Poll - How do you heat your house?

[joatmon]

what's the primary method you use to heat your house in the winter?edit - Never hit enter when creating a new poll, because it will submit your thread before you are done, and then you can't get back to the poll to edit it. tks rasermon for making it an open poll, so if you don't see your option, then use the add a new choice link to add a new choice

[joatmon]

a while back, we bought a tiny house and all it had for heat was a propane floor register that got hot and the heat rising off it was supposed to heat the whole house, but it was pretty useless. We ended up heating with a wood stove for a number of years, but finally scraped together enough cash to get a forced air system installed. At the time, it seemed like oil heat provided the most heat per cost, so that's what we had installed. After years of heating with wood, it was really fun to be able to just walk over to the wall and turn a knob, and have heat come out all over. (Air conditioning in the summer was especially nice too)with oil prices the way they are this year, I'm working on building my wood pile back up, hopefully I can use the wood stove to reduce my oil costs this winter. I hadn't really used it for a while, good exercise but a tedious lot of work. anyway, I was curious about what other people used, I voted oil

[Raven]

I use a high efficiency Vermont Castings woodstove for my primary heat. My place is small and wood is plentiful and cheap in my neck of the woods. I also have electric baseboard heaters but only turn them on when absolutely necessary. Last winter was the first year with the new stove and my electricity consumption went down about 45%.

[Sputnik]

My parents have a pellet stove.I don't know how my condo is heated.

[ArcsVibe]

We have electrical heating in my apartment.

[ragingfish]

Electric heat pumps here...but we also fire up the fireplace whenever possible...We contemplated switching to geothermal a few years ago, but the costs of conversion far outweighed the benifits of the switch...We haven't eliminated gas heat as a potential runner in the future...

[VibeChick]

I think most people here in Alberta use natural gas. Some electric furnaces though too I think. I've never lived in a house that didn't use natural gas though.

[soldierguy]

Natural gas, and I think it's called radiant floor heat. All the apartments & houses here use the radiant floor heat...hot water flows through a pipe network just under the floor, making the floor warm. It's the BEST! No cold feet in the morning, no drafty vents blowing overly dry air...I love it, and it works great in the bitter cold winters here in Korea. Oh and carpets are not commonly used here, so the heating system works well...don't think it would work with carpets.

[pmh013]

Heat pump! Ha ha ha, that's a funny one around here. I think you'd need to go straight to the core of the earth to find enough heat to heat your house.I wish we had radiant heat in the basement ... toasty on the feet. But, our forced air, natural gas furnace will have to do.

[Stang2Vibe]

Most everyone I know, myself included, have natural gas forced air furnaces for heat. I'd like to swap for a newer, much more efficient furnace but I'm still renting. I'd also like to look into a heat pump. My heating bills last winter were insane because my county has one of the highest natural gas prices in the whole country. I keep my thermostat at 62F in the winter and I'm still paying well over $200 per month for the gas bill. But that also includes the heat for the hot water heater (but it's only a 30 gallon water heater), the clothes dryer, and the kitchen stove.I bought a little electric space heater (desktop type) with a thermostat on it from WalMart last winter to keep my bedroom warm enough to sleep in. I usually turn that on when I'm home, keep the bedroom door closed, and only leave the bedroom to go to the bathroom or the kichen for food . I might as well be an Eskimo!

[cohocarl]

Quote, originally posted by pmh013 »Heat pump! Ha ha ha, that's a funny one around here.We bought this house last year, and the people that had built it put in a heat pump. I can't imagine it being as efficient as it could be if we had warmer well water (central Michigan), but our highest electric bill last year was about $230 for a 2300sq/ft house. We do have an L.P. gas fireplace that I'd fire up once in a while, and used about $200 of L.P. over the winter also. Heat pumps are very efficient, but their initial cost is outrageous. If I were to build my own house, the norm around here would be natural gas forced air, (or liquid propane if you are out in the boonies like us).

[millster]

I use a mix of gas forced air and electric. I have a central forced air furnace in my house and so far, one Dimplex electric fireplace in my front room. I'm planning to purchase at least one more for my master bedroom.

[joatmon]

around here, they use #2 heating oil in the winter, it is the same as diesel fuel, but has a red dye added to deter people using it in vehicles since you don't have to pay road tax on heating oil. Since it's diesel, it does have an odor. My options are still either all electric (resistive or heat pump), fuel oil, or LP/propane bottled gas. The price on LP gas is ridiculous, currently use that for hot water heater and kitchen stove, and it's bend over time when the bill comes. i don't want to put up with a heat pump. The temp differential in the "heated" air is small, so all the heat pump houses I lived in felt chilly and drafty even when they were actually warm enough. Also it does still get cold here enough in the winter that the heat pump won't work, which requires a backup source, and resistive electric heat included in many heat pump systems for backup is the most expensive of my options.Between electric/gas/oil, oil still has the best BTU for the buck. I do plan to use a lot more wood this year though, because all the trees that came down in the woods around my house last year from hurricane isabel are now all nicely seasoned, I just need to cut/split. It's pretty rural where I live, and we consistently lose power, sometime for days, so having a wood alternative in the winter is a great thing. Now have an stove with a variable speed blower on it, but found out last winter that the 100W AC inverter in the vibe can only power the blower at the lowest setting

[Sputnik]

Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 »Sputnik, I pellet stoves are pretty neat.... I use to put them together/sell them.... Cool. They're fairly environmentally friendly which is nice. It was no use during the Ice Storm of '98 however, since it needed electricity to power the blower. My parents also have a fireplace and a furnace so at least without power we had the fireplace.

