Nostalgia Sunday – Heaters

October 12, 2008 - 5:05 PM by Rachel Neiman · 6 Comments
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Life

Heaters! Kerosene, electric coil, space heater, oil radiator, electric blankets – I’ve had every single kind of heating device you can get in this country and I’m still cold when the chill wind blows in. Here are some pictures of some of the ridiculous contraptions I’ve had to put up with in my never-ending quest to stay warm in the Israeli winter.

Kerosene heater

Radiant coil heater

Many of the above two were manufactured by a company called Friedman, which also made those squat little fridges so popular with the hipster retro crowd today because they never had to actually use one.

Just for laffs, here’s a picture of the natural gas heater I could never afford to own: glowing ceramic plates heated by pricey blue and orange flames. Ahhh…

Gas heater

They haven’t yet been able to make a heater that can warm an apartment built from porous sandy bricks (1920s to 1930s) or holey cinderblock (1940s to 1960s), not to mention moisture-absorbing Jerusalem stone (a favorite building material from time immemorial). Certainly this kind was tried and found wanting.

Radiator

I’ve never yet had the pleasure of living in an home built from Ytong, the insulating cinderblock, but I’m doubtful it works. Because people here don’t really believe its cold. Basically, Israelis refuse to accept the reality that it is not really a hot country. Israel is a cold country with a very long hot season.

Over the years, my wintertime philosphy has become: seal up the windows, move into the bedroom, get under the covers, crank up the heat and hang the expense — sort of. I cannot still, in good faith, run the A/C on heat continually for 3-4 months, so the best solutions I’ve found, to date:

Space heater