Heat kitchen with gas burners?

[Muse]

My house's furnace is a disconnected heap of rust in the crawl space, has been ever since I moved here 30+ years ago when I moved in as renter. I bought the house ~15 years ago. A central heating system is a future project.

Right now, winter is coming in, it's almost here, the thermometers tell me. When I came down this morning the kitchen thermometer said 53 F.

I have three gas burners on on my old stove and I'm computing right now on the laptop on the kitchen table. Thermometer now says 57 F, feels relatively toasty! By the looks, there was a venting system in the kitchen, but it's closed off. I've done this for years, TBH.

Is this unhealthy?

 

[herm0016]

You could die of carbon monoxide. Do you consider dieing unhealthy?

 

[Muse]

You could die of carbon monoxide. Do you consider dieing unhealthy?

Yeah. Well, I do have a CO detector installed.

 

[Red Squirrel]

No working furnace at all? I would probably want to get that fixed asap. I probably would not run on those burners as a permanent solution. Even if the CO detector is not going off you are rising the levels of CO and may still be bad for you in the long term. If you find yourself opening a window or turning on a vent for fresh air then you're kinda defeating the entire purpose and may as well just turn them off.

You'll want to also get some kind of heater near your plumbing so your pipes don't freeze as the temp continues to drop.

 

[pcgeek11]

My god man, buy a furnace at least. Are you just cheap or poor?

Maybe a go fund me page or something.

 

[boomerang]

You've lived there 30 years and have owned if for 15 and a working heating system is a future project? In thirty years this is the first time you've considered how to heat your place?

Something is very wrong here...

 

[IronWing]

Buy an oil filled electric heater. They're cheap and they work. In past apartments I have used both gas and electric ovens for heat, CILL MY LANDLORD, but with gas you have to vent so you're trading heat in one place for cold in another.

With no vent, running the stove top for heat is no different than running the stove top for cooking, both bad.

 

[Muse]

You've lived there 30 years and have owned if for 15 and a working heating system is a future project? In thirty years this is the first time you've considered how to heat your place?

Something is very wrong here...

Well, I should explain. Average night time outside temperatures in winter here are probably about 42 F. I got downstairs to my kitchen today and it was 53 F. Outside temperatures almost never go below freezing here. Around 1992 or so there was a for-me unprecedented cold spell and for several days it was ~40 F in the kitchen when I came downstairs.

Water pipes are in little danger of freezing up where I live, in my particular micro-climate.

I'm pretty used to the winters here. I never reach the point where I'm shivering, NEVER. I wear layers. I use a space heater in my bedroom sometimes, have a heat lamp (250 watts), hanging in the middle of the bedroom, and use that a lot during colder weather. It raises the temperature several degrees.

Yes, I'll install a heater. Selling the house without one would be tough. I don't feel it's a crisis situation though, in terms of my health. The house is 1925 square feet. To heat the whole house with gas furnace will cost. If I leave some rooms cool, it will be cheaper, though.

I'm in the kitchen now and the temperature is about 55 F.

 

[Carson Dyle]

To heat the whole house with gas furnace will cost.

Well, it's going to cost something more than not heating it all. If, as you so vehemently argue, your climate is relatively mild, then it's going to cost considerably less than heating that same house in, say, Minnesota.

If you're OK with the house being 52 degrees, or 40 degrees on occasion, I suppose you don't need a furnace. If you plan on selling some day and you realize that you'll need to replace the furnace before then, it seems damned silly to wait until then instead of enjoying years of having heat.

 

[pcgeek11]

So the only real question here is what?

It sounds like you are fine being cold, don't worry about it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Holy crap I did not do the conversion till now but 53F is 12C. Even here in Canada I find that's kinda cold for the house. I let it drop that low when I'm not home or if I'm sleeping but I definitely tend to step it up to like 18-20 if I'm home. I find 12C in the house feels colder than if it's outside, oddly. If it's 12C outside then that's shorts and tshirt weather, but inside it feels much colder.

A cheaper suggestion for heat might be a wood stove, cheaper to run too. Requires more work though and can't really automate it like you can a furnace with a thermostat, but would at least bring up the temperature. Been toying with the idea of installing one myself as supplemental/backup heat.

 

[boomerang]

I'm not one to mince words. After decades of using the stove as a heat source the OP poses a question asking if it's unhealthy. The answer to the question underlying that question is yes, you should get some help.

 

[Muse]

So the only real question here is what?

It sounds like you are fine being cold, don't worry about it.

Fact is that I get used to the cold. Winter comes on gradually, so I gradually get used to the cooling. I tend to do OK with it. Carson Dyle's right in that installing a heater just before selling has a silly aspect to it. Global warming (well, the winters have been markedly milder here recent years), has made lacking central heating less of an issue for me.

A wood burning stove? Not sure it's legal here any more, would have to investigate that. My sister had one in her Oakland home a few years ago. I do have a fireplace. It doesn't heat the house but sitting in front of it is a sure fire way to get warm in short order. I get wood by trimming my big old plum trees.

I don't think a fireplace is healthy either. The particulate matter given off is unhealthy.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah fire places arn't that great due to the draft - they suck lot of air out but a proper wood stove with an outside air intake will be more efficient and once you dial the intake down they burn for quite a while (some 12 hours) on a single load with very little emissions. I'm seriously considering it myself as a supplemental and backup heat. They also keep talking about banning them here but I imagine existing installs would be grandfathered so I need to move it before it's too late. Then again they could easily just tell people to stop using them too... so it's a gamble.

