What do you use to heat your house?

[Kelemvor]

Definitely have a company come out to check over your house. They can use infrared devices to look at the outside of the house and see where the heat is leaking out. $1000 is absolutely insane. We pay like $150/mo or so.

If you need it that warm, get a wood burning stove. Those things crank out the heat and you can buy wood for far less than $1000/mo

 

[steppinthrax]

Originally posted by: 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.

That's probably because you had a standing pilot in the unit. I have an old ass lennox furnace that was made in 75. It needs to get trashed. IT has a standing pilot. I would say it generates enough heat to boil a saucpan of water over a couple of mines.

 

[bonkers325]

Originally posted by: 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

NiMo charged 1.2k for heating bill a few decembers ago

 

[thedarkwolf]

Get and electric heater and stick it in whatever room she is hanging out in to keep that one room hot instead of the whole house.

Gas and around $100 a month in the winter give or take $50. Never had one over $200.

 

[bobsmith1492]

All gas, it's the only way to go. Oh, that and a woodstove downstairs which helps out a bit but only when I get around to making a fire. The woods all green and wet right now so, meh. We just put plywood down in the attic and rolled insulation out over it. Last year we redid the siding and put foam sheets underneath. Do it, it'll save you tons in the long run (as in a couple of years), especially paying 1000 bucks! Also, do whatever you can to ensure nuclear power plants be built. The only power plants that have been built recently are, of all things, natural gas plants because of how clean it burns - it's the only thing extreme environmentalists will allow anymore (not to mention they're quick to fire up which is good for peak demand times).

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

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?

Heat pump, drilled 120m cost me a fortune and then some but otoh, i pay less than 1/10 a month including payoff for the cost for the drilling and the pump compared to what i paid when i was running an oil furnace.

From £1500 to slightly less than £150 in heating costs, that is very nice.

 

[Stifko]

So should I forget about changing to oil heat?


I help manage a property with a oil boiler. It heats around 14 apartments and 7 stores like a charm. The tank is 3000 gallons. I will probably only have to fill it twice or three times this winter. Doesn't oil heat best? It burns hotter and uses less fuel, or am I totally wrong? The only downside to oil is that you have to clean out the boiler and burners every once in a while.

 

[jandrews]

lol you still never tell us how warm you keep it so we can see if something is really whacked or if oil would not make much a difference.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Oil is the last thing you should ever consider, it's pellets or an electric heat pump depending on what you can afford and how much you can spend at once.

Oil is not a saving it's expensive as hell, almost as much as buying goddanmn green diesel, it'll run you a lot more than gas ever did.

You give me your tank measurements in cubic meters and how much surface you have to heat up and i'll tell you what oil will run you.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
If you need it that warm, get a wood burning stove. Those things crank out the heat and you can buy wood for far less than $1000/mo

1000$ worth of wood would last at least a whole winter for most people

 

[kranky]

We use natural gas (Pittsburgh, so there are real winters). I guess the cost to heat the house is the difference between the winter gas bill and the summer one because we still use gas for the range and the water heater year-round.

So for us, the gas bill goes up about $100/month in the winter. We have relatively new double-pane windows and we use a programmable thermostat that cuts back on heat at night, plus if no one is going to be home all day we turn it down to 65

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: johngute
Wood > *

Fixed

 

[Loop2kil]

I heat a 3100 sq ft house with an electric heat pump and my bill is around $200-$250...I run my thermostats @ 70-71 degrees.

 

[Stifko]

The g/f likes the house at around 70 degrees.

I have no tank measurements or tank for that matter. I would need to get a tank and the whole nine yards for an oil furnace.

I am just tired of the utility company and paying them all this money.

 

[gnumantsc]

Oil is freakin expensive the natural gas prices are MUCH lower than what Oil has been going for. Maybe you need to change your furnance to a high efficient one. You can get about 95% efficient ones for gas but you have to make sure it will adequately heat the house as well.

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
If you need it that warm, get a wood burning stove. Those things crank out the heat and you can buy wood for far less than $1000/mo

1000$ worth of wood would last at least a whole winter for most people

Around here a $1000 worth of wood would last a few winters.

I just cut my own though, I am very picky about the kind of wood I burn.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

I disagree with the people saying that wood >* it's bothersome and without an accumulator tank you waste more than you actually ever use, that means extra invenstment costs and there is NO lower price than a heat pump properly installed drawing heat from 100 meters down into solid mountain, there just isn't and you don't ever have to do shit, you don't have to fill it up, you don't have to bring anything home, it just works and is the cheapest solution you'll ever find.

Seriously, i don't know your financial situation but if you own your own house this could be something that not only lowers the price on your bills, it will raise the value of your house by way more than the investment costs.

