So I am thinking about electric heaters instead of central heat running all the time

[Thump553]

Lots of places kerosene heaters are against code, for very valid reasons.

And yes you can have frozen pipes in a house where the indoor temp is over 32 degrees. That temp is measured at the thermostat, usually chest height on an interior wall. If you have an older, poorly insulated house in a very cold climate it's relatively easy to freeze pipes in places like under the sink in a normally closed cabinet. Been there, done that. Best trick is to keep such cabinets open when it gets really cold.

 

[Strk]

I use two ceramic heaters and they do an awesome job. I keep my house at 60 and use the heaters for the rooms that I'm in.

 

[TwiceOver]

Electric must be cheap where you live. At no time would it be cheaper to run electric heat compared to natural gas around here.

 

[imagoon]

While those oil-filled radiators MIGHT do the job...I've been looking at these:

http://www.costco.com/Presto®-HeatDish®-Plus-Parabolic-Heater.product.100142330.html

(not sure if the ones in the warehouse are exactly the same or not)

They put out a fuck-ton of warmth...and are "only" 1000 watts max.

I really don't like radiant heaters. They feel really warm around the heater but seem to barely budge the temps when it counts, nor do they seem to heat anything around them (well.)

My 7500watt heater needs a good 1-2 hours to take the cold out of the garage but it is resistive element (like an oil radiator) and generally felt like it gets the garage air warm rather than just the small area where I am in the radiant light.

 

[Strk]

This is what I use and it works great. It just gets warm to the touch, which I like, but makes the room(s) plenty warm that I run it in.

 

[Scarpozzi]

If you own your home and have natural gas available, definitely consider a dual-fuel heat pump. My old unit was 25-30 years old...electric coil heat. I replaced it with a electric heat pump with an 80k btu, 95% efficient natural gas heater. My thermostat monitors outside temps and switches to gas heat when the temp goes below 40 degrees.

Pair that with a programmable thermostat and it's easy to maintain good temps while staying efficient.

My electric bills went from $200-320/month down to $80-130. My gas bill maxes at $80 in the dead of winter here. Insulating windows and doors and your attic, where possible will make a big difference too. If you have hard wood or tile floors, get some throw rugs for winter.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Get a cast iron wood burning stove. That'll heat your place up in no time

 

[z1ggy]

Someone at work tried this 10 yearsago. Noidea what the result was.

A friend is doing palatalized wood and after the startup cost is probably paying half of what oil costs.

This. If you really are trying to save, the best way is by wood/coal burning. I got 2 tons of pellets this yr, delivered to my back door for $650. That should last me most of the winter (I have a small house). 3 tons for a larger house should be fine, and would cost around $950. I fill up my oil tank once a winter, costing about $800 this yr. So the entire winter will cost me to heat my house, water, etc for around $1500. My friend in a similar sized house uses oil only, and was spending $1500 on oil every 8 weeks, so he probably spent double what I did.

Oh and after read above posts, don't forget to seal up any large/non double pane windows! It will make a huge difference. Also, you can stick some vinyl sealing stuff on any door frame which opens up to the outside. I got 9 windows worth of sealing sheet, and 20ft of vinyl sealing rope for like $30 at home depot the other day.

 

[waffleironhead]

This. If you really are trying to save, the best way is by wood/coal burning. I got 2 tons of pellets this yr, delivered to my back door for $650. That should last me most of the winter (I have a small house). 3 tons for a larger house should be fine, and would cost around $950. I fill up my oil tank once a winter, costing about $800 this yr. So the entire winter will cost me to heat my house, water, etc for around $1500. My friend in a similar sized house uses oil only, and was spending $1500 on oil every 8 weeks, so he probably spent double what I did.

Oh and after read above posts, don't forget to seal up any large/non double pane windows! It will make a huge difference. Also, you can stick some vinyl sealing stuff on any door frame which opens up to the outside. I got 9 windows worth of sealing sheet, and 20ft of vinyl sealing rope for like $30 at home depot the other day.

Which pellet heater do you have? Is it thermostatically controlled? Things you do don't like about it? I'm looking to put one in my 2 story workshop.

