Ways to Keep Your Room Warm Without a Heater
22nd April 2025 | Written By: Vinod Pottayil | Read Time: 3min | Last Updated: 22nd April 2025
A heater is a popular appliance to beat the chilly weather. However, heaters consume excessive energy, leading to elevated electricity bills. Many heaters also have other drawbacks such as noisy sound, overheating, poor air circulation and dry hair. They can also cause allergies and respiratory issues. The good news is that you can still keep your space warm and comfortable without a heater. Check out the following 11 hacks.
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Use Winter-Friendly Curtains:
Drape your windows and balcony doors with lined, thick or thermal insulated curtains. Keep the curtains open during the day to let the sunlight stream in and fill your space with natural heat. The Vitamin D from the sun will also chase away your winter blues and enhance the indoor air quality. The sunlight will also keep the mould, germs and bacteria away.
Draw the curtains at sunset to trap the heat and regulate the room temperature. -
Transition to Warm Lights:
Warm-coloured lighting such as amber hues and dimmable bulbs are great for creating a cosy ambiance during the cold nights. However, if you are looking to add little warmth to the space, then opt for incandescent bulbs or traditional lights such as candles and lanterns. While they provide noticeable heat, they are comparatively ineffective as major heating sources.
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Reshuffle the Furniture:
The window glass tends to become cooler at night and brings the chill inside the room. Before the onset of the winter season, move your bed and sofas away from windows. Rearrange them to be in the centre of the room or near a window-less wall.
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Prevent Heat Escape:
Check your windows and doors for cracks or holes. Seal them with duct tape, caulk or rubber strips, plastic sheets or foam tape. You can also use a draft stopper or draft blocker to prevent air exchange from the gaps at the bottom of windows and doors. A thick, rolled-up towel can also double up as a draft blocker.
Installing shutters is an ideal permanent solution, provided the budget and space design permit. -
Get the Rugs Out:
Most floors have poor insulation and hence, they tend to cool faster. Take out your rugs and carpets from the closet, air them in the sun and spread them out on the floors. Add two to three layers of rugs for additional protection against the harsh cold.
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Use Winter Bedding:
Winter comforters, wool blankets, flannel bed sheets, quilted bed covers and faux fur/velvet bedding sets give a homey winter feeling. They retain the warmth for a longer period. If the temperature is too freezing, then you can warm up the bedding with a blow dryer or bed heater.
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Invest in Electric Blankets:
The cosiness of electric blankets is an experience you shouldn’t miss during the winter season. You can adjust the temperature settings to warm your body. Electric blankets substitute for multiple, heavy and inconvenient blankets. Moreover, they will help eliminate the use of heaters considerably.
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Use Hot Water Bottles/Heating Bags:
When heaters didn’t exist or were too expensive, our parents and grandparents relied on the good old hot water bottles and heating bags. All you need to do is pour hot water into the bottle or bag and place it under the sheets.
These days, electric gel-based hot water bags do away with the hassle of heating the water. You just plug the bag into a socket and charge it for a few minutes. Your heating pad is ready at your convenience! -
Tap the Oven Heat:
Who doesn’t love a piping hot meal or a delicious baked goodie straight from the oven? It not only soothes our body and soul but also wards off the chill. Next time you use the oven, make sure to leave its door open for some time. The lingering or latent heat from the oven will seep out and take the room temperature a few notches up.
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Use the Shower Steam:
When you take a hot shower or bath, the steam releases heat and humidity into the air. This heat settles on the walls and surfaces. Leave the bathroom door open after the bath for a few minutes to create a toasty temperature in the room.
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Change the Direction of the Ceiling Fan:
Did you know that reversing the direction of the ceiling fan in the winter can increase the heat level in the room? The blades of the fan should spin in a clockwise direction so that the warm air can push downwards from ceiling to floor. Check for the manufacturer’s instruction manual to check whether your fan has a reversible direction feature.
Conclusion
A heater is a convenient but energy-intensive option to fight against the cold weather. However, the tips mentioned above will bring substantial energy savings for you.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) :
- Q1. Are heaters a good option to warm up a room? Heaters are commonly used heating appliances. They give localised warmth in the space where it is kept. Their major limitation is high power consumption which results in hefty electric bills.
- Q2. How can one prevent air exchange from doors and windows? The cracks, holes or gaps in doors and windows allow cold air from outside to enter the room and heat from inside to escape outside. You can seal the cracks and holes with a plastic sheet, foam strips or duct tape. You can place a draft blocker or a rolled-up towel to obstruct the gap under the doors and windows.
- Q3. Can soft furnishings keep the room warm without a heater? Thick and insulated curtains can lock the room’s heat. Bed sheets, blankets and other bedding sets made from wool, fleece or winter-friendly fabrics are also suitable for the cold season. Layering rugs and carpets can also retain the warmth in the space.
- Q4. Is it true that changing the blade rotation direction of ceiling fans helps to lower the winter chill? Many ceiling fans have the in-built reversible feature to spin from anti-clockwise in summer to clockwise in winter. It helps the warm air from the ceiling to move downwards and maintain a nice, toasty temperature in the room.
- Q5. What are warm lights and how are they useful? Warm lights emit an orangish yellow hue creating a candle-like ambiance. Yellow LED lights and halogen lamps are two examples. When you switch on warm lights after sunset, they give you a ‘winter cosy’ feeling.
