Monthly heating cost for Fairbanks AK (to rent, how much, house)

[Thermo Man]

Hey guys, I just took an offer to work in Fairbanks AK and wanted to know how much everyone paid for heating cost. We will be looking to rent something about 1500 sq ft (my wife, myself and our three small children) and are trying to figure out a starter budget. Oh and what do you keep your thermostat at?

[fairbanks101]

my thermostat is usually bottomed out, i can see my breath when i wake up in the morning. 60 if i feel like treating myself

[Thermo Man]

so how much per month do you spend in heating oil then?

[megensmom]

It is really hard to say about how much. Things like how warm you like it,how much insulation is in the home,what type of heater,how good the windows and doors seal.

[megensmom]

Have you already gotten your place to rent? Or is your company going to pay for it?

[lovinCarl]

Originally Posted by megensmom

It is really hard to say about how much. Things like how warm you like it,how much insulation is in the home,what type of heater,how good the windows and doors seal.

wow.. what field are you in to get offered a job? My husband is IT and can't get a job there from out of state. We're gonna have to wait to actually live there and have an AK address.

[fairbanks101]

Originally Posted by Thermo Man

so how much per month do you spend in heating oil then?

i have a 16x16 well insulated cabin. 50 gallons a month i think? more or less

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Thermo Man

Hey guys, I just took an offer to work in Fairbanks AK and wanted to know how much everyone paid for heating cost. We will be looking to rent something about 1500 sq ft (my wife, myself and our three small children) and are trying to figure out a starter budget. Oh and what do you keep your thermostat at?

Electricity: around $180.00
heating fuel: around $500.00 per month with fuel around $3.30 per gallon

However, heating fuel was below $3.00 per gallon three weeks ago. A truck will use perhaps one-third or more over the normal summer amount of fuel, and unleaded gasoline costs around $2.55 per gallon (regular unleaded). Living in the interior of AK requires a lot of driving, so it gets expensive real fast. I use programable thermostats (64 degrees at bedtime, and 67 degrees during the day when we are at home).

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Thermo Man

Hey guys, I just took an offer to work in Fairbanks AK and wanted to know how much everyone paid for heating cost. We will be looking to rent something about 1500 sq ft (my wife, myself and our three small children) and are trying to figure out a starter budget. Oh and what do you keep your thermostat at?

It will depend on how the house is constructed.

When I first got my my house it was a "Fixer upper" (really, a real wreck) and at about 2800 sf, we spent about 500 gallons a month on the first winter (fuel was about $1.00 a gallon then), now I use about 90 gallons a month with two Monitor heaters and still pay almost the same a month with the inflated fuel prices!

When the wood stove is going, it pretty much shuts down the oil heaters when I turn on a small fan to help move the air around the house.

Course, by the time you buy the truck to haul the wood, a chainsaw to cut it, fines for cutting on private/state property, hospital bill for slipping with the chainsaw and the required stitches, and the hassle from your wife because you are getting low on firewood... kind of offsets the advantages of wood heat a bit....

The place you rent will be totally dependant on how it was built to know what the heating costs will be.

[Thermo Man]

Originally Posted by lovinCarl

wow.. what field are you in to get offered a job? My husband is IT and can't get a job there from out of state. We're gonna have to wait to actually live there and have an AK address.

I work in health care, so always plenty of jobs!