DIY

Dear PM, With the ever-rising prices of Eskom electricity, keeping truly warm in winter in the evenings is becoming more and more expensive. Gas keeps going up in price. And using a 2-bar electric heater gobbles up 2 000 watts an hour; a 3-bar uses 3 000 watts. Even an inverter air conditioner uses at least 1 500 watts per hour. So, how to stay really warm? Answer: Don’t heat the whole room: Just heat yourself with a single electric overblanket ( not an underblanket) that can be purchased for as little as R500. Spread it over your body when you sit in the evenings ( or during the day if you work from home), put it on ‘High’ setting – and you stay toasty warm! And the astonishing thing is it uses just 50 watts! Less than the cost of an oldfashioned incandescent light bulb, and only one-sixtieth of the cost of a 3-bar heater!

There simply is no better way for you to keep warm this cheaply, and thus save massively on your winter heating bills. Kind regards, DOUG LAURIE