Had a scheduled power outage for 4 hours in winter once and by the 4th hour I started to realize how I really need to have a backup heat source. Of course that could simply mean having a UPS for the furnace, but an actual separate stand alone backup is better in case the furnace breaks down or gas service stops etc.... never heard of gas service outage but suppose it's possible.

 

[WHAMPOM]

You are the perfect home owner for installation of a heat pump for heating and cooling.

 

[WhiteNoise]

I have a gas furnace and it is very cheap to run in the winter. I usually keep the house around 70. I don't think you should have a problem running a furnace and paying the bill but buying a new furnace might be a bit costly.

Running the stove burners to heat your house is just stupid though.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah natural gas furnace is the way to go, probably the cheapest source of heat other than wood.

 

[Kaido]

My house's furnace is a disconnected heap of rust in the crawl space, has been ever since I moved here 30+ years ago when I moved in as renter. I bought the house ~15 years ago. A central heating system is a future project.

Right now, winter is coming in, it's almost here, the thermometers tell me. When I came down this morning the kitchen thermometer said 53 F.

I have three gas burners on on my old stove and I'm computing right now on the laptop on the kitchen table. Thermometer now says 57 F, feels relatively toasty! By the looks, there was a venting system in the kitchen, but it's closed off. I've done this for years, TBH.

Is this unhealthy?

Is the oven portion gas or electric? My furnace went out a few weeks ago & I couldn't get anyone to come in for over a week, so temporarily I left the electric oven's door open in the mornings to get things going because it's been frigid here. Some options:

1. If it's just you, buy an electric blanket & wrap yourself in it.
2. Buy a foam toilet seat. It's like heavy-duty styrofoam or something. Not freezing when you sit on it. They don't last long-term, but they're reasonably cheap & easy to replace.
3. Buy an electric space heater. I have a simple plug-in ceramic heater with a fan. It does well in small rooms if you shut the door & give it some time to heat up the room. Based on your post above, sounds like you're already going this route for now.
4. Look at cheaper options for a furnace. I just had a Goodman installed (80% efficiency, you can do like 90/96% but you need extra piping for exhaust), not the best brand but it was readily available & far cheaper than the competitors. Already had the ductwork in place; my previous 30+ year-old furnace died. Most places quoted $3,500 to $4,000 to install, but I found a local shop willing to do cash-up-front for $2,800 (hardware + installation). Killed my budget, but at least my house isn't 40F anymore lol. Some oil/gas companies let you do a payment plan over time along with your fuel bill, but that wasn't available in my area - but if it's available in yours, then you'd have a larger monthly bill but not have to shell out a huge amount up-front.
5. My buddy has a wood-burning stove in his house. It's awesome. Nice air feel & great smell. Downside is you have to constantly load it up with wood & have a wood pile to run it. A great brand is Jotul.
6. Another one of my buddies just got a pellet stove for his house. You have to get a delivery of pellets, but like wood, it smells nice & gives the air a nice quality. I had to get a whole-house humidifier installed along with my gas furnace because we were waking up with cracked lips & bloody noses (depends on your house layout, insulation, etc. as to whether or not that will happen with a gas furnace, from the dry air).
7. If you're mostly in just one room, you can do a mini-split HVAC system. About $2k installed per unit. Best unit I know of is the Mitsubishi Mr. Slim H2i, which has a small outdoor piece & then an indoor piece. Connects via a 3" copper tube. It does heat (can pull heat from down to -13F outside) PLUS does A/C from a single unit (and has a remote control!). Downside is that's the price for one room; my buddy did 4 units in his place because he caretakes for his parents, so there's one per bedroom plus one in the main living area. But if you're mostly in one room, two grand will get you heat & air conditioning and be reasonably efficient, which is nice.
8. Could always go the hippie route and build a DIY cob oven to heat the house:

 

[Kaido]

Yeah natural gas furnace is the way to go, probably the cheapest source of heat other than wood.

That's the route we went (no room for wood storage). It is nice not having to get an oil refill or having to load up wood or pellets!

 

[momeNt]

Try a propane heater, use as necessary.

they can be safe for temporary indoor heating.

 

[Ken g6]

You say you have one or more computers? Try running folding@home on them. Makes a free electric space heater, though it won't exceed the combined tdp of your CPUs and GPUs.

 

[Kaido]

You say you have one or more computers? Try running folding@home on them. Makes a free electric space heater, though it won't exceed the combined tdp of your CPUs and GPUs.

Back in college, I had 7 computers in my bedroom (they were all crappy, but did various functions...CS server, folding, etc.). Did a great job of keeping my room warm during the cold winter months

 

[vi edit]

How much square footage is the kitchen? Could go with an electric grid heater under tile. Will cost some money, but not an excessive amount if sq/ft is minimal. It won't roast you out of the room, but radiant heat is much more comfortable than forced air and if your feet feel warm, you can generally get away with a much lower ambient air temp than with conventional heating.

 

[Carson Dyle]

radiant heat is much more comfortable than forced air

If the original post is to be believed, the guy has been living without heat for 30 years. Something tells me that the difference in comfort been radiant heat and forced air might be lost on him.

 

[vi edit]

If the original post is to be believed, the guy has been living without heat for 30 years. Something tells me that the difference in comfort been radiant heat and forced air might be lost on him.

The difference is more of an appeal to his frugality than anything. You can get away with a lower temperature threshold with radiant than with a furnace or space heater that is forcing hot air at you. Plus an electric grid under tile is essentially maintenance free once it's installed. No filters, mechanicals or fans to address.