2016 Dec & 2017 Jan Heating Bill (Bryan: house, water heater, inspection)

[place]

I am trying to assess if my home has adequate insulation based on the gas bill.

We heat the home @ 68-70 and the home is occupied all day.
Home size is 1700 Sqft , Heated by Natural gas with Bryant furnace 80% AFUE
Water is also heated by Natural gas. Cook range is electric.

Dec 2016 Bill is 170
Jan 2016 Bill is 163

Please share details and opinion on my home insulation

[Jbeechuk]

My home is also 1700 sq. ft., built in 2010, so pretty new with excellent insulation. We keep it 67 when we are at home, 64 when we are at work during the week. We have a Bryant gas 93% efficient furnace, but electric water heater. We have a gas fireplace we use for at least 3 hours every night in winter.

Dec 2016 Bill was $67
Jan 2016 Bill was $76

Now, you keep your house a few degrees warmer, and have a gas water heater. Still, this has been a mild winter. Only a few real cold weeks. I would guess your bill should be $40-$50 cheaper. How old is your home?

[place]

15 years

[FreedomPenguin]

I have a 2500 sq ft home, bilevel. Gas water heater, gas 93% furnace. When I moved in, I added 3k worth if insulation to entire house and insulated the garage as well. They had 1300 dollar rebate on my work from gas company.

66* is my therm setting and last months bill was $75 and this month $78. I also had them air seal the house as well. Blower door test showed a 20% decrease in loss.

Just go up in attic and look at how high insulation is. I had 20 inches blown in of cellulose. My house was built in 1967. The insulation in the house was r8 before I had work done. Now it's r60 insulation value

[Jbeechuk]

An 80% efficient furnace was pretty much builder-grade back then. Probably the original furnace?

These days, 90% efficient and up seem to be the new standard. With all the energy rebates going on recently, you may have some incentive to replace it. You are wasting 20% of the natural gas you use....it never gets used at all.

As FreedomPenguin said, check out your insulation. Your house isn't that old, so your insulation should be ok, but who knows. Check out your attic. When we get snow, does it cover your roof, or is your roof always clear of snow? A poorly insulated attic would mean heat loss and your roof would be warm enough to melt the snow.

[Rosebush1]

As previously stated furnace efficiency is a big key to energy efficiency. 80% furnaces are being replaced by many homeowners. I would also turn the thermostat down a few degrees. I've learned to love a cooler house, especially at night. If the OP has a two story house the heat rises.
We've had a mild winter so far.

[place]

Appreciate all the responses....

Home is a single story, Not stories or basement.

Attic has fiberglass (Pink insulation all around). Home is ducted with Flexduct as there are catherdral ceilings all rooms with different height ranges.

Access is not that easy as there are multiple cathedral ceiling at home.

Before the big ticket furnace replacement thought.. Please share the cost to replace with new 95% AFUE furnaces.

As an initial small fixes , i have weather stripped all windows , caulked baseboards and walls. Surprisingly i have chilly floors.When i took the carpet out i see gaps between Floor slab and base board. I used form backer rods on them and put the carpet back today.

[FreedomPenguin]

The material doesn't mattter. It's the height of insulation. 1 inch? 2? 10? can you see the rafters between insulation? If so you don't have enough. Imho you cannot over do insulation.


Look at your gas company rebates, you could get a massive insulation job for barely anything at all depending on what is available

[place]

No. I could not see rafters to areas visible to me.

I tried to dig the area under insulation. its a layer of some sheet over would and then atleast 5-6 inches of fiberglass insulation.

Like i said already, i could not walk over the entire area because of cathedral ceiling. But i could see the similar insulation in the descending roof areas too.

[FreedomPenguin]

Prob around 20 r rating. Insulation companies come do an inspection for free. I contacted gas co and they told me installers who offer rebates from them. I had 3 quotes for free before I decided to do it

Insulation R Value Chart - ---