Heating A House - Which Is More Economical?

[MM27]

I haven't used the heat in my house yet. I'm trying to hold out until at least December 1st. That's what I made it to last year. I prefer cold personally. I cannot sleep when the heat is on too high.

 

[Kath2003]

Ok, that makes sense. Since you were talking about 100 watt bulbs then your 8 watt I thought you were talking about regular ones not the florescent bulbs . The flourescent bulbs here are still pretty expensive-$3/each or so--even the energy wasting bulbs cost way more then 20 cents!

The price here is because they're phasing out regular lightbulbs but they last forever anyway. Unless $3 is more than ten times the cost of a regular lightbulb, you'll still save money on the cost of the bulb alone as these last around 10 times as long as a regular lightbulb. Plus the electricity you'd save...

 

[golfgal]

The price here is because they're phasing out regular lightbulbs but they last forever anyway. Unless $3 is more than ten times the cost of a regular lightbulb, you'll still save money on the cost of the bulb alone as these last around 10 times as long as a regular lightbulb. Plus the electricity you'd save...

I know, most of our bulbs are the energy savers but not all of them are. We have a few lights on dimmers that you can't use the energy saving bulbs with. If people could get them $5 for $1 they would be less expensive than the regular bulbs and more people would buy them but at $3-15/bulb, that is a big chunk of change for light bulbs for a lot of people.

 

[Lucky4me]

We heat only with wood. Our other source is electric baseboard. We haven't had to turn those on in 15 years. We bought a new stove a couple of years ago and it's great. Fill it up, damper it down and the whole house stays warm for 10 hours. Sometimes too warm in the room where the stove is and we have to crack open a window.
Our heat is a renewable source and burns very efficiently. We spend less than $500 a year on wood and it comes split and chopped delivered to our home.
It's work, but I like to be warm, so it's worth it.
All my neighbors heat bills are $3-400 a month in the winter for electric, gas or oil.

 

[golfgal]

We heat only with wood. Our other source is electric baseboard. We haven't had to turn those on in 15 years. We bought a new stove a couple of years ago and it's great. Fill it up, damper it down and the whole house stays warm for 10 hours. Sometimes too warm in the room where the stove is and we have to crack open a window.
Our heat is a renewable source and burns very efficiently. We spend less than $500 a year on wood and it comes split and chopped delivered to our home.
It's work, but I like to be warm, so it's worth it.
All my neighbors heat bills are $3-400 a month in the winter for electric, gas or oil.

I think your neighbors need to add some insulation. We have NEVER had a gas bill that high, EVER, and we are in Minnesota. YIKES!!!!!

 

[mtemm]

how on earth can you get hypothermia in a 59 degree room? I've never heard of that.

we keep our upstairs set at around 58 and rarely put it up, maybe to 62 if we are spending time up there, but mostly we are just sleeping upstairs. we have a good quality down comforter that keeps us nice and toasty, and the kids have good comforters/quilts/flannel sheets and are nice and toasty even in the heart of winter.

downstairs we try not to bump it it past 62-64 during the day (we set it at 58 at night). our house costs a fortune to heat so we wear sweaters and slippers and get used to it. I do believe your body adjusts to temps, whether they are high or low. when I first moved east from southern california I was so cold when the temp outside dipped below 60 I thought I was going to freeze to death. lol. and my friend in florida doesn't flinch in the heat, but I find that anything over 85 makes me melt.

I would love to get programmable thermostats, but I don't trust myself to install it. seems like it would be fairly simple, but still, I wish I knew someone who knew what they were doing to help me out/supervise.

 

[golfgal]

how on earth can you get hypothermia in a 59 degree room? I've never heard of that.

we keep our upstairs set at around 58 and rarely put it up, maybe to 62 if we are spending time up there, but mostly we are just sleeping upstairs. we have a good quality down comforter that keeps us nice and toasty, and the kids have good comforters/quilts/flannel sheets and are nice and toasty even in the heart of winter.

downstairs we try not to bump it it past 62-64 during the day (we set it at 58 at night). our house costs a fortune to heat so we wear sweaters and slippers and get used to it. I do believe your body adjusts to temps, whether they are high or low. when I first moved east from southern california I was so cold when the temp outside dipped below 60 I thought I was going to freeze to death. lol. and my friend in florida doesn't flinch in the heat, but I find that anything over 85 makes me melt.

I would love to get programmable thermostats, but I don't trust myself to install it. seems like it would be fairly simple, but still, I wish I knew someone who knew what they were doing to help me out/supervise.

I am sure if you asked around you would find someone to help. They are actually pretty simple to install. If you know a handyman they would probably do that for you for not a lot of money.

 

[mtemm]

I think your neighbors need to add some insulation. We have NEVER had a gas bill that high, EVER, and we are in Minnesota. YIKES!!!!!

I think our house is not well insulated, because our bills are very high for gas ($400/month in the coldest months, and that's with keeping the heat around 62-64). we also have an open floor plan and a lot of hard surfaces that I think don't help. but I would love to know how to add insulation because I think it would help some. how hard is it to do/learn how to do?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

how on earth can you get hypothermia in a 59 degree room? I've never heard of that.

