Anyone else a tightass?

['73 H1 Triple]

Originally Posted by tommymac

man it looks like youre ready for the appocalypse, how big is the place youre heating?

Our house isnt that big and were on the fence about updating our gas furnace/heater. its 29 yrs old and the service guy said keep it till it dies (which with my luck will be on the coldest day of the year on a sun night in feb.

Thing is the newer smart furnaces will save us a lot of our gas bills and will pay for itself in the long run, but we dont have the 7k plus to plunk down on one, so we may just deal with it his year and see about next year.

Tom

About 2400 sq ft ( PA does NOT include basement footage in the total )




My wife and I purchased this house in Oct '03. It HAD electric heat when we purchased it, our first winter bill was $280 for one month. I wasn't happy ( BIG understatement) and told my wife just to pay the bill and not let me know how much.

My friend Chris owns a heating and cooling business and we had him install a oil fired hot air system with central air that spring. That's when we upped the tank total to four. We also have him maintain the system and purchase our oil from someone else. As he pointed out, why have the company that you purchase your oil from do your heater tuneup. It is NOT in their best interest to make it run at peak effeciency as they will sell more oil if it's not perfectly tuned.

The main air intake for the system is in the livingroom across from the coal insert. That way we can run the fan and move the heated air throughout the entire house.

The franco-belge unit is in the basement so that keeps the floors warm and the heat comes up in the kitchen ( that stairway is just inside the deck ).

[the chi]

Originally Posted by fasternyou929

You guys are crazy. I want to be comfortable when I'm home, so the thermostat's set to 72 all year. I can't imagine being cold in my own home to save a few bucks a month.

I am permanently cold and my husband prefers cooler temps, so we just try to keep a happy median. I put on more clothes and leave the temp around 72 or 73, and he doesnt make it cooler, winter or summer. However if I am by myself, I do turn it up, or break out my little personal electric heater. I despise being chilled. It makes me ache like an old person.

[Rangerscott]

People still use oil and coal? Saw the pics and thought I fallen back in time a 100 years. Haha


Well down south it's either Central A/C & heating, wood burner (good ole mesquite), pellet burner (dont see much of those), or your fireplace. Forgot some crazy people just hook up a bunch of little electric heaters. O that's a fire waiting to happen. If you live out of city limits then you'd be using propane instead of natural gas for your heating and cooking.

For cooling its central A/C, window units, swamp cooler, or just fans.


In the summer I leave it at 70-72. Winter about the same, a little higher on the cold nights.


Now who will be the first to ask what a swamp cooler is.

[Rangerscott]

It's amazing how many people have fireplaces down here and don't use them. They've become house decorations.

[tommymac]

Originally Posted by Rangerscott

People still use oil and coal? Saw the pics and thought I fallen back in time a 100 years. Haha


Well down south it's either Central A/C & heating, wood burner (good ole mesquite), pellet burner (dont see much of those), or your fireplace. Forgot some crazy people just hook up a bunch of little electric heaters. O that's a fire waiting to happen. If you live out of city limits then you'd be using propane instead of natural gas for your heating and cooking.

For cooling its central A/C, window units, swamp cooler, or just fans.


In the summer I leave it at 70-72. Winter about the same, a little higher on the cold nights.


Now who will be the first to ask what a swamp cooler is.

Every year we have a few big fires due to space heaters either electric or kerosene.

Tom

[Rangerscott]

You'd have to be suicidal to use kerosene down here. Hell just a 5 gal bucket at a lumber yard runs you around $70. I believe propane keeps going up. My father only fills up his tank when he has too. They dont do half fills or what not. They sit an automatic how much you have to pay for. I think his tank is an 80 gal and their minimum fee is for 100 gal fill up.

[tommymac]

The problem here is many of the poor/illegals use them and they make one house into an 8 or 9 bedroom appt so firemen get trapped when they go in because they cant find their way out.

Tom

[Rangerscott]

Originally Posted by tommymac

The problem here is many of the poor/illegals use them and they make one house into an 8 or 9 bedroom appt so firemen get trapped when they go in because they cant find their way out.

Tom

Our city passed a new law not so long ago where there is a limit to how many people can live in a house/aprt. Doesnt matter if your related or not.

[tommymac]

Originally Posted by Rangerscott

Our city passed a new law not so long ago where there is a limit to how many people can live in a house/aprt. Doesnt matter if your related or not.

Those laws are here too just not enforced, theres some outcry every time a firefighter is hurt or killed, but in the end not much gets done.

Tom

[fasternyou929]

Originally Posted by '73 H1 Triple

My wife and I purchased this house in Oct '03. It HAD electric heat when we purchased it, our first winter bill was $280 for one month. I wasn't happy ( BIG understatement)

Originally Posted by '73 H1 Triple

I have the Franco-Belge oil heater burner in the basement set on low and the hot air oil heater only comes on when it gets in the 30s outside.

Keeps it about 66-68

Once it gets colder, I'll fire up the coal insert and it'll be nice and toasty here, low 70s.

I installed four oil tanks in my basement, for a total of 1100 gallons capacity. I wait until the price is the best and fill it up. I paid $1.759 a gallon this year. Those 1100 gallons would last me two years.


Here's the gravity feed Franco-Belge oil burner.

This is the Harman wood/coal insert that we burn chestnut size coal in. Just shake the ash in the morning and evening when you top it off with coal and it stays nice and warm for cheap.

The three ton of coal we purchased for this year. Those are 50 lb bags stacked over 4' high. Jeff

Holy crap man, how long will it take until installing oil tanks, buying over $950/yr. in oil, installing an oil burner, installing a coal burner, buying tons of coal, and maintenance on that system ends up being cheaper and easier than a $280/month bill in winter?