Menopause Matters Forum
General Discussion => This 'n' That => Topic started by: lady57 on November 20, 2012, 03:36:03 PM
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which do you have, which do you prefer?
We have central heating and had a new system put in this year. I like to keep the thermostat to about 19 or 20 degrees at the most, less when i am on my own. My husband prefers it a degree or two higher. I went to my neighbour for a cuppa this afternoon and they have a woodburner that heats the whole of their ground floor and the room thermometer shows 21/22 degrees. However i did not feel too hot or stuffy there and did not flush but as soon as i came home to my 19 degrees it felt close and stuffy and i had to take my jumper off.
Does central heating dry out the atmosphere more? is a woodburner healthier? We are not likely to change after having a new system but i was just wondering if they give off a different sort of heat?
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Central heating is a dry heat and makes me feel sleepy. I try and keep some windows open but I know some people who have a little bowl of water next to the radiator to make the atmosphere more moist. There must be a more modern way I should think.
My neighbour has a wood burner (no central heating) which looks lovely....but....the heat cannot be controlled at all. Its either on or off. If you get too warm you cant turn it down just open a door. When I visit next door I am melting by the time I come out. Looks great but I would rather have my central heating.....or both. One for looks and cozyness and one for practicality.
I love an open fire.
Honeyb
x
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I have just had my central heating upgraded and my house is now roasting. I can only cope with the heating on for half an hour or so and then I have to turn it off. It just shows how inefficient my old heating was as I would have it on all day and still be cold. I have also recently had a wood burner fitted in my living room - wow it's fab but gosh its so hot too - no way could I have both on - I lurve my wood burner tho. I have an open fire in my bedroom - there's many a night I have lit my fire, climbed into my jammies and watched TV - usually attracts the whole family into the room with me tho. Xx
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I've not had a wood burner, but in our first house, we had a coal fire. Nice to look at but too messy! It was more of an intense heat and again, you can't turn it down and I felt that dried the air too, so I prefer central heating as you can put it on and off as you like.
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Our old system was also very inefficient. I do like this new system because you programme the temperature into a little thermostat thingy and then it adjusts itself as the day goes on so you don't have to turn it off and on. We have it higher first thing until we are up and then again in the evening and during the day it keeps a constant temperature that is lower. Our first gas bill since it was put in was £30 lower than the same time last year and we have been warmer but yes, it is a dry heat if it is too high and i don't like the bedroom too hot either.
Our neighbours changed to a woodburner to save on the gas bills but the logs cost a lot so i can't see they are saving much, plus the cost of having it put in the first place ::)
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We have a woodburner in the lounge and for us, it's perfect. It's the coldest room in the house; the radiators struggled to heat it and so we ended up having the thermostat up higher than necessary for the rest of the house (even with the radiators on differing settings) just to be warm enough in the lounge. Now we have the thermostat set at 18 and the woodburner on when we're in that room in the evening. We find it quite controllable; you can vary the amount of air going into it which changes the rate at which the wood burns. We do have a lot of our own wood as we have trees which need controlling so that makes it more economical. When we run out, we buy big loads from our tree surgeon; much cheaper than the small nets you see around.
We had an open fire before but this is much better; cleaner but still that lovely "real fire" effect.
Bette x
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When we moved to this house we had a woodburner installed. It looks lovely when lit. We can control the burn by opening or closing a vent. We wrap potatoes in tin foil and cook them in it (making sure the flames arent directly in contact with them). The downside is the fine dust that settles on the furniture (I think from when my husband opens the door to pop in another log, the storage of 3 tonnes of wood and the daily cleaning out of the fire. I look forward to lighting it soon. The pets love it. I wish we had got one that (at the very least) heated the hot water, if not the central heating. But hindsight is a great thing.....
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We've thought about a woodburner a few times since we moved here but our house is actually really, really warm anyway so the expense of having a chimney built and then storing logs etc wouldn't be worth it.
There was an article in the Daily Mail today reminding people about having wood burners fitted by people who know what they're doing and having them serviced as a large number of people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning from woodburners.
A friend of mine had one installed and nobody told her (she says) about storing wood beside it.
