How and what of heating your home?

**allenwrench** · 08-14-2008, 08:41 PM

What do you use for winter heat fuel and how much does it cost per month or season?

We use NG. We keep the thermostat set at 64 at night and keep the heat off during the day. House gets down into the low 50's in daytime. I usually turn on the heat around 9 PM and shut it down at 8 or 9 am.

To heat this way cost us a max of $250 a month to heat a modern 2400 sq ft house. (including garage as it has some water pipes in its ceiling). We've been told our gas bill will go up almost 30% this season.

We used to have electric heat pump at our old house. Back in the '90's it cost almost $400 for electric heat on the same schedule. Who know how much ti cost now?

As the NG runs out prices for all heating methods will only keep climbing. Even the coal will run out someday. Winter '08 they said they had a coal crisis brewing in China.

I fell bad for those that use heating oil. I imagine their will be some deaths from unaffordable heating cost.

**jamie79** · 08-14-2008, 10:30 PM

We use oil and wood. We heat with the oil when its not too cold out. We use one tank a winter. The rest of the time we heat with wood. We get our wood free from a woodlot in town, neighbors have given us trees etc. So this costs us nothing

**elphie** · 08-14-2008, 11:22 PM

We have an outdoor wood furnace... we cut the wood ourselves, usually from farms where the owners let us have the wood for free in exchange for clearing the land. $$ cost is minimal... chain saw gas and the small amount of electricity it takes to run the blower. Time cost is significant but we think it's worth it.

**frugalbabe** · 08-14-2008, 11:38 PM

Electric we live in a home that was built in 1977 and it has ceiling cable heat. I am going to take advantage of the city's program and go install some digital programmable thermostats they will help pay for the cost. Our bill went up last year because we had such a long winter (still had snow in June) we also have a wood burning iron insert in our downstairs fireplace that we will be using it doesn't heat the house on its own but it does help fray some of the cost.

**EmilyD** · 08-14-2008, 11:55 PM

At this time, our only heat source is a gas furnace. Last year we kept the heater at 60 degrees most of the time. Probably the same this year.

This year (we bought it last year in Nov) we will be putting plastic over the windows, hoping to keep some of the cold air out. We use electric blankets to heat the bed, but they are turned off before we go to sleep. We also use flannel sheets every winter.

**beks37** · 08-14-2008, 11:58 PM

Natural Gas heating. Our house is small 1,300 square feet and old built in 1955. It costs about $150 max in the dead of Kansas winter. I get cold really easy so I always have my thermostat set up pretty warm. I might invest in another electric blanket for the night. I used to have one before the dogs chewed up the cord and made it unsafe to use.

**Ms. Clear** · 08-15-2008, 12:07 AM

Oil heat, included in our rent. We'll be conserving nonetheless, in an effort to avoid rent increases and the ever present oil surcharge. Keep it at 60 when we aren't home or at night. I'm going down to 65 when I'm home, unless it's beyond freezing.

**joyofsix** · 08-15-2008, 01:18 AM

We have a total electric house. We keep the thermostat between 66-68. We also have a fireplace with blower fan we use more for fun than anything else. It does make the living room toasty in the winter and then the kids sleep on the floor in there like camping. Our bill is usually less than our friends with gas. We don't heat the upstairs, it seems to stay warm enough for the kids without.

**Greebo** · 08-15-2008, 04:52 AM

Natural gas, and way too darn much. This old 1940 home is leakier than a collender (sp?) that's been attacked with a jackhammer.

**Darlene** · 08-15-2008, 08:31 AM

Originally Posted by Greebo

Natural gas, and way too darn much. This old 1940 home is leakier than a colander that's been attacked with a jackhammer.

That does sound pretty porous. Makes me think Sponge Bob.

We too live in a small 1940's built home but not super drafty. We heat with wood primarily and supplement with oil. We have wood stacked & oil paid for. Going to dress in layers, lower the thermostat more this year & when the oil is gone, it's gone.

**GM97** · 08-15-2008, 08:36 AM

Everything in the house is electric and I signed up for the BGE program where I pay the same for six months then they will evaluate it and adjust how much I need to pay again. Right now I am paying $202/month and last winter we paid $160/month. The good thing is I have about $331 saved which means I will be paying lower than $160/month this coming winter. I have a small house, 1300 sq ft and built from 71. I keep the thermostat at 82 on summer during the day then lower it to 74 at night. On winter, I keep it on 68 all day and night.

**allenwrench** · 08-15-2008, 09:40 AM

Originally Posted by EmilyD

At this time, our only heat source is a gas furnace. Last year we kept the heater at 60 degrees most of the time. Probably the same this year.

This year (we bought it last year in Nov) we will be putting plastic over the windows, hoping to keep some of the cold air out. We use electric blankets to heat the bed, but they are turned off before we go to sleep. We also use flannel sheets every winter.

After having some outages without forced air furnace we decided on having some back up heating options.

We have 3 of these vent free back up gas heaters.

http://www.comfort-glow-comfortglow....ers/crn18.html

Made 2 manifolds with ball valves that can be added to my forced air gas supply and to the gas line of the water tank. These heaters require no electric. I used some these heaters 2 months ago when a bird got into my forced air furnace and destroyed the turbo fan.

The repair man took 3 days to get here and fix it. Was a good pre-winter test of the back up heat system since it was only in the 30's...it could have been single digits or lower.

Also have 3 space heaters that run on propane.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/p...t_6970_211577_211577

They run for days on a 20 pound cylinder.

And have 4 mini electric heaters

http://www2.northerntool.com/product/1017213.htm

Just wished I had some wood fired back up heat. But the houses nowadays are not set up for peak fossil fuel issues and are pretty much run by NG. Will give the wood stoves some thought once we get to later periods of code orange. or if we ever get any disruption in NG from shortages.

**frugalfoster** · 08-15-2008, 09:46 AM

We have natural gas here. I have a 3500 sq.ft house and I just checked what we paid for heat last year and it ran about $1500 for the year. However, I live on the coast in the Pacific Northwest, so it doesn't really get very cold here.

**thriftstorequeen** · 08-15-2008, 09:55 AM

We have a wood stove and get our wood for free a very cheap. There is a state park near us thats lets you cut truck loads for about $18 for 3 small truck loads. I think we use about 4 1/2 loads per year. I love it! It is such a big savings,

**ironmaiden** · 08-15-2008, 11:15 AM

We are having blown in insulation done this fall. Hoping that it will help significantly.

We are natural gas and in the Northeast.
We are on a budget plan. The gas company does a guesstimate of what we'll use and in August they adjust for any differences in what we used and what they thought. A couple years ago when natural gas prices jumped, they re-estimated mid-year.
Since the kids will be in school full-time this fall, we'll have the heat lower than last year's 68 degrees day, 60 at night. Gas stove, gas dryer. $170 per month.

We are big believers in flannel sheets - if you have never slept in them, try it, you'll be converted. One year we gave everyone flannel sheets for Xmas - my neices didn't want to get out of bed the next day.

The kids also have fleece jammies. I wear socks at night.