As you know, I live off-grid in my Tiny House, without connections to the electricity grid, water supply and sewerage system. I don’t even have Wifi ;) I have written about how I organized it many times; you can read about it all in my blogs. But the subject of heating in wintertime is still something that I want to pay attention to again. Because if you live off-grid, then electric heating is not an option. How do you keep your house warm during those cold winter nights?
There are limited options to heat your home without an inexhaustible supply of electricity. When you have to rely on the sun to provide your house with energy, you have to budget your use of it during the winter months here in the Netherlands. The heating options amount to biomass or gas. I have chosen a wood-burning stove; mine is called “the Hobbit”. You can read here why I made this choice. The thing with a small wood stove is that you regularly have to add some wood or wood briquettes to keep it going. And when you go to bed, it cools down pretty quickly. My Tiny House is well insulated so the warmth is not lost very fast, but on cold winter nights when the temperature drops below zero, it gets chilly in the house during the night.
I solved that by putting a night briquette on the stove during those nights before I go to bed. Night briquettes are blocks of pressed tree bark that glow for six to eight hours, keeping the worst cold out of the house. In addition, I have invested in a very good duvet of sheep’s wool and, to be honest, I have never felt cold in bed. You benefit the entire year from a four-season sheep’s wool duvet. Sheep’s wool is in fact moisture-regulating, which means that you can also lie comfortably in your bed in the summer. Did you know that it can absorb no less than 35% of its own weight in water? It insulates like crazy in the winter and ventilates very well, which is important during the summer months. In addition, sheep’s wool is a natural product that appeals to me personally. I prefer not to lie under a duvet made from artificial materials. And I prefer to have products in-house that can be 100% recycled at the end of their lifecycle. If you are going to buy a new duvet for your Tiny House, then it is worth investing in an environmentally responsible one, don’t you agree?
In the morning when I get out of bed, it is rarely colder than 14 degrees in the house. If I have used a night briquette, then usually a small core of the briquette still glows in my stove, so I can have it working again quickly. But even when the stove has gone out completely during the night and has cooled down, such a small wood-burning stove is quickly back on track and it does not take long before the temperature in the house is pleasant again. I think it’s all pretty well doable. However, if you are away for a few days, your house does get really cold. I solve that by asking friends to look after my house. After all, my animals have to be taken care of as well. Fortunately, it is never a problem to find candidates for a tiny holiday in my house :)
Hella also loves it on a sheep’s wool duvet!
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