Oil is gone, it's over $100 a barrel, it's the most expensive way you'll find to heat your house bar none.

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: adairusmc

Originally posted by: johngute
Wood > *

Fixed

Unless you have neighbors who, you know, like to breath. Wood is the dirtiest form of heating.

 

[jandrews]

Originally posted by: Stifko
The g/f likes the house at around 70 degrees.

I have no tank measurements or tank for that matter. I would need to get a tank and the whole nine yards for an oil furnace.

I am just tired of the utility company and paying them all this money.

oh wow you are getting hosed big time, wow I thought you were going to say like 80 degrees! damn something is really wrong here.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: adairusmc

Originally posted by: johngute
Wood > *

Fixed

Unless you have neighbors who, you know, like to breath. Wood is the dirtiest form of heating.

its not my fault if my neighbours put their face in my chimney

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Originally posted by: adairusmc

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
If you need it that warm, get a wood burning stove. Those things crank out the heat and you can buy wood for far less than $1000/mo

1000$ worth of wood would last at least a whole winter for most people

Around here a $1000 worth of wood would last a few winters.

I just cut my own though, I am very picky about the kind of wood I burn.

Yeah, that is great, if you own the land you can do that, otherwise it will still be cheaper with a heatpump.

Some wood will just act as a damn cork too, so you're right about that, not so much that i've ever experienced it except in a tent in Bagram when it was getting cold.

 

[brunell8]

I have radiant heat in an all electric house, and I about croaked when last month's bill came in at a little over $400 (they read the meter wrong, bill was actually around $175). I had them put me on a budget - $147 a month for a year, then they will look over our usage and adjust the budget accordingly. I'll pay more than what I'll be using in the summertime (no A/C), but now for the winter I can crank my heat up as high as I want, basically.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: JohnOfSheffield

Originally posted by: adairusmc

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
If you need it that warm, get a wood burning stove. Those things crank out the heat and you can buy wood for far less than $1000/mo

1000$ worth of wood would last at least a whole winter for most people

Around here a $1000 worth of wood would last a few winters.

I just cut my own though, I am very picky about the kind of wood I burn.

Yeah, that is great, if you own the land you can do that, otherwise it will still be cheaper with a heatpump.

Some wood will just act as a damn cork too, so you're right about that, not so much that i've ever experienced it except in a tent in Bagram when it was getting cold.

as long as you dont burn as excessive ammnt of sappy wood like pine you wount have an issue

back when i was a kid my rents primarly heated our house by wood, we had a massive russian fireplace, huge brick thing in the middle of the house, we lived in the boonies, wood everywhere, when that was really going the bricks on the outside would burn you if you left your hand on them for too long

56 acres of free wood FTW

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Originally posted by: brunell8
I have radiant heat in an all electric house, and I about croaked when last month's bill came in at a little over $400 (they read the meter wrong, bill was actually around $175). I had them put me on a budget - $147 a month for a year, then they will look over our usage and adjust the budget accordingly. I'll pay more than what I'll be using in the summertime (no A/C), but now for the winter I can crank my heat up as high as I want, basically.

Well you're at a disadvantage, all of your heaters are air to air driven, your only choice is electricity, lemme guess, they built your house in the 70's?

You can switch to an electric furnace, newer ones have a lot of gismos that helps save energy, the good part is that you can leave it alone, the bad part is that it will run you almost as much as Gas and about half of what it would cost with oil.

If you are going that route at least get a ground heat pump, you don't have to do the drilling you just put the cable under your lawn, almost as effective and a lot less pricey, you can do this yourself if you want to.

But i'm telling you man, anything but a heatpump is going to end up costing you a LOT more than you had to pay for it.

Heh, you'd think i sell heatpumps, right? I don't, i'm just damned impressed with the energy savings the new compressors have given me.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: JohnOfSheffield

Originally posted by: adairusmc

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
If you need it that warm, get a wood burning stove. Those things crank out the heat and you can buy wood for far less than $1000/mo

1000$ worth of wood would last at least a whole winter for most people

Around here a $1000 worth of wood would last a few winters.

I just cut my own though, I am very picky about the kind of wood I burn.

Yeah, that is great, if you own the land you can do that, otherwise it will still be cheaper with a heatpump.

Some wood will just act as a damn cork too, so you're right about that, not so much that i've ever experienced it except in a tent in Bagram when it was getting cold.

as long as you dont burn as excessive ammnt of sappy wood like pine you wount have an issue

back when i was a kid my rents primarly heated our house by wood, we had a massive russian fireplace, huge brick thing in the middle of the house, we lived in the boonies, wood everywhere, when that was really going the bricks on the outside would burn you if you left your hand on them for too long

56 acres of free wood FTW

definently FTW if you got that. I don't. I got a cherry tree and that is it.