What will you use for heat this Winter

[Bob Haller]

I just paid my narural gas bill for the coming year, $2500.

my business has a seasonal swing so its better to pay utilities in advance, before bucks get spent on important stuff like eating out at fancy restaurantys nightly

that would be my wifes choice

 

[BrianMis]

Natural Gas and a couple of Edenpure electric heaters for me.

 

[cybok0]

Propane for me. I'm on a propane budget and pay $96 a month for propane.

 

[drdroo]

Apparently no option for standard Fuel Oil. Kerosene isn't the same thing. Usually you use Kero for outside tanks because it won't freeze, and you use regular for indoor tanks. Kero is also more expensive.

Bang/buck is pretty good with regular oil heat. Electric heat is expensive as hell here. The natural gas pipeline doesn't come through here (I'm actually glad about that), LP is rather expensive.

Wood is cheap as free though if done right here, but most of the people here are allergic, so that rules that out....

 

[dfergie]

Propane... with electic heaters in the bathrooms to knock the chill...

 

[Ramy]

I will be using my electric heat pump

 

[bhelms]

Electric baseboard throughout the house, which is great for zoning and that's fairly efficient for the wife and me as we're largely "empty-nesters" these days. We also still pay less than 7-cents/kW-hr (though that will change a good bit (30% inc.?) in the next couple of years as the 10-year price caps expire. We also cut/burn about 3 cords of wood a year that I estimate offsets about 1/2 of our electric heat demand. That wood is "free" - just my time and the costs of cutting and hauling it off our "back 40" (actually, about 13 acres, about half is hardwoods). The wood burning has been light the last couple of years as we have had milder winters. At the expense of possibly pushing this to the Pit - bring on Global Warming - at least in the winter...!

 

[Pepper]

Since they will probably be worthless by then, I'll heat my home by burning Federal Reserve Notes.

 

[lakebum431]

I have both an electric heat pump and a natural gas furnace. I primarily use the gas and just kick on the heat pump when it is really cold or when the wife starts complaining that it is cold downstairs.

 

[TheForce]

I used to have a full 400 sq ft. solar blanket on the roof but discovered I didn't need it. When I redid the roof I took it down. Jacksonville has an excellent climate in the winter.

Today, I just use the windows and let the sun shine in each day. Late Fall and winter in Jacksonville brings blue skys sunshine 25-30 days a month. We have a heat pump for AC in summer and late spring but the system uses electric 2KW strip to augment it on really cold mornings. Frankly, it burned out ( start relay) early last year and I didn't get it fixed until annual heatpump maintenance in the spring. Outside day temps here are 75 and we're in a cold front!
I work here in the home office and the edit suite of decks and computers heats the room. Evenings in the home theater is when the amps augment just enough. I like winters here because I can throw the main switch on the heatpump and leave it off until spring.
Open the blinds and let the sunshine in and sometimes it actually gets too hot.

 

[navychop]

Natural gas primarily. We keep it around 62. For adding heat to a single room on occasion, we use a 2 stage kerosene heater (DC-100). We call it the heat god, because whenever it's on, the cats come worship it.

Since the government has seen fit to protect us from the hazards of electric blankets that actually produce heat (god forbid), we bought an electric mattress cover. This works quite well, and its nice having the heat under you. Certainly puts out more heat than the "ultra safe" electric blanket!

 

[deaner]

Geo Thermal

My desire is to install a geo thermal unit very soon. I am surprised that this is not discussed further with all of the ponds. I would need to have a new well so I would have some place to put the water after it is used. Is there anyone using the geo thermal for heat and air conditioning? With the water temperature coming from the well water it is more practical I believe.

 

[db2]

better to pay utilities in advance, before bucks get spent on important stuff like eating out at fancy restaurantys nightly

that would be my wifes choice

:haha lol :haha

Thanks for that Bob.

I also use a natural gas forced air furnace. In the winter I try to avoid heating the entire house by using our gas fireplace as much as possible which is on the main level.

 

[Neutron]

I just paid my narural gas bill for the coming year, $2500.

my business has a seasonal swing so its better to pay utilities in advance, before bucks get spent on important stuff like eating out at fancy restaurantys nightly

that would be my wifes choice

Bob, no offense, but you need to take charge in that house. Grow some gonads.

 

[jetskier]

When I built my house 3 1/2 years ago, I wanted to be able to burn wood so I installed a zero clearance wood burning fireplace. I also have two 90+ efficient natural gas furnaces in three zones (4400 SF). I used the gas furnaces for the past few winters only because I did not have time to cut the wood. Presplit wood costs about $250 for soft and $350-$400 for hard for a full cord (128CF). I found a wood cutting company in the Lake Tahoe area who sold me cut pine/fir rounds for $75 a cord. All I have to do is pick them up in his yard and split them. My dump trailer holds about 1-1/2 cords and he only charged me the $75 a trailer so I paid more like $50/cord. It's the best exercise I've had in years. Since the big Angora Fire this year, the TRPA finally lifted some of the defensible space rules and allowed people to remove trees. I have about 5 chords for under $300 (including the fuel to drive the 45 miles to pick it up). Before this year, natural gas was cheaper and easier per month than hard wood. Now that I have the source for wood, I'm thinking about do this every year. The lows right now are in the low 20's and highs in the 60's. In December to February, it is lows in the teens/highs in the 30's on average.

 

[FunkyBoss]

I also use a natural gas forced air furnace and try to keep it turned kinda "low" at 67 or so since natural gas is expensive here.

We also have a couple of those oil filled electric radiators that we move from room to room on an "as-needed" basis. Unfortunately with my wife, it seems to always be needed since she is always cold! If it was up to me, I'd have the furnace turned a few degrees cooler and spend all my time in the basement during the winter months!

 

[Claude Greiner]

I got Radiant Floor heat throughout the enture house. It costs very little to keep my place warm considering I got the walls very well insulated.

As a backup I got electric heat on my Air conditioning air handelers.

 

[Bob Haller]

Bob, no offense, but you need to take charge in that house. Grow some gonads.

I DID

I am back to my pre marriage days paid nearly all utility bills for entire year.

we are mortage free thanks to me, sold the home i inherited after my mom died. saved over 266K in principal and interest over the life of the loan.

 

[lakebum431]

I don't understand the paying utilities in advance thing (unless you get some sort of discount which was more than you would have received by putting that money in a high yeild savings account). That is like giving the utility a zero interest loan.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

I don't understand the paying utilities in advance thing (unless you get some sort of discount which was more than you would have received by putting that money in a high yeild savings account). That is like giving the utility a zero interest loan.

Alot of times you can prebuy your heating oil or propane at a discount during the Summer when the demand is lower. I used to do it before in my old house. and you could save around 30 cents a gallon.That was $300 off every fill up for me.That adds up because I would prebuy 3000 gallons for the winter for almost $1000 less then it would cost if I waited untill my tank was empty.