An elderly person, a small child, someone who is intoxicated, are people that cannot regulate their body temps like a normal healthy adult.

They can get hypothermia with a 65 degree temp or below.

It is called indoor hypothermia and it is a major problem with the elderly in lower income areas.

 

[golfgal]

I think our house is not well insulated, because our bills are very high for gas ($400/month in the coldest months, and that's with keeping the heat around 62-64). we also have an open floor plan and a lot of hard surfaces that I think don't help. but I would love to know how to add insulation because I think it would help some. how hard is it to do/learn how to do?

Check with your local Home Depot, they usually have classes around this time of the year. In the attic is is just a matter of unrolling the batts of insulation in between the beams. If you need to add insulation in the walls you need to have someone come out and do that. I would check your windows too-more efficient windows will help tremendously and will pay for themselves over time--especially with $300+/month heating bills--because your cooling bills in the summer will go down too.

 

[mtemm]

thanks! I don't think we have attic access, at least I haven't been able to find any. will head to home depot though and see if they have any suggestions. our windows are fairly new and supposedly good ones/efficient ones. but something has got to be able to be changed somehow someway. we lived in upstate ny and never had bills like we do here!

 

[mtemm]

An elderly person, a small child, someone who is intoxicated, are people that cannot regulate their body temps like a normal healthy adult.

They can get hypothermia with a 65 degree temp or below.

It is called indoor hypothermia and it is a major problem with the elderly in lower income areas.

oh, okay, that makes sense. but its not typical for someone in good health that is dressed properly then. I was wondering how we have survived all of these years! thanks!

 

[golfgal]

thanks! I don't think we have attic access, at least I haven't been able to find any. will head to home depot though and see if they have any suggestions. our windows are fairly new and supposedly good ones/efficient ones. but something has got to be able to be changed somehow someway. we lived in upstate ny and never had bills like we do here!

Check with your electric company and see if they do energy audits. Usually they do them for free or low cost. They will come in and see where you are leaking air, check your light bulbs, etc. and give you ideas on how to save energy. It is well worth having them come out.

 

[arminnie]

I would love to get programmable thermostats, but I don't trust myself to install it. seems like it would be fairly simple, but still, I wish I knew someone who knew what they were doing to help me out/supervise.

It really is very simple. Turn off the electricity first. Then remove the front of the old one (usually a couple of screws).

I've done several. All of mine controlled heat and air so probably had a few more wires - but they were all color coded and it was a snap to match up.

But a funny story - many, many years ago after a move when I was busy at work I hired the husband of a friend's friend to install some shelves, towel racks, etc. He was a registered electrician at his day job. I left a new programmable thermostat for him to install along with the other stuff and left for the day.

I died laughing when I got home. He had "hung" the new thermostat" next to the old one. It was not connected at all - just mounted on the wall. I guess he was not the brightest bulb. After I stopped laughing I just installed it myself - took less than 10 minutes.

 

[arminnie]

Ok, that makes sense. Since you were talking about 100 watt bulbs then your 8 watt I thought you were talking about regular ones not the florescent bulbs . The flourescent bulbs here are still pretty expensive-$3/each or so--even the energy wasting bulbs cost way more then 20 cents!

Are you talking about those "spiral" bulbs? I've been using those for 2-3 years and don't find that they last much longer than regular bulbs. I've had to replace several of them. Some more than once.

Now I have some LED ones that seem to be lasting forever. But I hate the one in the hallway as it only sends light straight down - the rest of the hallway is dark unlike a regular or spiral bulb where the light is diffused to the side somewhat.

I just bought a new place and lots of the spiral bulbs there have had to be replaced.

 

[mtemm]

It really is very simple. Turn off the electricity first. Then remove the front of the old one (usually a couple of screws).

I've done several. All of mine controlled heat and air so probably had a few more wires - but they were all color coded and it was a snap to match up.

But a funny story - many, many years ago after a move when I was busy at work I hired the husband of a friend's friend to install some shelves, towel racks, etc. He was a registered electrician at his day job. I left a new programmable thermostat for him to install along with the other stuff and left for the day.

I died laughing when I got home. He had "hung" the new thermostat" next to the old one. It was not connected at all - just mounted on the wall. I guess he was not the brightest bulb. After I stopped laughing I just installed it myself - took less than 10 minutes.

omg, that is hysterical!

good to know they are so easy. we've had them in previous houses and love how they work, but don't in this one. will give it a try!

 

[JR6ooo4]

We were all gung-ho for saving money with the compact fluorescent lights (CFL). but the ones wer bought did not last any longer AND they have mercury in them. POWDERED MERCURY, which I am assuming can become airborne if the bulb is damaged enough.

they have to be disposed of similar to a hazardous material!!! it is illegal to just throw them away with regular garbage. I am not sure if they all have mercury.

Mikeeee