My wife and I were set to stay at her aunt and uncle’s house for two months while she finished a college seminar at the large state university in their city.
We figured we would have to spend money on an Airbnb for the duration.
Then her family came to the rescue at the last minute. When they called and told us to stay free of charge, we both nearly cried tears of joy. It was a huge financial burden lifted from our shoulders. However, we were set to stay up north during the two coldest months of the year, and their house is poorly equipped for indoor heating. They are both tough as nails and have braved cold weather for decades with just a small fireplace at the center of their house. Because their bedroom is on the opposite side of the wall with the chimney, they get almost as much radiant heat compared to someone sitting in front of the fireplace in the living room itself. But, their guest bedroom across the hallway does not share this advantage. Therefore, they have a space heater sitting next to the window that can be operated with a remote. It plugs directly into the wall outlet and has a few basic features like temperature and fan speed control. My wife was concerned with using their space heater, fearing that all space heaters are dangerous after she nearly burnt her house down with one several years ago. I explained to her that many space heaters are perfectly safe to use if you practice due diligence with following basic safety rules. Always plug it into an outlet with nothing else, especially appliances with a heavy current load. It’s also smart to keep anything flammable away from the direction of the heat, or near enough to touch the red hot coils.