Saving on Heating

[ApologiaPhoenix]

As many of you know, the Princess and I are in very tough financial times. (Feel free to go to the Deeper Waters section to find out how you can support our ministry in this time) Now we're in winter and we know how much heating costs.

What are we to do?

Simply what a lady at the bank told us. Rather than use the heating system we have in our apartment racking up the costs of electricity, we simply bought two small heaters. One is in our bedroom and one in our living room. When we get particularly cold, we just turn them on for awhile. Ours can automatically turn on in fact when the place drops below an ideal temperature.

Has anybody else tried this method?

[Cow Poke]

As many of you know, the Princess and I are in very tough financial times. (Feel free to go to the Deeper Waters section to find out how you can support our ministry in this time) Now we're in winter and we know how much heating costs.

What are we to do?

Simply what a lady at the bank told us. Rather than use the heating system we have in our apartment racking up the costs of electricity, we simply bought two small heaters. One is in our bedroom and one in our living room. When we get particularly cold, we just turn them on for awhile. Ours can automatically turn on in fact when the place drops below an ideal temperature.

Has anybody else tried this method?

Yes, and remember that heat rises, so if you have ceiling fans, turn them on low so they stir the heat from the upper part of the room back down. Many ceiling fans are reversible for this very purpose. Fortunately, we didn't have that many cold days in Texas, but there HAVE been times when it got down into the low 20s, and we did not have central heat.

[Manwë Súlimo]

I prefer burning pony carcasses.

[Im4HimiHs]

Space heaters work well for small areas. You can also cover the windows with bubble wrap - lets light in and helps keep the cold out.

[Littlejoe]

My house was built in 1930, and central heat and air was never added. I have looked into it several times over the years, but we are happy with the "Zone" heating and cooling. :hehe: We have natural gas heaters and have one in every room in the house. It's ideal because you can (like you said) heat the rooms you are in. For instance, during the day, we close our bedroom door and turn the heat down and turn it up in the living room. at night, we reverse it. I always get up first and turn up the living room heat before my bride has to get up, so it's nice and toasty by the time she gets up! Also, the added benefit of this kind of heating is, you can back up to it and get an intense warming if you get a chill! Nothing like coming in from the cold and backing up to a warm fire and warming your backside! :thumb:

One word of caution, be careful with those little portable space heaters, they still draw quite a bit of juice and can still be a little pricey to operate. I experimented with them at one time and found them to expensive to operate in my house, versus the Nat. gas version.

LJ

[Sparko]

I agree with LJ. usually it costs more to run those heaters than it does to just use the regular heat. They are not very efficient.

One thing to do is to either manually turn the heat off or down when you are not home and then only use it when you are home (I wouldn't let it get too cold though, cuz then you have to pay to heat up the whole apartment from scratch, maybe keep it around 50 or 60 when you are not there) -- unless you have pets! don't forget about them.

Wear warm clothes and use blankets and snuggle.

[ApologiaPhoenix]

use blankets and snuggle.

Sounds like a good plan.

[Manwë Súlimo]

I nominate Darth Executor as your snuggle partner.

[ApologiaPhoenix]

Sorry o Horny Doofus. I already have a snuggle partner.

[Manwë Súlimo]

DE is gonna be heartbroken.

[Meta Knight]

I nominate Darth Executor as your snuggle partner.

Oh man, dude gives you an Amen and you just slip a dagger right between the shoulder blades.

[ApologiaPhoenix]

Oh man, dude gives you an Amen and you just slip a dagger right between the shoulder blades.

The horny doofus is just jealous.

[lilpixieofterror]

Snuggling always works great for me, but you could also try a few things too:

1. Central heating ducts usually have a latch located on the left or right of the vent so you can just shut off or limit the heat flow for rooms of the house or appt you don't use as much or ones you are not using during the day, but remember that your thermostat (this is the little box that you change the temp by) is how your heater knows when to turn on and off by, so don't shut off the heat to the place it is located or it could quickly run up your bills.
2. For every degree you turn your heater down by, it saves a couple of dollars of heating, so try to find a balance where it isn't freezing, but not so warm that you don't need a blanket or something like that on. I set mine to around 68 and turn it down to about 65 when we go to bed.
3. Turn it down before you leave, be sure that it is above freezing or it will cost a bundle to reheat and it could freeze your pipes up and cause you far more problems. About 55 to 60, I tend to find is a good average (depending on where you live this might not be a problem).
4. You lose a lot of heat from under and around outside doors in your house, so ensure they are properly sealed and put something under the door to block some of the heat running out under the door.
5. Don't forget about other ways to save energy too, such as shutting off lights you are not needing them, switching out light bulbs for lower-watt/lower energy bulbs when possible, unplugging cell phone charges and other charging devices (it uses about 40% of the energy it uses while plugged, without charging anything), and another thing is computers/newer videogame systems/many newer appliances (IE flat screen TV's) often will go into standby mode vs. totally shutting off when you hit the power button, which means the device is still using about 20 to 40% of the energy it does while fully powered, so they can start up faster. Take a look at the owner’s manuals to see if there is a way to totally shut them down and if not, you might want to think about hooking them up to a switch (like a power bar) and simply shutting off the switch, in addition to shutting them down. It may take longer for them to fully start up, but it will save you a few dollars there too.

I hope this helps and best of luck to you two.

[Sparko]

I lived in a drafty old apartment once. I taped up the windows around the cracks and hung blankets over them (like curtains) and that seemed to save some money. If you have a fireplace and are not using it, cover that up too.

Or you could just buy a vacation home in Florida. That would save on heating. :yes: -- better yet, tell JPH that you are going to come visit him for a few months :hehe:

[fm93]

Nah, last I checked, Darth is still looking for some cute Chinese girl. I don't think Nick really fits that image, so Darth can't possibly be that heartbroken.

[fm93]

better yet, tell JPH that you are going to come visit him for a few months :hehe:
"So while we're mooching off your home services, JPH, how about you review all these books by Joyce Meyer?" :deal:

[ApologiaPhoenix]

Nah, last I checked, Darth is still looking for some cute Chinese girl. I don't think Nick really fits that image, so Darth can't possibly be that heartbroken.

If he is, he's got a far worse problem.