JohnOfSheffield
Lifer
- Jun 26, 2007
- 11,925
- 2
- 0
Anubis
No Lifer
http://www.gobrick.com/BIA/technotes/t19d.htm
80-90% efficent
they arnt cheap tho
main part of the one we had was about 3 feet wide 8-10 feet long and 8-10 feet tall, massive firebox, think the biggest log it could take was ~6feet
My 2 computers. One in my room and another in the den. I leave them on 24-7 and they output enough heat to keep me warm with outside temps as low as 10-15F.
JohnOfSheffield
Lifer
- Jun 26, 2007
- 11,925
- 2
- 0
Originally posted by: aphex
I'll get right on it
My good friend Stu is from Sheffield, spent a semester in the Netherlands with him a few years back...
If he's not two meters tall and a redhead i don't know him, it's the only one i know who's called Stuart from around Sheffield, though i'm in the military so i pretty much just get to spend time there and with the kids.
You know what, the world really isn't all that big of a place though.
PingSpike
Lifer
- Feb 25, 2004
- 21,758
- 603
- 126
Honestly, I have no idea. My house uses oil heat, its pretty common in the northeast I believe, elsewhere not so much. This is my first year, but based on where I'm at...if I exceed the 500 gallon prebuy amount, I probably won't need more than 100 more gallons for the winter. I keep the house fairly cool. I paid ~$1300 for 500 gallons back in the beginning of the season. But I don't know what its going to shake out to in the end.
My house is 1700sqft, built in 1988. Pretty good windows, but I'll be doing some more upgrading of that kind of stuff this summer. I keep it fairly cool...65-67 when I'm home, drop it to 60 when we go to work. So I'm probably not a heavy user.
My folks have a similar sized house, maybe a hair bigger and my mom says she gets through the winter with 500 gallons usually.
The good part about oil...or anything with your own tank really, is that you aren't locked into one company. You can call around in late summer early fall and get different prices for your fuel oil. If you have any kind of to house service then you're locked into that provider which can kind of suck if that provider in run by a bunch of crooks.
At any rate, I'm buying a woodstove for my empty hearth this summer. If I can get my shit together on splitting and gathering all the deadfall on my land and get it seasoning it should take a nice bite out of my oil bill next year and allow me to keep the house nice and warm. Plus, I want a backup heat source in case the power goes out.
theknight571
Platinum Member
- Mar 23, 2001
- 2,896
- 2
- 81
My house (built in 1926...IIRC) has radiators... large, cast iron, radiators.
Our boiler is gas fired.
They heat the house well, but dry it out really bad... we always struggle in the winter to keep moisture in the house.
I just can't figure out how to convert them to some sort of AC in the summer.
Our boiler is gas fired.
They heat the house well, but dry it out really bad... we always struggle in the winter to keep moisture in the house.
I just can't figure out how to convert them to some sort of AC in the summer.
Fritzo
Lifer
- Jan 3, 2001
- 41,920
- 2,161
- 126
WHOLEY GUACAMOLE! $1000????!!!!! There's something SERIOUSLY wrong if it's not -20F and you don't keep the heat on 90F or something.
We keep our heat on 68-72F, and 65F at night. Our gas bill ranges between $140-$240 in the winter (depending on how cold it is outside). Maybe you have a gas leak.
We keep our heat on 68-72F, and 65F at night. Our gas bill ranges between $140-$240 in the winter (depending on how cold it is outside). Maybe you have a gas leak.
Off-peak electricity powered storage heaters.
For those that aren't familiar with storage heaters: They're electrical heating elements, embedded in bricks. A typical room heater will hold about 300 lbs of bricks. The bricks are then installed in a heavily insulated (modern heaters use aerogel inslation) cabinet, with adjustable vents on top, and/or a thermostatically controlled fan to direct air through the bricks. The heaters charge late at night when electricity is supplied at a heavily discounted rate (usually a 70% discount).
Storage heater
Disassembled heater showing aerogel insulation
A full charge of all my heaters (enough my 2 bed apartment toasty all day when it's 25F out) uses about 60 kWh, at a cost of about $3.
For those that aren't familiar with storage heaters: They're electrical heating elements, embedded in bricks. A typical room heater will hold about 300 lbs of bricks. The bricks are then installed in a heavily insulated (modern heaters use aerogel inslation) cabinet, with adjustable vents on top, and/or a thermostatically controlled fan to direct air through the bricks. The heaters charge late at night when electricity is supplied at a heavily discounted rate (usually a 70% discount).
Storage heater
Disassembled heater showing aerogel insulation
A full charge of all my heaters (enough my 2 bed apartment toasty all day when it's 25F out) uses about 60 kWh, at a cost of about $3.