We were there one evening not long after she'd had it fitted and there was a really strong burning smell. My DH took a look and the logs she had piled at the side of the w/burner were actually burning! The whole house could have gone up in flames if she'd gone out for the evening. :o
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We are still thinking about changing from an open fire in the lounge ::) - 5 years ago we went to look at multi-fuel burners and again 2 years ago; we went back to the Company last week. It will mean taking out a brick fire surround which went in about 20 years ago, removing the fire bricks and hoping that there is a burner that will fit the space. We don't need a 'liner' down the chimney, they are rarely required but are 'pushed' by the sellers 'cos they cost upwards of £400.00.
Then we will need move all the books (100+) from the lounge, plus other bits and stuff B4 finding a paint brush …….. ::)
The open fire is 8% efficient, the burners 80%+ so it's a no brainer really. Hopefully the surrounds will be made in England, one design is lime stone sourced from Portugal :-\
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:thankyou: If the chimney 'draws' an open fire successfully, then paying out for a liner is un-necessary. According to 'our' local sales people.
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One of my sons has a wood burner, and oh I love the smell it gives off.
One thing we did prove with gas central heating is, it doesn't cost more if you leave it on all day......we used to have anguments because my DH was always turning it off, then when it got cool he put it back on 😡...... then we were watching Martin Lewis who said it didn't cost any more if you just left it on all day ......and guess what! He was right....me too lol......So ours comes on before we get up and goes off about 8 ....then we put the gas fire on.
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We had to have a liner as the inner chimney bricks were crumbling and next door used to get smoke coming in upstairs when previous owner tried to light the burner ! Cost 2 k !!!
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Is that a record CLKD - resurrecting a 4 year old zombie thread ;D
It's not a question of either or though is it? We have central heating in our house but also have an Aga and a woodburner (unlined chimney and works fine) in two different rooms - which together keep the whole of the downstairs and most of the upstairs warm (Aga heats bedroom above as floor is wooden and chimney goes up through so warm wall, towel rail heated by Aga in bathroom, airing cupboard in another bedroom keeps that one warm so there is only our bedroom that's cold. We only put the CH on if it is extremely cold ie below freezing day and night - so only a few days per year :). However we live in a village with no gas - so Aga and CH are oil which rises and falls in price unpredictably. If I lived in a town or city then surely gas is the cheapest and wood less easy to come by (half the time we use our own wood from orchard and hedge thinnings)?
Go for the woodburner CLKD - you can always open the door and see the flames!
Hurdity x
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A Range would be lovely, one that heats the whole house via a back boiler in the Winter. We have an oil burner - the current delivery will be £80.00 more than the last in May. Trouble is, the house is cold until we put the thermostat up in the evening :sigh: …….. the heat from the fire puts the thermostat off ……….
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A chimney liner is needed when the chimney is not in good repair. That can be determined by a smoke test carried out by a chimney sweep or the woodburner installers. My woodburner sits on a Welsh slate hearth.
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I can't see the point in making a new Thread if we have covered a topic …….
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Now we are sorting 'stuff' and getting rid of books++. We need to move the furniture around …. which means I will lose my 'ch.ms tree corner' but hey ho! it's only [fortuntely] once a year ::). I dread to think what will be found behind the large piece of furniture :o :-X
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Spiders !!! CLKD :crutch:
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I missed this ;D
We have booked to have one fitted in Feb. :bounce: - thank goodness I am busy until then ::)
Well I found carpet moth so have been round the skirting boards with a spray, once we have moved the Very Large Bookcase …….. I know that there is a photo behind it. What else :o ???
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Ours works well. Doors open, down to my vest and knickers ;D fortunately we never get visitors.
However: this last load of wood smells of cat pee >:(. Himself went into the wood shed to make sure that he hasn't shut a :cat88: inside :D. Nope. Now do we tell the Company from whom we purchased the wood ?
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Might be worth asking them what type of tree they have logged up for you. Although we always get a mixture in any loads we order. Out of interest i looked up White Spruce which smells of cat's pee.
We were in a seaside town last weekend and spotted a couple logging up a huge tree that had washed up. Carrying chunks away in a small trailer. Just the sort of thing we would have done years ago. We were trying to spot where they had got the car and trailer through the barriers to the seafront. Where there's a will there's a way !
Gangan
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We used to do that too, or light fires on the beach from drift wood. Aaahhhhh .........
The main wood pile doesn't smell :-\.