What do you use to heat your house?

[Stifko]

I have a gas burning furnace. I am thinking of changing to oil. I feel as if the utility company is charging me too much for the gas. If I get a big enough tank, I can fill it once of twice and be set for the whole winter season. I might be wrong but I think that oil heats better and you get more heat from oil than gas. Is it kind of crazy to want to switch to oil given the 100 dollar a barrel prices right now? I just got a $1000 gas bill and that is after insulating all the windows. My g/f likes the house hot and she is pregnant. I gotta make her happy and keep her happy and warm. I think that the investment for the installation of an oil buring boiler and oil tank will take a few years to pay off, but it will. Am I wrong to wanna switch to oil now?

 

[wedi42]

natural gas > *

 

[Vette73]

size of house and age?


Do you have a programable thermostat? Also hows the insulation in the attic and walls?

LOTS of things you can do to reduce your heating cost.


Also check your filter. If its clogged you will not get a lot of heat out. My place could not break 60 degrees. new filter and now runs at what i set.

 

[blackdogdeek]

we have gas. i don't think our bill has ever been $1000. that sounds really high.

first i would check for leaks in windows and doors that might be letting heat escape and therefore keep your heat running longer or more often.

what temp do you keep the thermostat set to? we keep ours at about 66F during the day and 62F at night.

 

[wedi42]

$1000 for how long? if thats a month you have problems!
get a energy audit, your gas company usually subsidizes the prices so it's less than $50

 

[Anubis]

i burn hobos

 

[KMFJD]

a $1000 dollar gas charge for 1 month? Do you leave all your doors and windows open? Wow

 

[SmoochyTX]

electric

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: KMFJD
a $1000 dollar gas charge for 1 month? Do you leave all your doors and windows open? Wow

yea thats pretty insane, my rents have a 4000 SQFT house which is heated by gas and their bill is lile 150$ a month

gas heats the hot water also

they keep it 68ish

 

[jandrews]

how warm are we talking? low 80s or? You might think you will save a ton but I doubt it.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Stifko
I have a gas burning furnace. I am thinking of changing to oil. I feel as if the utility company is charging me too much for the gas. If I get a big enough tank, I can fill it once of twice and be set for the whole winter season. I might be wrong but I think that oil heats better and you get more heat from oil than gas. Is it kind of crazy to want to switch to oil given the 100 dollar a barrel prices right now? I just got a $1000 gas bill and that is after insulating all the windows. My g/f likes the house hot and she is pregnant. I gotta make her happy and keep her happy and warm. I think that the investment for the installation of an oil buring boiler and oil tank will take a few years to pay off, but it will. Am I wrong to wanna switch to oil now?

i used to have a gas pack heater on my roof, and it was the only gas device i owned. in the summertime i would have a usage bill, so id call and they would tell me i must have a leak. had their system and mine checked many times, no leaks. no use either, but they still continued to bill me for gas usage. i replaced it with an electric one and had the gas line capped. they still billed me for gas usage, even tho i didnt even have the gas service turned on or going to any appliance. utilities are all corrupt, so its a good guess that they are charging you too much. problem is, so will the oil company.

 

[wedi42]

i blame Stifko's GF for global warming.

and where are the pics?

 

[Jugernot]

Fairbanks, AK
2200sf house with 600sf garage

I use fuel oil and currently pay around $4500 a year.

 

[Stifko]

It is an old big house. I just got it appriased so I can look up the square footage later on. My dad passed away like a year ago and this was his house. There is no attic. There are two zones (upstairs and down). I have a newer digiatal thermstat downstairs but an older dial one upstairs. The $1000 bill was for more than a month, but not much more. When dad was sick at home and I kept the house really warm, the bills were like $800 a month sometimes. That was a mild winter too! My g/f takes a hot bath every night and the gas also heats the water. Nobody heats with oil, eh? I am suprised.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: Stifko
It is an old big house. I just got it appriased so I can look up the square footage later on. My dad passed away like a year ago and this was his house. There is no attic. There are two zones (upstairs and down). I have a newer digiatal thermstat downstairs but an older dial one upstairs. The $1000 bill was for more than a month, but not much more. When dad was sick at home and I kept the house really warm, the bills were like $800 a month sometimes. That was a mild winter too! My g/f takes a hot bath every night and the gas also heats the water. Nobody heats with oil, eh? I am suprised.

Time to look at upgrading the insulation/doors/windows.

 

[FoBoT]

i have a ground source heat pump
http://www.igshpa.okstate.edu/geothermal/faq.htm

my house was built in 2001

we have a propane fireplace for backup/assist if we lose electric power or it is really cold

 

[Modeps]

I wish it was something other than what it is, but its not... Oil. It costs more than gasoline. Yay.

 

[lokiju]

Natural Gas.


FWIW mine is city piped gas thats metered, I don't have a tank.

I've been spending around $50 a month this winter, so far.

 

[ahurtt]

Holy cow! Do you live in the Arctic? Get your meter checked out. That just seems mind bogglingly high for a gas bill.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Stifko
It is an old big house. I just got it appriased so I can look up the square footage later on. My dad passed away like a year ago and this was his house. There is no attic. There are two zones (upstairs and down). I have a newer digiatal thermstat downstairs but an older dial one upstairs. The $1000 bill was for more than a month, but not much more. When dad was sick at home and I kept the house really warm, the bills were like $800 a month sometimes. That was a mild winter too! My g/f takes a hot bath every night and the gas also heats the water. Nobody heats with oil, eh? I am suprised.

the gas/oil/electric thing depends alot on where people live

when i was in Maine everything was Electric or Oil, almost nothing was gas, no one had it it wasent even an option

here in upstate NY, everything is Gas

 

[JulesMaximus]

Natural gas with a forced air furnace. We really only use it a couple months out of the year though. Our electric/gas bill during the winter rarely breaks $150 for a 2200 sq ft house. Our water heater is gas along with our oven/stovetop and our clothes dryer...and our fireplace (which is really where the money goes when we use it).

 

[oddyager]

Originally posted by: K1052

Originally posted by: Stifko
It is an old big house. I just got it appriased so I can look up the square footage later on. My dad passed away like a year ago and this was his house. There is no attic. There are two zones (upstairs and down). I have a newer digiatal thermstat downstairs but an older dial one upstairs. The $1000 bill was for more than a month, but not much more. When dad was sick at home and I kept the house really warm, the bills were like $800 a month sometimes. That was a mild winter too! My g/f takes a hot bath every night and the gas also heats the water. Nobody heats with oil, eh? I am suprised.

Time to look at upgrading the insulation/doors/windows.

May also want to double check if there isn't any type of leakage outside of your home, too. Had a neighbor requested someone to come from our utilities provider to check on it and they did find a leak.

 

[BoomerD]

That bill does seem exceedingly high.
We have about 1700 sq. feet and our gas bill rarely exceeds $100/month, including a gas range and gas water heater.

 

[Stifko]

Yes I have to replace the windows soon. I forgot to mention that all the meters are in the basement. It is zoned by the city as a 2 family house, so there are 2 electric meters. It has not been a 2 fam in over 30 years. So I am changing it to a one fam. I will have the electric meter moved outside and the gas too, if I still use gas.

When the utility company can't get in to read the meters, they high ball estimate the useage. The last time I called in the readings, they were even higher than the estimated readings.

 

[trmiv]

Air source heat pump with auxiliary electric heat