le DU, c'est chaud - DU is hot! (condensed heating advice)

Due to the high number of useful posts on this thread on how to keep heat affordable, I was inspired to post the following condensation:

DU's Hot Advice
---------------

(0) Get cold first, if necessary
Walk outside for a bit, till your nose feels like someone else's.

1) Keeping the body warm

No one cares what the temperature is close to the ceiling. We want to have hot bodies, therefore we use localized heating and/or insulation:
- a space heater in front of you. Don't overdo it if it's fuel is expensive.
- a heating pad in your lap
- obviously, a good pair of socks on your feet,
- possibly with cats or dogs on your lap (on the heating pad?). When raised together, a combination is feasible.
- have plenty of drop-overs around, blankets in fleece or wool or...
- use an electrical heating blanket for that extra
- in case movement off the couch / chair is needed, it is best to do so layered in clothes. Long-johns made of silk or a close-woven fabric as a first, wool on top and anything in between. Cashmere robes for evening elegance but make sure the cashmere does not come from tortured goats (China)

This allows the central heating temperature (preferably with a programmable thermostat) to be set lower.

2) Keep the losses small

- roof: insulating the roof or the attic floor very well is a good small investment.
- doors: hang a blanket in front, or a curtain. Block air at the bottom with towels, a weather strip or bean bags. Close the doors of unused rooms.
- windows: use (adhesive/heat shrink/normal) plastic foil to insulate single-pane windows. Check for cracks and drafts, also around the woodwork. Tape or spray them up. Hang a blanket in front of the window. If you have some money, the investment in double-paned windows pays off.
- walls: consider putting some kind of shingles on the north wall if your walls are poorly isolated.
- cracks: use an aerosol foam spray can to fill them up.
- the attic (trap)door is a heat sink: insulate it.
- vents: put a timer on them, use gravity-operated flapped ones, vent the dryer on the inside.

3) Cost- and energy efficient central heating

- maintain the central heating system. Don't forget the filters.
- isolate the heater area and the water heater.
- Make sure the temperature on your water heater isn't too high. Anything over 120F is wasting energy.
- consider a pellet stove or a wood stove.
- if you have some money to spend, consider solar or wind energy.

important safety note: when insulating every draft and using a heater with air supply from inside the house and possibly exhaust inside as well (gas boilers, stoves, hearth etc) beware of carbon monoxide poisoning!

4) You might as well enjoy it

- spouses, family and close friends provide free heat. Consider snuggling up close under a blanket, this can be fun as well. The more and merrier version of this is called an orgy, but that makes you hungry. Simply being in the same room is the less physical option.
- hot chocolate. Enough said.
- have soup simmering on the stove. The smell of it reminds you that somewhere in the room there is heat. It can be drunk too.
- stay warm in a multicultural way by using a traditional Japanese setup called a kotatsu, essentially a low table with a quilted skirt and a heater underneath. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu

Thanks to all the contributors!
bmc

In fact, everyone else in the house will stand around you for warmth :)

I turn my heat down at night, and the quilt keeps me toasty, it's amazing how efficient it is, it's the first really warm
blanket that I have had. I have reached the level of fatigue with Bush, I no longer get angry I don't even want to hear
him on Tv anymore, I believe nothing he says or does and I just want all the truth out with orange jumps suits for all
ne'er do wells.

:-)

one's blood pressure up.

I think they will do nothing but work on their election campaigns, we will continue to have this sad farce until the very last day of
this current administration and then the dam will break and suddenly there will be droves of people to point out what went wrong
and correct the problem. Let's hope the next prez is not a "pardon them all" dude.

mine would end up errrm
artistic :D

it's 21 blocks across and 23 rows down, it took me 6 weeks to sew by machine. There's nothing wrong with artistic, if there's
no geometric pattern, it's called a crazy quilt.

:-)

;-)

and i can knit my own extra extra thick sweaters. one is a mix with up to 7 not thin yarn.
oh, for hot chocolate. i get these free lbs of bissinger chocolate. never knew what to do with em. AH HA. break 3 little chunkc into milk and you got WAY better than swiss miss. works with dove too, but you need 4.
i drink hot tea and coffee too.

I am also reflecting on making cardboard inserts and putting them in the windows after dark during winter and just taking them
down during the day when it's warmer.