Cost of Heat

A

akivory

Joined
Feb 5, 2001
Messages
808
I was wondering if the high cost of fuel is hitting others as much as it has me.We are having a real cold spell and with increase in oil prices my heat bill has doubled.It is going to cost me $1000 this month to buy heating oil for my 2000 sq foot house and detached shop/studio.

http://www.wunderground.com/US/AK/Fairbanks.html
 
Winter is usually the least expensive time period we get a break from a high electric bill, not this year because it has doubled and that's running propane wall heaters in the shop too. That's a whopper of a bill you have!:eek:
 
It has been unusually warm here in Minnesota this year. We haven't had a below zero night since early December in the southern half of the state. It seems that when it is cold in Alaska it is warm here and vice versa. The last natural gas bill was almost the same as last year even though we were told to prepare for a dramatic increase.
 
30 percent or more in my area-thermo is set at 60 when im home and 55 away-
cant affoird to stay warm at home or drive to a warm place-energy costs are getting unreal for the average joe knife owner-its cutting in to how much new stuff i can by,i wouldnt be ass pissed of if i didnt see every other day about oil and energy companies reeping billions of proffits a quarter by raising prices -and getting tax breaks while mine go up-

and the economic impact will be felt by all when only 2 sectors of american business take the money away from the others-just look at the late credit card payments info,wouldnt surprise me if its affecting late phone bills and such also-
 
akivory said:
I was wondering if the high cost of fuel is hitting others as much as it has me.We are having a real cold spell and with increase in oil prices my heat bill has doubled.It is going to cost me $1000 this month to buy heating oil for my 2000 sq foot house and detached shop/studio.

http://www.wunderground.com/US/AK/Fairbanks.html
Click to expand...



I updated [ insert money pit ] a 3,000 sqft. 10 room 2 story brick tudor in N.C. about 8 years ago. Built in '28,it was on a very wide river. I decided we needed 2 H/A packages but was concerned over the efficency of heat pumps there. Contractor & I decided on a heat pump for upstairs & a heat pump/gas pack for the ground floor. After all the gas was 79 cents a unit & was quick & clean.
All's well until ENRON started their shix & gas went from 79 cents to $2.15 a unit . D a y u m !
I asked the delivery man how poorer people were coping . "Mister ,there's a lot of trees being cut down as we speak & the old pot-bellied stoves are coming out of the barn."

Now we are in a brick on full block double roofed home with about 14" of blown-in in the attic. We are over 2.000 sqft. here & my highest electric bill was $127.00 for December.
I tell everyone that A/C is cheaper than heat & it's a fact in Florida.

Moving here would be quite a contrast from Alaska. Maybe ,in the future we can get some of that crude up there but probably not in my lifetime....

Hang tough !

Uncle [ life's not fair ] Alan
 
Luckily, my father and I were given a cord and a half of wood, as long as we could take it away. With the costs of wood running as high as they are, we took every last stick. My fathers house is heated by a woodstove and electric baseboard heaters, and portable heaters. He was going to put in an oil heater after we build a small addition, but looking at these fuel prices, he's thinking twice about it.

One of the reasons why I'm planning on moving to the North Carolina foothills, at least for a couple years. Not too hot in the summer, not too cold in the winter, out of the direct path of the hurricanes, cheap living.
 
I got my latest propane bill last night, and almost had a heart attack, :( and we thought we were being good about the thermo. Time to go back to the woodstove. We have a forced air furnace, with the pick-up in the LR with the woodstove, so I can leave the furnace off, but use the fan to circulate the wood stove's heat throughout. Do the same thing in the summer with a little window A/C in the LR. :thumbup:
 
Electric heat pump, piggy-backed on gas furnace when auxillary heat is needed. Upstairs, heat pump with strip heat aux. Gas water heater, electric everything else.

Thermostat on 70F. 5 BR, 3 BA.

Approx 200/mo for electricity and 50 to 60/mo. for gas.
 
Our heating costs have doubled this year, and at least trippled from the first year we owned the house. Our natural gas bill was over $400 this month, and except for a few days here and there it has been a mild winter.

I'm currently insulating the third floor attic spaces, so that should help some. But it seems like no matter how much I do (insulating, weatherproofing, adding programmable thermostats) the heating costs still go higher every year. :(

-Bob
 
It is -44 this morning and -55 in outlying areas this morning.I got several calls from remote Eskimo villages yesterday.The people are wanting to sell me artwork or fossils that I usually only buy in the summer. It is tough with heating oil close to $4 per gallon and government assistance drying up it is hard to make it.
 
