# How are you heating this winter



## bruce333 (Sep 1, 2006)

I've got a heat pump, but I leave it set at 60. I use wood in the fireplace in the evenings. If I don't feel like lighting that I also have a kerosene heater.

During the days when I'm home, I open the blinds and the front door (I have a glass storm door) and let the sun in. When I'm not home, I leave the blinds angled so the sun will shine in, but still block the view from the street. I use a ceiling fan and a pedestal fan to move the air around. The front of my house faces South so it heats up nicely. Right now it's 50 outside and 73 at the thermostat and I haven't used any heat since the wood fire went out last night.


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## unpecador (May 9, 2008)

Heat Pump, other Electric

I have a fireplace as well and will use it on occasion.


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## BeefyBeefo (Jan 30, 2008)

I have the heat set at about 68 and I generally turn on the fireplace for an hour or two in the evening. The fireplace heats it up nice and quick. :smt023 Other than that, I walk around in sweatshirts because I can't afford the heat. :anim_lol:

-Jeff-


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## Todd (Jul 3, 2006)

Natural gas. 

We have a gas fireplace as well, but even with the blower, the thing sucks. We made the mistake of using it a few hours the first winter we were here and it practically doubled our gas bill; the thing is like a frickin' afterburner. I might as well burn money, it would give us more heat and probably be cheaper. We haven't used it for almost three years now.


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## tekhead1219 (May 16, 2008)

I don't remember running the furnace at all last winter. Keep house at 65deg. Wear sweats during the day and hug my wife all night. Keep plenty warm.:smt023:smt082


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## buck32 (May 26, 2008)

I am not using heat right now. Not until it gets cold. Still in the low 50's. I'll wait until the teens or sub-zero hit then turn on the gas, not. I hunted on a rancher's place this year who waited until it was 6 degrees in his house and -23 outside last winter before he started using wood. He told me he was not going to wait that long this year. Took him nearly two weeks to thaw his cabin out.


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## kev74 (Mar 22, 2008)

I voted other for a woodstove.

We burn wood almost exclusively, with the thermostat set on 55 so the pipes don't freeze if we're not home. The fuel oil in my tank is over 2 years old and there's half a tank left!


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## js (Jun 29, 2006)

I use gas logs to heat my house... Propane.

My home was built in 1924. I've done major updates, but it's still hard to heat. I've insulated the attic and the crawlspace... but there's nothing in the walls. I've got a central heat/air conditioner, located outside... but the it's really expensive to run in the winter.


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## zhurdan (Mar 21, 2008)

Natural Gass... my wife feeds me beans all winter. hehe

I really need to some insulating, but we have vaulted ceilings, great idea out here in winter wonderland! Duhhh. One month last year, my gas bill was $300!!!

Zhur


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## Ptarmigan (Jul 4, 2008)

Propane running a boiler and one gas fireplace. We have had nights and mornings under 10 degrees already so we have been running the fireplace in the evenings.


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## DevilsJohnson (Oct 21, 2007)

Propane here. I usually have it off in the day. Just me here and unless the back is acting up cold don't bother me that much. It's not been all that cold here though.


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## bdp2000 (Apr 22, 2008)

Natural Gas Furnace. But we have an 80's contemporary style house with lots of angles and vaulted ceilings and little in the way of insulation. So we mostly heat the rooms we use with electric space heaters. 

I have 2 fireplaces which we rarely use and then only for atmosphere, as the are counter pruductive in a drafty house...all the warm air gets sucked up the chimney.