I use an old car, just slam on the accelerator every time you feel chilly Natural gas for normal use
Natural gas for normal use I'm calling shens on the $1000 gas bill if you are saying that is for a single month. No figgin way dude. If it is, it's an error.
Wood mostly, with propane backup. But since propane went from $.60 a gallon to $1.99 a gallon we've been using electric space heaters at night in the rooms farthest from the woodstove to keep the chill off. I filled our propane tank in August and it's still 40% full, we also heat our water with propane.
Full electric. Usually goes about $100 a month for the house. That's a big increase over a few years ago where our monthly bill was $66. Still, it's not bad.
It works great at my parents house with 100 acres of forest and the nearest neighbors being half a mile a way. Here in Seattle though, it's downright nasty. Sometimes I'll be driving in my car on a road in a valley and I practically choke.
DrPizza
Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
1 ton of anthracite coal (rice) costs me $220 and contains about 25 *million* btu's of energy.
The best site for comparing the cost of various methods of heating:
Here
"One ton of coal has the equivalent heat value of 150 - 180 gallons of fuel oil or 2,100 - 2,500 therms of natural gas. " source Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that coal is far more economical as a heating fuel than oil or natural gas.
To be as economical as my $220 a ton (I could get it for cheaper if I bought it in bulk, but I prefer the convenience of 40 pound bags), heating oil would have to cost $1.10 per gallon (Ha ha ha!!), electric: 2.7 cents per kWh, Natural gas: 0.8 cents for cubic foot, propane: 72 cents per gallon, or wood pellets: $125 per ton.
Modern coal furnaces (forced air, boilers for hot water baseboard) can be vented to the outside using PVC, i.e. very little of that energy is wasted. With a modern coal stove that's fed automatically, when cranked up full blast, you can still grab the exhaust pipe. (i.e. very little of the energy is lost up the chimney.)
And, if you can cut your own wood for free (which requires a lot of work), you're almost better off selling it and using the proceeds to buy coal, then taking your wife out to dinner with the money that's left over. It takes almost 4 face cord of hardwood to provide the same amount of heat as 1 ton of coal. (i.e. it has to be less than $55 per face cord before I'd save any money) - and that assumes the furnace has equal efficiency. Wood stoves typically have lower efficiency. Plus, wood takes up a whole lot more room than coal, and produces more ash than coal. another link
Coal is King. (if it's available in your area.)
(For what it's worth, I just checked: it's currently 22 degrees outside, 74 degrees inside; a little cooler in the bedrooms though.)
Oh, and if you think that it's really dusty or dirty, that's not necessarily true. A lot of coal is wetted down with water or mineral oil to keep dust to an absolute minimum (i.e. virtually none.) Also, absolutely no chimney fires from coal stoves - there's no creosote.
The best site for comparing the cost of various methods of heating:
Here
"One ton of coal has the equivalent heat value of 150 - 180 gallons of fuel oil or 2,100 - 2,500 therms of natural gas. " source Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that coal is far more economical as a heating fuel than oil or natural gas.
To be as economical as my $220 a ton (I could get it for cheaper if I bought it in bulk, but I prefer the convenience of 40 pound bags), heating oil would have to cost $1.10 per gallon (Ha ha ha!!), electric: 2.7 cents per kWh, Natural gas: 0.8 cents for cubic foot, propane: 72 cents per gallon, or wood pellets: $125 per ton.
Modern coal furnaces (forced air, boilers for hot water baseboard) can be vented to the outside using PVC, i.e. very little of that energy is wasted. With a modern coal stove that's fed automatically, when cranked up full blast, you can still grab the exhaust pipe. (i.e. very little of the energy is lost up the chimney.)
And, if you can cut your own wood for free (which requires a lot of work), you're almost better off selling it and using the proceeds to buy coal, then taking your wife out to dinner with the money that's left over. It takes almost 4 face cord of hardwood to provide the same amount of heat as 1 ton of coal. (i.e. it has to be less than $55 per face cord before I'd save any money) - and that assumes the furnace has equal efficiency. Wood stoves typically have lower efficiency. Plus, wood takes up a whole lot more room than coal, and produces more ash than coal. another link
Coal is King. (if it's available in your area.)
(For what it's worth, I just checked: it's currently 22 degrees outside, 74 degrees inside; a little cooler in the bedrooms though.)
Oh, and if you think that it's really dusty or dirty, that's not necessarily true. A lot of coal is wetted down with water or mineral oil to keep dust to an absolute minimum (i.e. virtually none.) Also, absolutely no chimney fires from coal stoves - there's no creosote.
I checked the first site you listed. "Hardwood 24 million BTU/cord." About the same energy as a ton of coal. Of course prices vary a lot on wood, but I can buy it for half the price you pay for coal.
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