Interested in Fairbanks-General Inquiry (Tok: move, transit, reviews)

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Kaul

Why don't you use electric heaters?

Electricity is just too expensive in the interior of Alaska.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Mollym313

So....when do you start using your heat? For example...I can pretty much turn mine off sometime in April till mid October. But of course I crank up the AC for 100+ degree summers. I'm assuming you use it periodically through the warmer months even by setting it at 66. Is it the coldest btw Oct and April...May?

All depends on the year. Sometimes we get cool and rainy summers, sometimes not. By April sometimes we still have a few inches of snow on the backyard. If you dig a hole for a post on your backyard by the end of May, it's very possible to hit ice around 40" deep.

Summers start around May, but in some areas of the interior (by Summit Lake, for example), the road shoulders are covered with snow, and the Delta River shores are covered with packed snow and ice sometimes 5' high. But more than likely the ice in the backyard (Fairbanks) will be gone by May.

On cooler summers we get snow by September, but most times this snow does not stick to the ground until October. We have had years at -20 degrees on Halloween day, but this year it was from -3 to perhaps +10 degrees in some areas.
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That said, most homes in the interior have boilers and furnaces that run on heating fuel. While a furnace pushes heated air throughout the house, to heat the water for showers, sinks, dishwasher, and the clothes washer you have to have an electric water heater year round. Electricity is quite expensive, however.

A lot of homes with boilers instead of furnaces have base-board heaters. The boiler heats the water needed for the heaters to keep you warm. A lot of homes are set-up with a 50-gal. electric heater that's used as a water reservoir during the winter (disconnected from the electric power). Since the boiler comes on to heat the house, it can also be used to heat the water in the water heater. Then during the summer months when you don't need the boiler to heat the home, depending on how expensive the electricity is, one can isolate the water heater from the boiler, and connect it to the electricity.

At my home I don't isolate the water heater from the boiler, so the boiler heats the water without heating the home: the thermostats throughout the house are turned off. I do this because in many instances when the hot water in the boiler's tanks gets cold, it causes the seals to leak, and also because using electricity to heat the water is almost as expensive.

[Kaul]

I am fine with electric heaters. I don't have kids, and we are fine with the house being frozen, in the 30s and below. I only turn on the heater before going to bed. In the summer, the thermostat is always kept at 60, sometimes lower. Therefore, I am more concerned with the cost of electricity usage in the summer than in the winter months.

[1stimestar]

Originally Posted by Kaul

I am fine with electric heaters. I don't have kids, and we are fine with the house being frozen, in the 30s and below. I only turn on the heater before going to bed. In the summer, the thermostat is always kept at 60, sometimes lower. Therefore, I am more concerned with the cost of electricity usage in the summer than in the winter months.

Do you plan on having running water?

[tigre79]

Originally Posted by 1stimestar

Do you plan on having running water?

He may have it running in more places than he wants it to.

[Frostnip]

Originally Posted by Kaul

I am fine with electric heaters. I don't have kids, and we are fine with the house being frozen, in the 30s and below. I only turn on the heater before going to bed. In the summer, the thermostat is always kept at 60, sometimes lower. Therefore, I am more concerned with the cost of electricity usage in the summer than in the winter months.

Haha, good plan.

[Frostnip]

I live in a small one-room cabin and have a 300 gallon heating oil tank with a Toyo and a oil-fired water heater. I need two fill-ups a year, generally speaking. So I guess about $2,400 a year? Or a little less since it's not totally empty upon filling.

I keep the house at 50 when I'm not home (got indoor plumbing, so can't go much lower) and usually about 60 when I am. Sometimes higher when I have guests. I usually need the heater active from October to May or so, although of course it fires less often toward the beginning and end of that. Chilly days in summer I usually just put more clothes on rather than plugging in the Toyo, since there's no risk of pipes freezing.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Kaul

I am fine with electric heaters. I don't have kids, and we are fine with the house being frozen, in the 30s and below. I only turn on the heater before going to bed. In the summer, the thermostat is always kept at 60, sometimes lower. Therefore, I am more concerned with the cost of electricity usage in the summer than in the winter months.

I can assume that you use a wood stove for heat? I just don't understand what you are trying to say, because most very small heaters use over 1,500 watts to run at a low setting. In fact a hair dryer (blower) uses around 1,500 watts of electricity. If you turn the heater on for over 8 hours, plus the car plugged in outside using nearly as much power, by the end of one month you have already used a lot of power.

[IL2AK4job]

Yea even here in IL water lines freeze commonly... i cant imagine not having heating in -50 haha

[ncgirlinak]

Hi everyone! Haven't posted for a while due to job hunting. Thanks for positive responses! Ship Of Fools 42, don't give up on your dream of coming here! We did 2 yrs. of research before we made move. We're outside of Fairbanks (in the hills) & there is a mama & calf that walk through the yard a few times a month to feed. Have lots of snow here already (this is from an NC point of view). The roads are kept clear (they use gravel (?) instead of salt?). Originally from Wilmington, so you know how hot/humid it is there. Did find a part-time job-took a little less than a month. No doubt different world. Fallen in snow many times, dog went after mama & baby moose (think she respects moose now!!), slide at all intersections taking off, and my hands/feet probably won't thaw out until the spring! I do miss the shopping, longer daylight, but I wouldn't trade it. As soon as I leave my house & start driving down the road, I see what I like to call the 'crystal forest' (snow/ice covered birches/evergreen) it takes my breath away! It's beautiful, snowy & cold! Paradise!!