[cohocarl]

Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 »Mike, What are the ups and downs to the heat pump?I'm no expert, but the upside is it's efficiency per electricity used to produce the heat, but you'll never recover the initial investment from the efficiency. They don't polute the air. They to take quite a bit of power to run, so a normal backup generator won't be able to run it if the power goes out. You need a good source of water, or a "closed loop" system that circulates the water through loops of pipes burried in the ground. Colder water, less heat. The main reason some people heat with L.P. is that natural gas lines haven't been ran by their house. I'd much rather have natural gas than an ugly L.P. tank out in the back yard......

[ToolGuy]

My parents used to have an all electric house with a heat pump. The damn thing never seemed to put out actual heat! Once it died they converted to Nat Gas. Hate heat pumps! My house is forced nat gas!

[Reynoma]

When I purchased my house 10 years ago, they had not yet run the gas pipes down the road in order to provide natural gas heat - so a heat pump was installed. My electric bill when through the roof during the cold months of winter, because the alternate heat had to come on in order to heat the house (the alternate heat was kind of like a toaster - coils heated up using electricity). About 3 years ago, we converted to gas (cost of conversion = $6,000). We are saving big $$ during the winter.

[Charlievibe]

Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 »Mike, What are the ups and downs to the heat pump? Do you have the heat pump with the forced air system? I heard they are about $10,000 more than the traditional Natural Gas Units. My parents Natural Gas bill has doubled in 2 years from $40.00 a month to $82.00 per month. With the rise of oil prices, this does make me wonder......One more thing.... I did notice when I do have time to get North of the Linwood/Sterling exit, depending on the area's, some use LP and others use Natural Gas (were it is accessable).From what I know and have read, heat pumps are best for the warmer states (see URL for reasoning behind that). Heat pumps are very expensive to run if you are in a cold climate. When I lived in an 800 sq ft apartment, I had a heat pump. One month, when we were cold for here, I paid close to $300 that month. In my house (~1800 sq ft), where I am now on natural gas, I have never paid over $200. That may change this year with the natural gas prices going up. http://www.energyoutlet.com/res/heatpump/how.html

[joatmon]

natural gas is winning the poll so far, but the forecast is for major price increases this winter. Anyone seen a price spike in natural gas yet?

[zionzr2]

we rent and have base board electric heat.=

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by cohocarl »I'm no expert, but the upside is it's efficiency per electricity used to produce the heat, but you'll never recover the initial investment from the efficiency. They don't polute the air. They to take quite a bit of power to run, so a normal backup generator won't be able to run it if the power goes out. You need a good source of water, or a "closed loop" system that circulates the water through loops of pipes burried in the ground. Colder water, less heat. The main reason some people heat with L.P. is that natural gas lines haven't been ran by their house. I'd much rather have natural gas than an ugly L.P. tank out in the back yard......I fear there is some confusion between "heat pumps" which generally are just reverse air conditioners, and geothermal which is also a heat pump but involves running pipes underground.

[jake75]

Several years ago in Ohio we got what is called "Consumer Choice" in buying natural gas. You can sign up with your choice of a variety of gas suppliers at a fixed or variable rate. When it first started it was a good deal, but lately I'm not so sure. In the past several years my annual rates under contract with Shell Energy have been 38 cents, 58 cents 78 cents, 88 cents, and for my year starting this month 1.49. Some years I saved money from the Columbia Gas (the utility company) rate and others I have paid a little more. I think last year I used about 900 ccf and the total cost of gas plus the delivery fees etc from Columbia Gas was about $1,000. This year with the 1.49 rate I expect it will be about $1,550 assuming the winter has the same temps. I renewed at the 1.49 rate as I didn't want to take the risk that the market would go higher. I think the current spot price is in the low 1.40's. We have a 91% efficent gas furnace put in three years ago which reduced our gas use considerably compared to a 45 year old monster that was about 60% efficient. We also added sidewall insulation many years ago which was not used in this climate zone in 1958 when the house was built. Use an electric radiator heater in our family room and master bedroom as they are colder than the rest of the house. Winter electric rates here are a bargain. Less than half per kwh than in the summer. It is not politically correct to let people freeze, but it is o.k. to soak those who want to stay cool in the summer. The old argument was that the electric company had to build capacity to satisfy the summer demand, but in fact peak winter demands are about the same. I can stand the extra $550 but I really feel sorry for those whose budgets are at the breaking point already.

[Mr. Poopypants]

Gas, I love gas heat.

[AZViking]

The only thing I like about living in Arizona... not having to use the heater in winter.

[drunkenmaxx]

natural gas - i drink tobasco sauce, then fart until my apartment is warm.

[Sputnik]

Quote, originally posted by drunkenvibe »natural gas - i drink tobasco sauce, then fart until my apartment is warm.So thats why there's a funny smell to natural gas...