Micah Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 It's getting into the 40's here in Ohio, and I am doing whatever I can to keep from turning the heat on at my house. What is less expensive: -Turning on the house heat (I live in a 1 story new home...medium size) -Buying a kerosene heater and using it to heat the common area of the house -Using an electric space heater in the common areas of the house Doesn't it follow that I will save money by only heating the rooms in the house that I am in? Every penny I save on natural gas is another penny towards powder, primers, etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Blankets ..................... Lots and LOTS of blankets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jman Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Dress as warm as possible. And use the furness sparingly. Like early morning for example. Our A/C still kicks in out here since it'll be 90 something again today. Warming yourself is easier than trying to cool yourself. If I were to live in winter weather again (I won't) their would be a small coal/wood burning stove in the living room. A little chunk of coal burns HOT for a good while too. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 (edited) I did a quick search on the subject. Having always been more warm-blooded than cold-blooded I usually keep my furnace between 70 - 72 in the Winter months, but with rising fuel & energy costs, not to mention the spiraling economy ..... I may try to suck it up this year and keep my furnace turned down. I already have a programable thermostat in place, but it's up to me to be Mr. Responsible & use it properly. Here's what I found when I did a search: Ideally set your winter heating to between 62 - 66. Every degree above that will cost you an extra 10% on heating bills . Use the timer on your heating and turn it off when you leave the house. Zoning your heating. Modern systems have a way for you to zone your heating. The living areas are generally set to a little warmer than the bedrooms. Zoning can also be achieved with older systems by half closing the vents in the bedrooms and leaving them fully open in the main living areas. Closing doors. Smaller spaces heat more quickly than larger spaces. Keeping door closed and areas separated increase the efficiency of heating and you don’t pay to heat areas you are not using. Edited October 21, 2008 by CHRIS KEEN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Cheely Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 -Buying a kerosene heater and using it to heat the common area of the house-Using an electric space heater in the common areas of the house Kerosene without ventilation is a really bad way to suffocate. Electric is really expensive. Dress warmer or just turn on the darn furnace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Smith Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Buildings hold heat in their structure. For this reason, it is never a good idea to let a building get too hot or too cold as it will cost more energy to bring it back to temperature. If you have a timer on your central heat, set it so that the temperature is up only when you are in the house and active. If you have zone heating make maximum use of it. If not then consider an energy efficient heating point source for the room you use the most. If you have a place to put it, a pellet stove that is centrally located can go a long way to heating an entire house. Two years ago, a friend put one in his basement and ducted it up through his family room on the 1st floor and the master bedroom on the 2nd floor. He cut his heating costs in half the first year. Lastly, learn to love flannel and sweats. Flannel sheets and a down comforter make a cozy bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I tried to suppliment my regular natural gas heat with Kerosene a couple years ago, during the Winter and here is what I found: Kerosene costs almost 5 dollars a gallon (last I checked) and uses about a gallon a day. So you would be spending about $300 a month to heat your house with Kerosene. Kerosene heaters have no way to regulate the output, so you end up warming the house to about 85-90 degrees, which in turn prompts you to open the doors and windows to try and "stabilize" the temperature in the home, which in turn is a waste of money and energy. YES, even when kept on a very low setting. Not to mention the time wasted constantly going to the gas station to get more Kerosene. Oh yeah, and the possiblility of spilling the fuel inside the home: either by bringing tthe fuel can inside to refill (dangerous) or by taking the heater outside to refill (time consuming, and possibly dangerous too) Then there's the "soot factor". And if you dont find all of that to be an issue ............ there's the suffocation through non-ventilation issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Kerosene without ventilation is a really bad way to suffocate. Is there a really good way to suffocate??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Dead hooker on top ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Great info guys, thanks! And Dave... even though the DSM-IVr calls it paraphilia, erotic asphyxiation comes to mind as more "good" then others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outerlimits Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Dead hooker on top ? :lol: out here we just burn oak...in an insert-nice and toasty... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JQ- Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I will have to disagree...I think it is a fine way to suffocate You basically just go to sleep or stay alseep. Carbon monoxide (co) is odor and tasteless and the body readily replaces the blood's O2 with carboxyhemoglobin...and if memory serves you turn a nice cherry red...and who doesn't like red? Oh sorry about that PB blue looks good on you. Speaking of which I've been considering vent free logs - and a CO monitor or two... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 my father-in-law bought us a couple of these as a house warming gift (yes, pun intended). http://www.edenpureusa.com/ we tried them out and they heat very well. new house, so it will be hard to compare utility bills. -rvb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 I have a good friend who got a phonecall from his sister last year that both of their parents were found dead in their new house. Apparently the new furnace was improperly set up and they both died in their sleep from CO poisoning. I STRONGLY recommend everyone get at least one CO sensor and keep yourself and your family safe. Look how off topic I've made this thread now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel1212 Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I have a good friend who got a phonecall from his sister last year that both of their parents were found dead in their new house. Apparently the new furnace was improperly set up and they both died in their sleep from CO poisoning. I STRONGLY recommend everyone get at least one CO sensor and keep yourself and your family safe.Look how off topic I've made this thread now I think you either dress more warmly or turn on the house heat. Kerosene heaters have so many down sides. Space heaters just suck the electric and cost more. Me I have a wood stove down stairs with vertical vents with fans into my bedroom and office upstairs. I fire it up and put a nice over night log in there before I go to bed. I like to stay warm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Norman Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 A couple things, Do you have Hot air heat? or Hot Water Heat? If Hot air, you will not have any constant source. Heat on, Fans on, heat flows into rooms, heat goes off, air cools. Hot Water, Heat on, Radiators warm up, they radiate heat into the room. heat cycles on and off as needed, but the radiators are there to give a more even heat curve. Use a clock thermostat. Set it to go on an hour before you wake, then shut off about a half hour before you leave in the morning, turn on again an hour before you return home and shut off an hour before bed. Do not let the house get COLD. it takes a lot of energy to warm up all the items in your home that hold heat. A humidifier is not a bad idea in winter either, ESPECIALLY with Hot Air heat, Dry air feels colder at a given temp than moist air. (Not taken to the extremes of out door temps, we are talking 'room temp' here) A CO monitor is a good idea. Kerosene heaters are illegal in many jurisdictions for many reasons. If you want to heat a barn or workshop while you are inside working that is fine, but as a general use heat source they stink, Literally! Nothing like the smell of kerosene on your suit. