Need Home Heating Advice (meandering but read if you have time)

[ChoralScholar]

I know no one is thinking about staying warm during June, but I'm trying to decide how I want to heat my home this winter.

I have central heat and air. The air is electric, of course, but the heat is gas. I turned the gas on for about three months during our first winter, and the gas bills were outrageous. (my first bill was 280 dollars, which was only a partial month, and during a relatively mild period).

This past winter I used electric heat. I have a electric radiator that I use in the middle of the home, and electric wall heaters in the bedrooms (left over from before the home was central). Add to that a small oscillating quartz heater that we move to wherever. It seemed to be about the same cost, except this time I paid it to the electric company and not the gas company.

To throw another dimension in here, we have a Blaze King wood stove in the living room. It is very efficient, but it is a pain in the behind (or maybe I just don't know what I'm doing). I also don't like getting up in the morning and having to build a fire to get warm first thing.

So - I've considered going back to gas, and just lumping the cost... (I hear the rates have gone down a bit)...

I've also considered replacing the wood stove with a gas fireplace or a gel fireplace. I do want to have at least one heating alternative that will still work if the power is out.

Anyway, lounge lizards, got any thoughts?

[ChoralScholar]

1. Alrighty then.....

bump

:kick:

[supernova]

2. Several thoughts

Insulation
Heat (and ac in the summer) escape through windows, door cracks, even an attic and basement/crawlspace that isn't insulated well. If all the holes aren't plugged, it makes your systems run harder and longer than they need to to maintain temp. Windows are very bad about letting heat and a/c escape, especially in older homes.

Temperature
Set the temp to what ever you feel you can tolerate, the lowest heat setting in the winter. And the highest temp in the summer. The normal suggestion is 68 in the winter and 78 in the summer. You can also get a programmable thermostat that will turn off the system during the night or when you aren't at home. You can save a lot of money to the extent you can tolerate it. This past winter I turned the heat down to 60 at night and used a heated mattress pad. I was very cozy and saved money. Oh and programming cycles of on/off also work for the water heater too.

Options
Wood can be cheap, but yes you do need to feed the stove. There are also safety considerations, such as making sure the chimney is free of soot, disposing of ash, and making sure no stray coals drop from the stove. I'd still use it, but just when you are awake and being a homebody. Hey, every little bit helps.

Solar might be an option if you live where there is a lot of sun. Getting a solar water heater can be a doable project thought it is still pricey.

[struggle4progress]

3. It may depend on your objectives. Wood stoves can be a pollution concern, if lots of folk

use them locally, because there's no control over emissions. Depending on the source of your electricity, electric heat may not produce less greenhouse gas than gas heat, and due to inefficiencies in generation it might produce more

For reducing costs, you might consider insulation issues and exactly what rooms you heat: for example, I have an upstairs and a downstairs; heat rises, so if I'm actually using AC I tend to live downstairs and if I'm using heat I tend to live upstairs, and I adjust thermostat just to keep the up- or downstairs space I'm using comfortable. Double-glazed windows really help, and so does closing doors and not heating/cooling rooms you don't use constantly

Fireplaces can be quite inefficient: you can lose a lot of heat up the flue; I'd think a good stove that radiates heat well might do much better, but I'm not sure

Lots of folk seem to think a timed thermostat is a good investment: turn down the heat automatically after a certain time in the evening and turn it up again automatically in the AM. You might consider whether there's something you could use in conjunction with your woodstove: for example, crank up the gas heat at 6AM and turn it down again at 9AM to give you a chance to get the woodburner going

[Mopar151]

4. The Honeywell timed thermostat

Some are under $100, works ace.7 day program, heat/AC, can be bumped up/down and will go back to program at next changeover, or can be held at one temp until returned to program.
http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMCTLG=00&PMAKA=04574802&partnerURL=http://catalogs.shoplocal.com/mscdirect/index.aspx%6Fpagename=shopmain%50circularid=15382%50storeid=1040626%50pagenumber=4155%50mode=

[supernova]

5. I'm getting one of these

when I have a little cash next.

Right now, I have to remember to adjust the thermostat manually. I have mine set to about 77 and right now when it gets to about 75 or below at night, I turn it off, then I don't turn it on again until it gets above about 85, which is about noon time here. The house gets a little warm, but not intolerable. I only have the ac on, IOW, during the absolute heat of the day.

[zabet]

6. You heating set up is

very similar to mine. Gas heat, electric air, supplemented by wood heat. My gas bills were exorbitant up until I went with a newer model heating unit. The firebox went bad in my old one, it was approx 17 yrs old.....well the heating and ac man sold us a new/used unit installed for $1000 - 3 1/2 ton. (It came out of a spec house he sold that the new owners wanted a heat pump instead). My gas bill in now at 1/4 of what it used to be, my electric with the increased rates, is a 3rd of what it was. I even have an on demand gas water heater feeding out of the same tank...so the heater is really more efficient gas-wise than it appears. Spending the $1000 has literally already paid for itself more than once.

edit for grammer

[Turbineguy]

7. Besides plugging draft leaks.

Attic insulation. Crawl place insulation. Foam panels to put in front of windows at night. Programmable thermostat set to 62 at night, 70 for morning get-up period and 65 during the day. Then augment with wood stove and local room heating.

Wear woolly socks. If you keep your feet warm you will be comfy.

Music system sounds better in cooler room.

[Kaleva]

8. LP or natural gas?

What's the approx. square footage of your home and is it single or two story? What state do you live in? What brand of furnace do you have, how old is it and what is its rated efficiency and Btuh input and/or output?

In very well insulated homes I've worked in, the furnace cycles on about every 40 minutes and runs for about 10 minutes during very cold weather (around zero degrees). In other homes of similar size, the furnace would cycle on about every 5-8 minutes and run for about the same amount of time.

I've told a number of potential customers who wanted to upgrade to a high efficiency heating unit that after looking over their home, I wouldn't be doing them any good if I were to do the job and that they'd be far better off spending the money on replacing their windows, doors and improving the insulation in their homes instead.

Going by the limited info you've given, my guess is the problem lays with well or poorly your home is insulated and not with your heating system.

[ChoralScholar]

12. My house is a

single-level home of about 1800 sq feet. The main part of the house was built in the early 70s (the window and door fixtures are original) - and there was a fairly large living room/master suite addition done some ten years ago. The window and door fixtures in the new part of the home are much more efficient I think.

I'll have to get the info off the unit outside. I do know this, the heat and A/C are in one unit outside, and the unit is new enough that the gas heat has glow rods rather than a pilot for ignition.

[doc03]

9. Add a heat pump to your gas furnace or go all electric

I cut my heating bills in half when I switched from oil to the heat pump with electric back-up.

[MajorChode]

10. Before you do anything else

Check the insulation in your attic. For most of the country, you want at least R38. Depending on how far north you live, you may want as high as R60. You can rent an insulation blower and do the job yourself for a reasonable cost. If you're at R30 or lower, it won't take you long to recoup your costs. It's one of the easiest, cheapest, and most effective things you can do towards lowering your energy costs.

[ChoralScholar]

11. You guys - I totally forgot I posted this - I'm reading all your responses now - Thx

[Gormy Cuss]

13. One thing not mentioned yet: replace your wood stove with a wood pellet stove.

I know several former wood stove owners who rave about how much better these are (easier to keep stoked, lower emissions.)

I haven't used one myself so this is second hand info.