When summer ends and winter arrives, the majority of individuals install central heating in their houses. While central heating is one of the most efficient ways to heat a home, what if you don’t have access to it or can’t afford it?
You’d have to look for how to heat a house without central heating. Are there ways you can do that? Of course, there are. So many ways. Do you want to know how to heat your home without using your central heating system? Continue reading to find out.
Dealing With Heat Loss
Before you can consider how to live without central heating, you must first address the heat loss issue in your home. Heat loss has the ability to sabotage your efforts to warm your home.
There are different ways heat loss can occur in your home, ranging from a poorly constructed house to ceiling voids and drafty windows. You need to find all the ways through which cold air blows into your home and seal them. Without sealing them off, you will have a more challenging task heating your home without central heating. That will mean you having to look for any openings in the windows below the door and sealing them.
Identifying the places your home loses heat is the first step in keeping your home warm. That makes it easier to heat your home even without central heating.
With that out of the way, let’s look at how you can heat a house without central heating.
How to Survive Without Central Heating
It’s reasonable that people rely on central heating, especially during the winter months. According to the World Health Organization, a house with infants should have an indoor temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and 18 degrees Celsius if only adults.
When there isn’t any central heating, finding alternate heating sources becomes a top priority. So, here are some suggestions for how to survive without central heating.
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Get a Low-Cost Low-Wattage Space Heater
Space heaters can be fantastic options if you don’t have central heating. Unlike central heating, they won’t result in excessively high energy bills since you can buy a low-wattage heater.
The only issue with space heaters is that they only heat a localized space. Given time, however, you can boost the temperature of the entire house through the convectional currents of the heat.
They are also relatively easy to install. Some of them are portable, and you can carry them to another room to heat them as well. Further still, there are some that you can mount into the wall.
Such heaters will, however, be quite expensive but not to the levels of central heating.
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Seal All Drafty Windows and the Doors
Windows are one way through which cold air enters your house. While it is okay for cold air to get in while the window is open, it becomes a problem when it still enters, even when you’ve locked your windows.
That’s why you need to seal drafts or any holes in the windows and doors. If they have holes that let in cold air, seal them and keep your house warmer. Sealing them off means your home can keep much of the heat, whoever little.
That, in the end, keeps your house warm enough even without a central heater.
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Exploit Sunlight
The sun isn’t that much in the winter. Still, some areas do have some sunlight. If you live in such an area, you can take advantage of that to heat your house. You will need to open the windows and let in the sun.
Alternatively, you could open the curtains to ensure the sun’s rays do come in.
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Stay Warm by Wearing Warm Clothing
This seems obvious. Wearing warm clothing indoors will make it a hotter place. You will feel warm and won’t miss central heating that much. Warm clothing ranges from warm sweaters to woolen sandals.
You could also get a warm blanket or a Slanket. The Slanket is an ultra-warm blanket with sleeves. You wear it and even walk in it.
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Make Use of the Fireplace If You Have One
Few people have the privilege of living in a house with a fireplace. The more the reason you should take advantage of it if present. This is the traditional approach to warming a home, and we have to admit it is pretty efficient.
If housing regulations in your area allow, you should install a fireplace if you don’t have one. It will make it a lot easier to heat your house even without central heating.
Read Also: Convert Wood Stove to Pellet Stove – What You Should Know
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Maintain Your Radiators
A radiator is another cheaper alternative to central heating. However, most people with radiators don’t maintain them well enough to ensure they are working efficiently. If you have a radiator, maintain it by clearing any trapped air inside it.
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Rooms that aren’t in use should have their doors closed
Unlocked doors can bring air into other rooms you’d want to keep warm. Therefore, locking them will make it easier to heat your home. If you close all the doors, you will create a vacuum-like atmosphere that’s easier to heat.
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Get a Floor Mat or Carpet
While carpets won’t necessarily heat the house, they will help conserve the heat already in. they do that by acting as insulation for any heat. Therefore, no heat escapes out through openings on the floor.
The floor can also be quite cold, but with a carpet, you can bypass that problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q – Is it possible to live without central heating?
A – Of course, it is. Not all people can afford central heating, and they use some of the methods we have outlined to live quite comfortably without central heating.
Q – Can I use candles to heat my house?
A – You can use candles to heat your home, but you will need so many of them. Candles release some heat when you light them. The heat, however, is too little to warm a house effectively unless you light so many candles.
Bottom Line
Now that you know how to heat a house without central heating, you can keep warm in the winter while not breaking the bank. Feel free to try any of our outlined ways, and you won’t miss central heating a bit. And oh, you’ll save some money too.
Relevant Resources:
- Best 5 Space Heater That Won’t Trip Breaker – Reviews in 2021
- How to Seal a Window Air Conditioner for the Winter – 6 Easy Steps
- How Far Should Furniture Be from Baseboard Heaters – Best Answers
- Pellet Stove Blowing Smoke Into House – 4 Best Hacks
- How To Move a Wood Stove : 11 Best Steps That You Can Follow