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichiganShootist Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 (edited) I live "Up North" and last winter faced a period of 17 straight days when the temp. never hit zero with wind chils in the -30 range pretty common.....Hey tonight it will be 20. And my 100 year old house has VERY little insulation. So here are some tactics we use. 1. An air tight fireplace insert that is 80+% efficient (with a blower) or a wood stove is a great investment. We burn 15 cords of wood each winter which is equal to way over half our total winter heating bill and it only costs just over $40 a cord up here. Delivered and stacked oak!! 2. We run up to seven ceiling fans... yep.... they work to blow the hot air down from the ceiling to the outer walls and floors if you have them set on up draft 3. Shut off the registers in un-used rooms. We don't heat 2 extra bedrooms, the laundry room etc. 4. Don't heat your basement or crawl space. (In a crawl space you can insulate your hot air ducts.) 5.Turn the furnace WAY down at night. When our fireplace is burning we put our furnace on 50 degrees while we are sleeping... just as a back up. When the fireplace isn't burning we set the thermostat to 60. 6. Consider an electric blanket ---or several cats:) 7. Good quality ceramic electric space heaters are great if you are stationary for a long time ( watching the tube, yacking on enos, reloading) and many are very efficient. 8. Run a humidifier 24 X7. At 70% humidity you feel nearly twice as warm as you do at 20%. 9. During the day open all mini-blinds and curtains to catch radient heat from the sun. Shut them down in the early evening. 10. Insulated your water heater. 11. If your water heater is electric or gas with an electric blower.. put it on a timer to not run while you are not using hot water. (Ours fires up at 7:00 and shuts off at 7:00) 12. If you use your oven to cook a meal.. leave the door open after the meal to let the heat into the room.. then turn on your furnace fan (fan only) to circulate that heat through out the house. 13. Avoid the use of exhaust fans. They pump heat and humidity out of your home and draw cold air in through every crack in the building. Good Luck Edited October 21, 2008 by MichiganShootist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redmanfixit Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 (edited) Here's a weird little angle for you. I hate being too cold. There are a variety of dry chemical hot packs out there. For example Hot Hands leaps to mind, but they are all pretty much the same. Even some with sticky backs for low back pain relief. I usually wear crew neck cotton T-shirts that have a breast pocket so this is easy for me. Open either a hand warmer sized one or the larger body warmer one and stick it in the pocket of your t-shirt or some other convenient means of getting it over your heart. All your blood passes this spot every few seconds or so. These little gems warm up to about 102 or 104 degrees F and will often stay there for 8 hours or so. All they have in them is iron powder and a little salt, some other odd stuff. I think they are amazing in the amount of energy they release. I have them in my winter survival pack. They have NO ignition hazard associated with them. NO toxic fumes. NO substantial pollution. They can be found on sale at different times of the year, my wife Mary has found them for as little as .50 each and that seems cheap to me for being to stay warm ALL day. I get into the woods in Colorado hunting and if you have to be in a still hunting situation OR if you're stuck in a snowbank somewhere and the temperature is dropping, these things can be a life saver!!! Hope this helps you shoot more!!! P.S. Don't forget to finish getting dressed. And ladies, if you stick one in yer bra, wrap it in a paper towel or a handkerchief, they get a little warm!! "Whenever you get to thinkin' you're pretty important and people ought ta pay attention to you, try tellin' someone else's dog what to do!" Will Rogers Edited October 21, 2008 by redmanfixit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JQ- Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 (edited) ^^ so using this reasoning you could stick them on your head and have warm thoughts too...that is if you don't have a head full of hair...let us know how that works out PB ETA: I'll just be sticking them on my chest Edited October 22, 2008 by hk_mtbr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve J Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 -Buying a kerosene heater and using it to heat the common area of the house-Using an electric space heater in the common areas of the house Kerosene without ventilation is a really bad way to suffocate. Electric is really expensive. Dress warmer or just turn on the darn furnace. +1 Plus new houses usually are not drafty. If all the windows are closed you'll die in your sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning. Opening windows for ventilation defeats the purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSeevers Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Seriously you guys don't know S^%^ Place the house on a semi, move it 1000 miles south. Oh yea, sell the furnace on the way down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Fatten up the girl friend or get a couple of dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modoc Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Fatten up the girl friend or get a couple of dogs. Hence the term 3 Dog Night We are keeping the thermo about 68 now and will see how the upgrades help this winter (New Windows and doors). Of course it will probably be a wash since the rates have gone up again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsb45acp Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Be real careful PB. Many moons ago I worked as a Paramedic and I've been to too many house fires with very ugly results due to electric space heaters. Kerosene isn't real high on my list either, CO poisioning can happen very quickly and it isn't always the classic "small enclosed space" situation. Layer up and use the furnace if you need it. Or just move down south! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Burtchell Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 (edited) Move to Central Texas PB. It gets cold but only a couple of days at a time. Besides, I'm a sales mgr. for a new home builder and I can get you a great deal on a new " Energy Star" rated home. Seriously though, I would stay away from the space heaters and/or the kerosene. Edited October 22, 2008 by baerburtchell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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