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## Growler67 (Sep 8, 2008)

The house I am currently renting has a Natural Gas furnace. Though I have it set to 60 to keep expenses down. I just wear more clothes when I get cold.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Here on our little island, the electricity occasionally gives up the ghost, usually in the middle of a cold snap or a snowstorm. When that happens, none of the usual home-heating mechanisms work, including pellet stoves, because they all rely on electricity for regulation.
Up here, everybody's basic heat source is electricity, but, as one could infer from the previous paragraph, also everybody has at least one wood stove. We have two, and wood is our primary heat. We don't use our electric baseboard units at all.
Our library stove is small, and handles things from 60 degrees (outside) down to about 40. It takes about four hours from no fire at all to getting even the back bedroom up to 70 degrees (inside).
At 40 outside degrees, we switch to the big living room stove. That takes us down to about 35 (outside) and 70 (inside).
Below 35, we use both stoves at once, and that handles things down to the 20s (which is as cold as it ever gets here, and not for long at that).
We have 3/4 of an acre of wooded land, and we lose the occasional tree. That gives us at least a cord of wood, and sometimes as much as two. The rest we buy, delivered and stacked in our shed, at $115.00 per cord. We use between five and seven cords of wood a year.
It sounds expensive, but it's about 2/3 the cost of electric heat, and it's a useful amount less than either oil or propane too.
And wood heat is dry and toasty, up here in this wet climate. Much nicer than any other kind, we think.


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## bruce333 (Sep 1, 2006)

> delivered and stacked in our shed, at $115.00 per cord


I wish it was that cheap around here. Closer to $200 if I were to have it delivered and stacked.


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## Todd (Jul 3, 2006)

I'd love to rip out the useless fireplace we have an replace it with a useful wood stove. I just have no clue how we'd keep the kids away from it though.


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## kev74 (Mar 22, 2008)

Todd said:


> I'd love to rip out the useless fireplace we have an replace it with a useful wood stove. I just have no clue how we'd keep the kids away from it though.


I put one of these gates up about 2 weeks ago and so far it has kept our very active 2 year old away from the stove.

HearthGate


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## JeffWard (Aug 24, 2007)

Here in Orlando, when it gets down to 45-50, like last night for instance: I prefer a cute blonde, and an extra blanket... Gets down to 63 or 64 in the house... brrrr...

During the day? Pushing 80 today. Open the windows and turn on the ceiling fans!!! NICE.....

I voted "It gets cold in winter???"

JeffWard

:smt033


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

We use Propane. I built our home so it is well insulated. I am hoping Propane will follow the drop in Oil prices as it was getting pretty tough to pay for last year.

I considered a wood burner when building but as this is my retirement home and ability to collect, split and carry wood diminishes with age we elected not to install one. I am pleased with that decision because I no longer have the stamina to handle wood.

Our lows right now are in the 20's but we will get between -16 and -20 later in the winter.

We also lose electrical power on occasion so have an efficient Gas Fireplace for atmosphere and night time plus generator to power the central system for daytime use.

We had a 5 day power outage a few years back and the Fireplace kept us above 60 degrees during -10 degree nights.

I had been heating the garage during winter but have decided to drain the water and leave heat off this year. I installed a standard home heating system in it so can heat it up in about 20 minutes when indulging in reloading or other super important tasks.


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## dourdave (May 6, 2007)

I live in a motorhome with a poodle named "Charley". There are two roof-mounted A/C-Heat Pumps and two Propane furnaces. No cute blond for me so I use the furnaces at night. Runs about $50 a Winter month here in the Tampa Bay area.


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## oak1971 (Apr 28, 2008)

I live in a condo. The units to the east and west block the wind and the garage is on the the north. The southern exposure has a big window. The gas furnace hardly ever runs as the heat bleeds in from the adjoining units and the sun keeps the living room toasty. Right now, the furnace is set at 68 and the temp is reading 72. High 20's outside.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

JeffWard said:


> ...I prefer a cute blonde, and an extra blanket...


Jean's a slim brunette, but otherwise I agree completely, and even with toasty-warm me next to her she needs the extra blanket.


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

dourdave said:


> I live in a motorhome with a poodle named "Charley". There are two roof-mounted A/C-Heat Pumps and two Propane furnaces. No cute blond for me so I use the furnaces at night. Runs about $50 a Winter month here in the Tampa Bay area.


I expect your propane furnaces cost a bunch less than Jeff's blond. :anim_lol:


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## bdp2000 (Apr 22, 2008)

The wife and I were fine with cuddling and blankets for the last few years. But now with the new baby, we need to keep her room warm along with all the rooms where she will be crawling. That damn gas furnace will be earning its due this winter.


