What do you use to heat your house?

[soydios]

propane (no natural gas lines in our neighborhood)

 

[TwiceOver]

2100sq ft. house $61.53 was my total gas cost on my last bill.

The entire utility bill (gas, garbage, recycle, electricity, water) was $164.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

So in my apartment my heater broke down. I now rely on my 150W halogen lamp with my computer on 24/7. My room gets decently warm.

 

[ponyo]

damn, you guys keep your house cold. 62-68F degrees in your house? That's like wear thermal underwear, sweater, and cover yourself in blanket temperature.

 

[waggy]

wow a $1k a month? unless you have a old very large house then that is insane.

we use propane/wood burning stove. The stove is great. just get it very hot and it heats up the house. if we try to keep the house warm with it the basement is a little to warm heh. we get a cord of wood a winter($125 delivered this year. cheaper then last which was $150).

the stove needs to be replaced (the door is starting to come off) so we are thinking to getting a pellet stove. which should help reduce the cost even more.


Also we got a new heater. we replaced a 60k btu low efficient one with a 95k btu 91% efficient one. We replaced the back door (was very leaky), replaced a few windows (will get the rest done this year) and added more insulation.

i figure we will cut the heat bills down a lot. we have already noticed a diffrence with the better furnance. it will pay for itself in 3-4 years.



When i had my farm we had a OIL heat. it stunk (but you get used to it) and was expensive. When it died we paid extra to get a propane unit put in. it was far cheaper each month then oil. there is no way i would go back to oil heating.

 

[rh71]

oil and it's been a pain in the ass the last few nights with the freezing temps outside. The tank is outside and the line in has frozen overnight each night. No heat or hot water in the mornings. Can only resort to plugging in the line heater which is mucho expensive as evidenced from the time we left it on a few days straight and got a nice surprise on our electric bill a few years back.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: rh71
oil and it's been a pain in the ass the last few nights with the freezing temps outside. The tank is outside and the line in has frozen overnight each night. No heat or hot water in the mornings. Can only resort to plugging in the line heater which is mucho expensive as evidenced from the time we left it on a few days straight and got a nice surprise on our electric bill a few years back.

you have oil and the tank is outside? every tank i have seen is in the basement/crawlspace.

 

[umbrella39]

Friction

 

[adairusmc]

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.

I don't have neighbors, and even if I did, their breathing would not be my problem. They could choke on the smoke all day for all I care.

 

[Albatross]

nuclear fusion and wood

 

[Albatross]

*

 

[Stifko]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Coal is King. (if it's available in your area.)

I don't know if it is available in NYC, but we do have a pot belly stove already that burns coal. Don't you have to keep feeding the stove constantly with coal? I have to work during the day and can't shovel coal in the stove all day. I guess that they must have feeders by now right? When you buy the coal, you get nice clean chunks without metal bits and other stuff? We got a load of dirty coal once that did not burn well. Dad didn't see the coal upfront and bought a whole ton. How much are the newfangled coal furnaces installed? What brand would you recommend?

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: albatross
*

You got star power? YOU GOT STAR POWER, KID!!!!

 

[everman]

Books

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: DrPizza
1 ton of anthracite coal (rice) costs me $220 and contains about 25 *million* btu's of energy.

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.

I hope you realize that when you purchase a cord of wood, it's actually a "face cord", not a true cord. Also, only a few types of hardwood actually have 24 million btu's. (White oak being one of them.) A full cord is 4 feet by 32 feet by 16 inches. (3 face cords.) So, your "half the price" is actually (probably) 1.5 times the price and comes just a little shy on the btu's. But, if you can purchase a cord of wood for $30, then that's definitely the cheapest way to go. check this site out for purchasing firewood

Originally posted by: Stifko
I don't know if it is available in NYC, but we do have a pot belly stove already that burns coal. Don't you have to keep feeding the stove constantly with coal? I have to work during the day and can't shovel coal in the stove all day. I guess that they must have feeders by now right? When you buy the coal, you get nice clean chunks without metal bits and other stuff? We got a load of dirty coal once that did not burn well. Dad didn't see the coal upfront and bought a whole ton. How much are the newfangled coal furnaces installed? What brand would you recommend?

Yes, they have automatic feeds. They are very similar to pellet stoves. The hoppers that you fill come in various sizes. Our brand is an Alaska. Depending on the outside temperature, we get anywhere from a little over day (below zero temperatures) to over 1 week with a hopper; and ours is a fairly small hopper (about 100 pound capacity.)

 

[HardcoreRobot]

gas

 

[CorCentral]

Anywhere from $100.-$130. ALL year round. It did get to $150. one mth, but that was when 4 realives stayed for 2 weeks.

Heat Pump
2200sq ft home
TN

 

[ranmaniac]

So you have storm windows, but what about the rest of the house? Probably need to upgrade the furnace, and make sure it gets serviced.

 

[purepolly]

Oil, the budget plan was estimated at $200 month for 10 months, for heat and hot water. We also have programmable thermostat which drop the temp to 55 when we are sleeping or out of the house, otherwise the temp is about 65. This is for a 2300 sq ft house in MA.

I'd like to get a pellet stove, or maybe even a fireplace insert, but I haven't investigated the costs yet.

 

[Engineer]

Gas and electric. Space heaters (thermostatically controlled) for sections of the house and gas kicks in when cold enough. Electricity is cheaper than gas here. At some point in the near future, I'll either buy a much more efficient gas furnace (new ones are at 95% efficient while mine is around 60%) or a heat pump (requiring upgrade of my electrical system unless I buy a gas furnace/electric heat pump combination).

My gas bill was $100 last month and my electric bill was $119. 2,000 Sq. foot house.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: rh71
oil and it's been a pain in the ass the last few nights with the freezing temps outside. The tank is outside and the line in has frozen overnight each night. No heat or hot water in the mornings. Can only resort to plugging in the line heater which is mucho expensive as evidenced from the time we left it on a few days straight and got a nice surprise on our electric bill a few years back.

you have oil and the tank is outside? every tank i have seen is in the basement/crawlspace.

Yes, houses around here don't have basements.

 

[MidasKnight]

baseboard heating .... :| $$$$$ ------> out the window it goes .... renter here ....:frown:

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: MidasKnight
baseboard heating .... :| $$$$$ ------> out the window it goes .... renter here ....:frown:

Well, technically, it all goes out the window. Some cheaper than others.

A friend of mine spent the money up front when he built his house and had a geothermal system put in. He keeps his house around 72 degrees year round and his average electricity bill is around $75 per month. The house is 3,600 sq-ft.

 

[FreshPrince]

Is it better to keep the fan "on" at all times or "auto" and have it come on when needed? will it save me on power bill? what about gas bill?

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
Is it better to keep the fan "on" at all times or "auto" and have it come on when needed? will it save me on power bill? what about gas bill?

My furnace/AC won't work if I turn it the fan to "ON". Just a fan circulating air around the house. I know some systems will work like this, possibly electric only? I know also the fan speed of my fan is a 2 speed system and it works faster on AC than on the gas furnace. The Fan to "ON" runs the same speed as the AC runs.

Good question. Might or might not be possible. Not sure if it would help or hurt though.