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i know it has been a bad winter this season but sence november till now my heat bill, just the gas part has been $500 and this month alone it was 450 with the heat being turned completely off for 3 days for a vacation. i keep the heat at 72 for the kids and the windows all have "bags" tapped over them. the apartment is a 3 bedroom about 1000sqft. i was just wondering if this is exteremly high or if its normal???
i know it has been a bad winter this season but sence november till now my heat bill, just the gas part has been $500 and this month alone it was 450 with the heat being turned completely off for 3 days for a vacation. i keep the heat at 72 for the kids and the windows all have "bags" tapped over them. the apartment is a 3 bedroom about 1000sqft. i was just wondering if this is exteremly high or if its normal???
EXTREMELY high. Granted- 72 is a pretty high standard for heat, imo... but 1000sq.ft. isn't much. We heat almost twice that, with insulation missing out of an entire side of our home, for less than half of that. And we have no film on the windows.
That's a reason, all by itself, to spring more for rent if the heat is included... you know the landlord isn't putting off better insulation and/or windows to save himself money if he's paying for the heat. If he's paying for it, he intends for it to *remain* heated. Oy. I hope that your lease is over before next winter!
That's pretty high. But are you NUTS???? 72 Degrees????? Wow!
We set it at 58 overnight; 64 or 65 during the day. Wear a vest or a sweater if you get cold. Socks, shoes, trousers, shirt and a top layer. Never get sick. Bills are reasonable.
Kids can learn, especially if they are school age. Always take a sweater to school; and NEVER allow them out with the standard issue flip flops in the winter. Boots, hats, gloves, sweaters. So uncool. So warm.
That's pretty high. But are you NUTS???? 72 Degrees????? Wow!
We set it at 58 overnight; 64 or 65 during the day. Wear a vest or a sweater if you get cold. Socks, shoes, trousers, shirt and a top layer. Never get sick. Bills are reasonable.
Kids can learn, especially if they are school age. Always take a sweater to school; and NEVER allow them out with the standard issue flip flops in the winter. Boots, hats, gloves, sweaters. So uncool. So warm.
This.
When it's winter, dress for winter. When it's summer, dress for summer. If you WANT to dress-in-denial, that's between you and your own budget. Think about where the heat is going... do you really need to heat bedrooms besides during bedtime? Shut the vents and close the doors during the day... that's what the levers are there FOR. It lets the room with the thermostat warm up faster and thus, the furnace turns off sooner. If you have an upstairs, hang insulating curtains at the doorway so the heat doesn't rise and allow the heat to escape above the living rooms... and again, the furnace will stop burning gas sooner. If you're not there, why heat it above minimally tolerable for 9+ hours?
You know... some of the things that people have done for thousands of years with the basic knowledge that heat rises and wasting resources for any reason costs money, even if you CAN afford it. :/
kids are 2.5 years and 1 years old..... oh and i work from home
Ahhh- so small children need summer weather, inside, year 'round? I'm really not intending to offend you... maybe you're just one of those people who REALLY need to be warm and there's nothing wrong with that. But those bills are crazy and it's not just from a lack of insulation.
If you can afford that level of heating, GREAT! If you can't, it wouldn't be at all unreasonable to bring the thermostat down... WAY down, even. We tend to prefer the thermostat somewhere between 60-64, depending on how windy it is (again, drafty full wall with no insulation)... but we dress for winter as a start. Winter means pants, socks, shoes/cozy slippers, long-sleeved shirt and sweater. I'm a stay at home mom, homeschool our three children (all 6 and younger), watch a 2 year old during the school year and work at my own, small home business when I have the time [or make it lol]. It's plenty warm enough for all of us.
When I sew, I have fingerless house gloves... not because I actually FEEL cold but because I don't want to heat the entire house to an uncomfortable, dry 70 degrees just for my fingers to loosen up enough to sew quickly. Rheumatoid arthritis runs on my father's side and while cold doesn't cause me pain or discomfort, my knuckles need to be ridiculously warm to function nimbly.
Last edited by proulxfamily; 03-31-2011 at 03:19 PM..
68 would be fine for me but the baby seems to get the shivers if its down to low, i was just speaking with the other tenete in the building and she said she keeps it at 60 and its still around 400 for her
68 would be fine for me but the baby seems to get the shivers if its down to low, i was just speaking with the other tenete in the building and she said she keeps it at 60 and its still around 400 for her
Ugh. That's awful... not much sense in trying to keep it down then, eh? It might as well be $500 and cozy as $400 and extremely uncomfortable.
Really- I hope your lease is over before next winter, so you have some leverage for him to better insulate his property... and move if he refuses. Good luck!
I'd contact National Grid and have them come take a look at your furnace to see if there's anything wrong with it or anything you can do. Or even talk to your LL as well. My elec/gas bills were atrocious for a small 2br apartment and I kept having problems with the furnace. Once NG came out a few times, they finally red-tagged them and it forced my LL to get new ones (there was a slew of other issues besides this). It ended up being cheaper for my LL to buy new furnaces than to fix all the other crap involved. I didn't know there were that many problems with them, I just kept calling NG when my heat went out. So now I have a high-efficiency furnace and my bill has gone down DRASTICALLY! AND I can now keep it warmer in my apt without worries of a huge bill!
Last edited by Becca8377; 03-31-2011 at 05:17 PM..
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Think about where the heat is going... do you really need to heat bedrooms besides during bedtime? Shut the vents and close the doors during the day... that's what the levers are there FOR. It lets the room with the thermostat warm up faster and thus, the furnace turns off sooner. If you have an upstairs, hang insulating curtains at the doorway so the heat doesn't rise and allow the heat to escape above the living rooms... and again, the furnace will stop burning gas sooner. If you're not there, why heat it above minimally tolerable for 9+ hours? 
