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It's 80 degrees, and my windows are wide open!

 

Electric baseboard heat is main, and a fireplace to back it up. Living where I do, gathering wood is easy and free.. just get a forest woodgathering permit and start chopping.

I could heat the entire house on wood, but that's a lot of work. I just burn the fireplace anytime it gets REALLY cold out. Otherwise the house stays at 60 degrees.

 

gas here,,,,instant heat

now, if I could just keep all the heat from flying out these cheesy aluminum double-hungs from the 50's

 

my bill has never been over $40 for gas(month)

 

We are all electric running about 1500 square feet and a double garage (my shop). We have a heat pump and our electric bill in over 5 years has never exceeded $145.00.

 

I'm really trying to put a dent in my heating oil bills this year. In the summer of '98 I bought oil for 79 cents a gallon. I was just quoted $1.869 a gallon the other day. My brother usually spends $0.00 on heat besides the cost of chain saw fuel and upkeep. I had installed a new oil furnace in my house a few years ago. Now I wish I would have installed a new wood stove. I have a big creek stone fireplace with an insert. The insert doesn't hold a fire for as long as I would like. It's not sealed very good.

So for now, I'm trying to gather a lot of wood. Right now it's about 30 degrees outside and 78 degrees inside with the wood fire. I think I have enough wood to last about 3 months straight. (depending on temps) I need to get back out there and gather some more wood. It's just hard to have the time with these short days. I also need to get my wood splitter running right. I had to split the last couple loads by hand. Takes a little more time.

So, I'm on the watch for another heating source. (in addition to the two I have) Wood is really the cheapest way to go right now. Little hard on the back but easier on the wallet. If you cut your own. The people selling already split wood have really been raising their prices. Maybe I should sell my wood and buy heating oil with the money? j/k

 

Electric? Did someone actually say electric? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]
Put in Natural Gas. Your local utility will finance a furnace and ducting for your house. I live in the mountains in a 2000 ft2 home.... I'm on equal pay so it's $65 a month all year round.

 

Coyotechaser, we only use a woodstove insert and I was bothered by the amount of wood we went through last year. What really ticked me off was feeling the fireplace bricks all toasty warm outside on freezing days. I checked around and nobody could give me a reason not to insulate around the insert so I bought some High temp insulation and wrapped the woodstove and then stuffed the rest of the cavity with regular pink insulation minus the paper. I would guess it's around 30% more efficient now-I'm pretty happy with it.

 

The insert was in the fireplace when we bought our house. At one time, I took the insert out and put insulation above the insert to prevent heat from going up the chimney. With this insert, air is supposed to circulate from under the insert, up around the back and then out above the insert. The stone fireplace also has vents on both sides so air can enter a opening by the floor and then exit near the top. The creek stones on the fireplace are supposed to capture heat to help heat the house. If you touch the rocks, they can get very hot. The rocks will continue to heat even though the fire might have died down. Until the rocks cool.

I would rather have a insert with a bricks, rope on doors and a fan. Whenever I price a new insert, the sales people tell me that I must line the chimney with stainless steel. This cost more $$$. Maybe I'll just buy another insert and install it myself.

Mystereid- How much wood do you think you used last winter?