're moving to our own place soon

and one of the first things we'll do is bin the electric fire and install a log burner.

**LibertyGal72** · 03-04-2012, 10:36pm

We only have central heating. Ours is a relatively new build, so well insulated and unless it's freezing outside doesn't really get cold in the living room. When we are feeling nippy we close the internal doors to stop draughts.

I know it might sound a bit random but lighting a few candles makes the room too hot so I can't light them often

(I really miss having lit candles).

So if our heating went off for a bit, I reckon we'd layer up and if watching the telly either use a throw, a slanket or a duvet to keep toasty!

Someone said earlier about some old dears having a secondary source - interestingly a colleague at work - she's only in her 50s - loves her real fire even if she only uses it a dozen times a year. Her hubby is happy to have the real fire on but abhors 'putting the heating on' cos of the cost. He's been like it forever so the actual cost of heating appears to be irrelevant.