Running a Natural Gas Furnace Question

[mnrose]

My bill for January, when the average temp was something like 6 degrees, was 150, give or take some change. During the day, we set it at 70, at night it is set back to 60. It runs varying amounts, depending on how cold it is. I'd say 15-20 minutes an hour? I look at it as if I pay 5.00 a day for heat, which is super cheap. No complaints at all. This also includes gas dryer and gas cook top.

 

[scrapquitler]

I have natural gas furnace and water heater, installed in 2007. In the warm months when I only have to pay to heat the hot water tank my bill is around $20 a month. When I run the furnace, my bill shoots thru the roof. We've done all the things to conserve energy and have cut down on running the furnace. My current bill is $230 for the past month. But, we only run the furnace in the early mornings and in the evenings. We average about 7 hours a day of the furnace being on. The temperature in the house only fluctuates a couple degrees, and it takes no time at all to heat up the house. I took my current$230 bill and divided it by 30 days, then again divided it by 7 hours we run the furnace to get an average of $1.10 per hour to run the furnace. If I ran it 24/7 like an average family would, my bill would be almost $800 for one month. Is that normal? Do those of you that don't shut off your furnace in the winter pay that much a month...$800? What do you all pay on average for your heating bill? I'm just sickened by how much it costs. Our furnace is newish from 2007 as is the water heater. Nothing else in the house is gas. Am I in the ballpark with $1.10 an hour to run a furnace? What are you all averaging? Thanks.

I have been thinking about this today, and I had another thought. Have you ever had the furnace cleaned/tuned up/inspected? We pay $120 a year to our gas company and we get 'free' service calls if anything goes wrong plus they will come out once a year and clean/inspect the furnace and make sure that everything is working efficiently. Maybe a simple tune up of sorts can help your furnace run a little more efficiently and save you some money in the long run.

And definitely look into a programmable thermostat.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

We have a gas water heater and gas furnace. In the summer, yes the bill runs in the $20 range. In the winter it can easily break the $200 mark, sometimes $250. We just set the thermostat on about 66 and leave it.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

What temperature is the thermostat set at?

HOw big is you home. I would go on a budget so you are paying a flat set amount every month with no monthly surprises.

 

[trip]

We just got our monthly gas bill. Last year for the same period we used 2.00 therms this year 5.66 therms! The difference was just over $100.00. Our daytime temp is set at 69 and night is 64. Our area is coming out of the 4th coldest on record. So glad spring is almost here - the spring/summer bills range between $22-$30.

 

[Janet Hill]

Natural gas prices in FL are double the prices in the cold weather states (with the exception of Maine and VT).

Look on the bright side the FL price is less than half the Hawaii price.

 

[writersblock42]

I have a 1500 square foot house with gas and my bills are higher this year because it has been an average of 10 degrees colder. They have been about $150 and I have horrible insulation. Btw, if you are going to be out of your house (nobody home) for more than 7 hours, you are better off turning the heat down really low. First of all the most amount of heat is lost the warmer the house is. Secondly, to warm a house from say 50 degrees to 70, it would take about 20 minutes of the heat running constantly to do so. To maintain 70 degrees all day would take about a 6 minute blast at least once an hour. 7 times 6 is 42 minutes of the heat on.
So you definitely save money by turning the heat down when you are gone.

 

[writersblock42]

This explains it better than I can. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2970/does-turning-down-the-thermostat-at-night-save-energy