 

[SAWYER]

I also have a fireplace in the middle of the house put I dont think it makes that much of a difference but maybe I will give it another try

 

[DrPizza]

seriously? you realize water freezes at 32f, right? Keep the house at 50F in the interior and your pipes shouldn't freeze.

Pipes are in walls. If it's 10 degrees outside, and 70 in the room you're in, then someplace between the inside and outside wall surfaces, the temperature is 32 degrees. They shouldn't be, but sometimes water lines are run through exterior walls. Sometimes, it's simply unavoidable.

This. If you really are trying to save, the best way is by wood/coal burning. I got 2 tons of pellets this yr, delivered to my back door for $650. That should last me most of the winter (I have a small house). 3 tons for a larger house should be fine, and would cost around $950. I fill up my oil tank once a winter, costing about $800 this yr. So the entire winter will cost me to heat my house, water, etc for around $1500. My friend in a similar sized house uses oil only, and was spending $1500 on oil every 8 weeks, so he probably spent double what I did.

Oh and after read above posts, don't forget to seal up any large/non double pane windows! It will make a huge difference. Also, you can stick some vinyl sealing stuff on any door frame which opens up to the outside. I got 9 windows worth of sealing sheet, and 20ft of vinyl sealing rope for like $30 at home depot the other day.

Ouch! $650 seems a bit steep. Last time I looked at all the prices and BTUs, anthracite coal was the cheapest way to heat. Bagged, around here, it's $250 a ton. Wood pellets are around $220 per ton, but don't give off as much heat as coal. However, coal stoves are a little bit more expensive then wood stoves. Personally, I run a coal stove in the house, a pellet stove in the garage, and a wood stove in the basement. I just got the wood stove - its purpose will be to simply heat the basement once every week or so. Since it's unheated, it stays pretty cool most of the year. But, Jan/Feb, it's getting cooler and cooler and approaches freezing. It sucked the last time my water lines froze; so I figure that by injecting some heat once a week, I can keep the basement from dropping quite as much during the course of the winter.

 

[Uppsala9496]

I can't imagine not living with a natural gas connection. Set the thermostat to 60° during the day when not at home, 66° in the morning and evening and 62° for sleeping.
Costs me about $70 a month.

 

[NoTine42]

I can't imagine not living with a natural gas connection. Set the thermostat to 60° during the day when not at home, 66° in the morning and evening and 62° for sleeping.
Costs me about $70 a month.

It's fun, you should try it sometime. When you live without a natural gas connection, you bend over and wait for the propane guy to show up.

During last year's record cold snap, I went through $900 in propane in one 4 week period.

I have 2 electric "box style" radiant heaters, they dramatically reduce heating costs, (I used to maintain a spreadsheet with heating degree days, propane and kilowatt usage) but they only provide enough heat when the temp is above freezing.

 

[NoTine42]

I really don't like radiant heaters. They feel really warm around the heater but seem to barely budge the temps when it counts, nor do they seem to heat anything around them (well.)

My 7500watt heater needs a good 1-2 hours to take the cold out of the garage but it is resistive element (like an oil radiator) and generally felt like it gets the garage air warm rather than just the small area where I am in the radiant light.

I think the box style radiant heaters are the nicest ones. They have the "heat lamp" bulbs and a fan that distributes the heat. Because of that typical airflow, the heater itself does not have any exposed burning hot surfaces.

Like this:
http://www.costco.com/Heat-Storm-1500w-Infrared-Heater-Logan-.product.100145266.html

 

[NetWareHead]

Ouch! $650 seems a bit steep. Last time I looked at all the prices and BTUs, anthracite coal was the cheapest way to heat. Bagged, around here, it's $250 a ton. Wood pellets are around $220 per ton, but don't give off as much heat as coal. However, coal stoves are a little bit more expensive then wood stoves. Personally, I run a coal stove in the house, a pellet stove in the garage, and a wood stove in the basement. I just got the wood stove - its purpose will be to simply heat the basement once every week or so. Since it's unheated, it stays pretty cool most of the year. But, Jan/Feb, it's getting cooler and cooler and approaches freezing. It sucked the last time my water lines froze; so I figure that by injecting some heat once a week, I can keep the basement from dropping quite as much during the course of the winter.

