High heating bills


  #1  
Old 01-08-03, 02:06 PM
L
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Angry High heating bills

Hi,

I am hoping some of you really smart people could help me think of ways to cut my heating bill.

The problem is that the house is on electric heat so it's rather expensive. It's an octagon with a loft & it seems most of the heat is going up there. I have a ceiling fan but it doesn't seem to do much good. Also, the house has 3 slidding glass doors, they are thermopane but it seems they leak a bit.

Any suggestions, tips, whatever, will be welcome.

Thanks
 
  #2  
Old 01-08-03, 02:35 PM
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Lori,

You have a T-stat in each room/area? Or do you have one t-stat for the whole house?

This what I do for our apt since we have electirc heat.. We have T-stat in each room here..

1- We have the t-stat turned off in the spare bedroom/office

2- T-stat turned off in the kichen.

3- T-stat turned down to 58 in the day, and turn it up at 69 about an hour before we go to bed, some time I will drop it down to 66 I go to bed.

4- Living/dinning room, when we are home we run it at 69, away, or at night down to 60.

5- Bathroom, we leae it off, at times I will turn it up when I shower on a cold day, or in the morning when the place is cooled..


We have the Cadets Electronic t-stat in the living room, and bedroom. The model we have is no longer made, but there are others brand/model that you can get. We noticed it more comfortable with the electronic vs the mechanical type (used alot) that has a bigger swing.. We gotten pretty warm before it shut off, and cool before it kicked in.. Electronic, with in one degrees of on and off.. Being it a mild winter for us, we really can say for sure if we're saving on alot vs a year before when we had our cold spell.



Cadets T-stat

WIth electronic style t-stat, you have a more even temp swing vs a larger temp run.. so in a way, the heat is a bit more even..

These t-stat can be found at any home improvement store

Honeywell T-Stat


If you have one t-stat for the whole house, Really only thing you can do it just turn the main one down when your gone, or sleeping. and or replace it with a electronic one


One more thing can be done.. Call your local power company, and ask if they have a budget program for you.. We are on budget, and our monthly electric billl is $65 a month year round on the budget plan.
 
  #3  
Old 01-09-03, 08:45 AM
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LoriB:

Fine tuning the temperature settings as Jay11J has suggested will most definately give you some savings.

The biggest savings though are in preventing heat loss.

Unfortunatly, in your case you will have to spend money to save money.

The sliding doors should be the first thing to go.
In our cold climate, garden doors are becoming popular as a replacement. They are a much more practical alternative with considerable savings in energy over what you have.

http://www.loewen.com/home.nsf/all/E614F92DD9D9315386256B18006D7C61?OpenDocument

The next thing is attic insulation depending on the construction of your place.

You have not really given us much info to go on.

Read the anouncement at the top of this forum for what we need to know.
 
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Old 01-09-03, 10:34 AM
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Another thing that will save on your bill that isn't related to heating is compact fluorescent lightbulbs. They pay for themselves in less than a year. They can be pricey and don't work in every fixture. These are their bad points. I found the best place to buy them is Home Depot. In my area, they currently have 2 100 watt bulb packs on sale for $8, and 4 60 watt bulb packs for $9.

http://www.epa.gov/nrgystar/purchasing/calculators/cfl-main.html

This is a calulator to plug in values to project your savings. BE SURE to change the "Number of bulbs" to what you think you will use and change the cost to between $4-$8 which is the going rate now for CFL bulbs.

CFLs for the most part can't be used with dimmers or 3-ways. They do have them for those applications, but they are special and more expensive.
 
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Old 01-09-03, 02:01 PM
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Light bulbs

Wow, I didn't know just how big the savings were in using the florecent light bulbs.
THANKS!!!

I wonder about how the t-stats in each room works as the house has only 1 heating unit, but it sounds like a great idea also.

I wish I could insulate the attic but it's a loft situation, no attic, but it does have a crawl space basement that needs to be insulated.

Can anyone recommend a good set of replacement doors?

Thanks Again everyone.
 
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Old 01-09-03, 03:38 PM
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Hey!, LoriB

If you let me know where you live, I will quote you on how much a service call from Canada will cost to survey your house.

Or.................Give us a really detailed description of your place and where approximately you live and someone will have some good ideas I'm sure.

More info = better response.
 
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Old 01-09-03, 06:04 PM
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The house is in North GA so a service call fom Canada would prolly be as much as the heating bill.

The house is an octigon without an atic, just a really high ceiling & a loft space up there, which is of course quite warm. So the heat is rising to the peak of the ceiling & that can't be insulated.

I'm sure it's also being lost out of the sliding glass doors. I thought their might be a recall on these but I cannot find any recall notices.

Thanks
 
  #8  
Old 01-09-03, 06:52 PM
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Doors...

Replace these doors with Anderson or Marvin doors. HD carries Anderson.
Sliding glass doors have poor protection against driving rain, wind, and burglars. A door that swings and gasketed is best.
Also what I do is open all the shades and curtains wide on the south sideof the house to try collect as much possible free heating you can. Get rid of the evergreen trees on the south side and you can use deciduous trees in their place. In the winter months they shed the leaves and allow sun exposure,when the sun agle gets low, the solar radiation will heat the home. Another thing you might consider is a wood burning stove, I know many that swear by them, You lots of trees there? Are the walls insulated?
Have you thought of a heat pump? This is an airconditioner that cools in the summer and reverses itself for heating in the winter. The electric payback is 3:1 (for every 1 kilowat of power used, it produces an equivilant of 3 kilowatts of heat) at about 40F. Electric is equal with it, when it reaches about 27F. A stone floor will absorb and store solar heat if on the south side with enough gain, and release it at night when temperatures drop.. These are a few Ideas
 
 

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