storage heaters and insomnia

I haven't slept well since the cold weather arrived. I live in a new apt building with storage heaters. Besides the facts that there is no thermostadt and therefore no way for them to respond to outdoor temps, that it is not possible to put them on a timer, and that they continue to release heat even when you don't want them to, the worse part at present is that they seem to dry the air out terribly. i wake up with a parched mouth every night. The odd thing is that my humidistadt says 50%, which is not that bad. i tried buying several (four) humidifiers at argos - the first was incredibly noisy and the other three were defective. I just got a new one from John Lewis, so we'll see if that helps. But I'm wondering how other people have solved this problem if they've had it. English folk have mentioned putting pans of water on the radiators, which i tried without success. My girlfriend feels that the things put out a very uncomfortable form of heat. i wonder if the things are putting chemicals into the air. I'm considering buying a portable oil filled heater, which I had in the states and liked.

Recommendations?

We have storage heaters though I can't say the heat is making us exceptionally dehydrated. We have a rather large bedroom and fortunately, do have a timer. However, if your flat is small and you can't control the heating, I expect that it is a pretty dry heat. More like the fan heating we have in the US which for me was incredibly drying.

We used an oil heater at my in-laws and it worked very well. I think DeLonghi are supposed to be quite good.

I bought some saline nose spray from the chemist's counter in Boots.  I spray some before going to bed, and again at waking.  Seems to help A LOT.  I have terribly dodgy sinuses - am just recovering from my third sinus infection of the year - which are sensitive to weather - particularly humidity - fluctuations, and the spray helps me a great deal. 

I bought some saline nose spray from the chemist's counter in Boots.  I spray some before going to bed, and again at waking.  Seems to help A LOT.

I use that nose spray on planes along with lubricating eye drops and both help enormously, though I wish there were a solution to the problem rather than just a bandaid for the symptoms! We have radiators on a thermostat so I can't really shed too much more light.

We have central heating which we turn off at night, but we always leave a fanlight ajar in the bedroom, no matter how cold the weather. If we forget, I wake up with a very dry throat.

Thanks much for the tips. The new humidifier seems to be helping. I bought a timer from Maplin so i don't have to run it all night. Today I also bought a Delonghi radiator with a thermostadt built in, and if it can maintain a constant temp, that should help, too. i never thought of the nasal spray, but it sounds like a good idea.

Ron

ps what is a fanlight?

ps what is a fanlight?

a ceiling fan

ps what is a fanlight?

It's a little separately opening window at the top of the main window - but of course it is more difficult if you only have large opening windows.

Thanks much for the tips. The new humidifier seems to be helping. I bought a timer from Maplin so i don't have to run it all night. Today I also bought a Delonghi radiator with a thermostadt built in, and if it can maintain a constant temp, that should help, too. i never thought of the nasal spray, but it sounds like a good idea.

Ron

ps what is a fanlight?

We have a Delonghi that we use in our daughter's bedroom to maintain a constant temp.  Works GREAT! 

Another tip is to buy one of those plug in vaporisers from Boots, Superdrug or just about any chemist shop.  You buy little replacement pads for it and it puts out mint and menthol vapours to keep you nasal passages unblocked. 

The DeLonghi does seem to work well for maintaining a constant temp. Now I have to get the humidity part tackled. I have it on a timer, but the trick is to have it on at the right times and for the right amount of time. perhaps I'll try the vaporizers.

thanks again