Up here, they were estimating that heating costs would rise about 50%. We've been super lucky this year with a mild winter here. On a WAG (wild A#@ed Guess), if the temperature was where it should be here, about -20 to -30 deg C. my gas cost would be in the $300 to $350 range, and my house isn't that big:eek:

- gord
 
The disruption in the force that you Jedi's felt last night was the agonizing scream of me paying my Nicor Gas bill.:mad: The only good thing... I think I may have won the thermostat war with my wife.
 
My wife has been griping about the thermostat as well. Our last Gas bill was $130. Not too bad, but we've had a much milder winter than last year. Having a south-facing living room, with large double-paned storm windows keeps the house warm on sunny days, and the fact that the main floor of the house (-finished basement) is only 1600 sq. ft. helps. The coldest month is yet to come, though...

We have gas heat, but have 3-4 little electric heaters that we move about the house. Keeping extra throws behind the couch helps out, as well. Our bedroom is downright chilly at night, but snuggling with the wife keeps the chill out from under the covers. Thermostat: 65 during the day, 55 at night.

Daniel
 
Our thermostat is back to 64 degrees all the time. I did some extra insulating last year and our cost is about the same as usual. Luckily, it has been a fairly warm winter also:thumbup: :)
 
My house has foam insulation in every window, the thermostat hovers around 63, and the bill was still almost $200 this month. The month before it was $215. :grumpy:
 
I don't know how you guys do it, but my wife paid with the installment plan where you pay an estimated payment through out the year, now our bill is only $80, but I think we've been paying that almost all year. (Yes, you get your money back in credit if the estimate is too high.)
I don't know if all gas companies do this, but it worked out well for us.
 
We have that option too. The gas company estimates the average monthly bill in order to spread it out over the entire year. But as much as it sucks to get a $400 bill, it's nice to not pay anything in the summer.

-Bob
 
Wow, that is a lot of money for heating. I refer to Canada as 'the great white north', but I don't think I would like Alaska. We have an all electric house with baseboard heaters that we keep cool and our bill is $320 for December. It is minus 5'C outside the window ATM.
 
Got my bill today. All electric, ~1500 square ft., full basement, thermostat between 64 and 70 depending on how I feel....$79.90.
My mother's first cousin, and her husband have a much larger house(maybe 5000 sq.ft.), and with a gas bill of over $550, plus an electric bill over $200, their utilities were as much as my house payment:eek:
 
Below is my newest addition to my home...........

http://www.warmingtrendsstoves.com/mission_ws.html

It's one of the best things we (wife and I) have ever done for our home of 1850 sq. ft.

I have only used 7 % gas heat in about 6 weeks out of a tank that was filled over a month ago to about 80%, (the gas man will NOT be happy :p ).

This thing is amazing, no wood smoke smell unless I cause a problem while loading wood, does not happen much. (besides, a hard wood fire smells so good !)

We have a great gas heat system for our home, but this wood stove heats our whole house to an average of 75 degrees any time I want to do it.

The optional blower is the key to how well it heats. It has a dial control from low to high, it will run you out on high.....:rolleyes:

But on low, it delivers a steady flow of hot air that is honestly addicting, and watching the flames through the glass is like watching a bubbling brook, it will honestly put you to snoring in about 5 minutes, no kidding.

Many times during the evening I have had to damper it down when it reached a record 80 degrees in the hallway which is about 20 feet away.

The heat is even throughout the whole house, with a checked temp variation of 1 to 2 degrees in other rooms downstairs. Upstairs stays a cozy 70 degrees when the temp outside is 30 degrees. What blows my mind is this is all accomplished with a wood stove.

We made a decision when the past major storms hit to get a heat/cooking source that we could use without relying on city/county utilities. So far I can't say enough good things about my wood stove, and we have only burned less than 2 ricks of wood in about 6 weeks.

That is a total of $100 dollars for hardwood oak.........delivered and stacked in my yard. Installation was done in about 6 hours with a simple "through the wall stud" installation using all approved double wall insulated stainless steel pipe, then ran up the outside of my house. It was easy and works great with absolutly no problems so far with anything concerning wind or water.



Robbie Roberson ;)
 
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