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## js (Jun 29, 2006)

TOF said:


> We use Propane. I built our home so it is well insulated. I am hoping Propane will follow the drop in Oil prices as it was getting pretty tough to pay for last year.


I just paid 2.79 a gallon to fill my 100 gallon propane tank...


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

js said:


> I just paid 2.79 a gallon to fill my 100 gallon propane tank...


We used around 1500 gallons last year at or near your price (500 gal. tank topped off monthly). If the price doesn't drop I will have to add a wood burner to the place. We live surrounded by a National forest so wood availability is not a problem. My old bones however don't like the wood alternative.

Stay warm, shoot straight and by all means have fun.

:smt1099


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## cupsz71 (Nov 19, 2007)

I voted ELECTRIC. But I also have a built in wood fireplace I use on the REALLY COLD DAYS.....


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## JustRick (Sep 14, 2008)

Natural gas central furnace. The smartest thing I've done lately is bringing our 1978 house up to 2007 energy standards. With rebates from the power company, we spent about $1,200 to increase our attic insulation from about R-3 to R-thirtysomething (I think R-39). Combined with blocking an old unused stovepipe chase that used to be open to the attic, our heating bills in the winter have dropped in half. 

My dad, on the other hand, heats his house in Coos Bay, Oregon, with a single big woodstove in the living room. He cuts, splits, stacks and burns about 10 cords a year. He just turned 73. His wood costs him nothing because he owns 4 acres of forest and gets a "down wood" pass from the local state forest. He owns a 4x4 Ford Ranger and a trailer that is his wood gathering system. He has his own water (gravity fed) and septic, so if he didn't use electricity he would be off the grid.


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## SuckLead (Jul 4, 2006)

We've got the electric heat going on. But I'm one of these crazy people who heats very little anyway. I don't think it gets cold enough to justify it here, so my heat is always way down. I've been argued with about this in the past... but hey, I like being cold.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

JustRick said:


> ...My dad, on the other hand, heats his house in Coos Bay, Oregon, with a single big woodstove in the living room. He cuts, splits, stacks and burns about 10 cords a year...


Yup.
Wood heats you twice: Once when you cut, split, and stack it, and again when you burn it.
I envy your dad. I'm only 70, and I'm already way past my cutting, splitting, and stacking days.
Damn' arthritis!


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## buck32 (May 26, 2008)

NWS Billings, MT
Point Forecast: 2 Miles ESE Billings MT
45.79N 108.5W (Elev. 3198 ft) En Español
Last Update: 9:22 am MST Dec 11, 2008
Forecast Valid: 11am MST Dec 11, 2008-6pm MST Dec 17, 2008 



Today


Slight Chc
Snow
Hi 39°F Tonight


Partly
Cloudy
Lo 25°F Friday


Mostly
Sunny
Hi 44°F Friday
Night

Slight Chc
Snow
Lo 28°F Saturday


Snow
Likely
Hi 32°F Saturday
Night

Snow
Likely
Lo -7°F Sunday


Chance
Snow
Hi -1°F Sunday
Night

Chance
Snow
Lo -15°F Monday


Slight Chc
Snow
Hi -5° 

Guess it is time to turn the heat on!!!!!!!:smt022


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

buck32 said:


> NWS Billings, MT
> Point Forecast: 2 Miles ESE Billings MT
> 45.79N 108.5W (Elev. 3198 ft) En Español
> Last Update: 9:22 am MST Dec 11, 2008
> ...


You might put on a long sleeve shirt before deciding. :anim_lol::smt082:anim_lol:


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## buck32 (May 26, 2008)

TOF said:


> You might put on a long sleeve shirt before deciding. :anim_lol::smt082:anim_lol:


:smt023

I think I am going to stay in bed those days, with my wife of course. Oh, darn, she has to go to work:smt082

TOF,

I saw on one of your posts that you mentioned negative degrees. Where in AZ does it get that cold?


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