This. coal is the cheapest form of heat out there. Anthracite coal is clean burning coal and not the stereotypical coal people think of (belching smokestacks and steam locomotives). Burns with a blue flame like natural gas. There is just an incredible amount of heat in coal. I frequent a coal forum and one guy had to go away from his house for a few days. Came back to his stove and realized there was still a fire somewhere in there. Opened up the air intake, shook the ash out and threw fresh coal on top. An hour later a warm coal fire had reappeared. He calculated the fire was alive for 4 days without tending. Try that with firewood or pellet... Coal will be my heating fuel of choice in my next house. I wont pay oil/propane prices and electricity is too expensive. Natural gas right now is cheap but I dont think prices will stay at this level forever... Coal historically has been cheap & plentiful.

 

[pontifex]

This is what I use and it works great. It just gets warm to the touch, which I like, but makes the room(s) plenty warm that I run it in.

I have 2 like this and they work really well, especially in the smaller rooms like my office and bedroom.

I have 1 of those larger wooden boxed heaters in the living room and it works fairly well there.

1 thing I notice is that I can have the heaters set to say 72, but the room will be like 66 or 68 and they aren't running. Wondering if my thermometer is off or what?

I also have a wood stove in the basement which helps a lot. Its right under my living room / kitchen area and it keeps them really warm. Not so much the back room though. Need a way to move air from the front to the back. My basement is basically 3 rooms with a long hallway. Been thinking about buying some in-wall fans to move the air from the room with the stove to the other rooms.

I'd like to cut a floor vent upstairs near the back of the house to help with airflow as well.

 

[feralkid]

i keep my house at 65 top and bottom. Any colder im afraid of risking frozen pipes

Huh? Does your house have a freezing point higher than the rest of the world?

 

[DrPizza]

Huh? Does your house have a freezing point higher than the rest of the world?

Amazing that people read part of the thread, but don't read enough to see that their point has been answered. Are your pipes running through the middle of the room? Or, are they in the walls? If the temperature is 0 degrees outside, and 60 in the room. Then at some point in the interior of the wall, the temperature is below freezing. It's not as if there's a magical line on the surface of the outside of the wall - temperatures on this side are 0, temperatures 1 millimeter on the other side are 60.

In the winter time, when it gets really cold outside, a lot of people experience frozen pipes. Do you think that they're dumb enough to let the interior of their house drop below 32?

 

[Ns1]

During last year's record cold snap, I went through $900 in propane in one 4 week period.

WTF




@ziggy are you saying you have 4k pounds of pellets just laying around???



I am no longer convinced living in BFA (bum fuck Antarctica) is as cheap as ya'll make it out to be.

 

[TwiceOver]

I am no longer convinced living in BFA (bum fuck Antarctica) is as cheap as ya'll make it out to be.

Depends. If you have to have your heat source delivered to your house via truck, yes it's expensive. LP is insanely expensive, but kinda required when you live in the nowhere of nowhere. Then again, you get to do whatever the fuck you want to out there. Kinda nice.

 

[AdamK47]

I do it. The heater is in my sig.

 

[mmntech]

Electric must be cheap where you live. At no time would it be cheaper to run electric heat compared to natural gas around here.

Same here in Ontario. Heating with electricity has become very expensive compared natural gas, unless you're running an ancient furnace. They only make sense for places where it doesn't regularly dip below freezing, or for occasional use.

The other problem with electric heating is the power grid. Last year's ice storm was a good example. Yeah, furnace may not work either but we have a gas fireplace keeping us covered.

 

[NetWareHead]

@ziggy are you saying you have 4k pounds of pellets just laying around???

Thats nothing. I know guys that get an entire tractor trailer of coal delivered. 26 tons dumped on their property and they have enough heating fuel for 5 years. 2 tons of pellets is probably 2 full pallets of bagged pellet fuel

 

[Ben90]

are heating bills expensive out there or something?

My heating bill is $72. A year.

I'm still using the AC lol. The heating bills in deep winter comes at the cost of wearing pants inside.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Must suck to live in a 3rd world country with no gas lines to houses.