Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
70 degrees? How about trying 63 when you are sleeping or not home and 67 when you are in the home and awake. Get a programmable thermostat. That will help.
Many folks (especially older ones) like temps in the low 70s during the day. You can cozy up under an electric blanket at night but electric rates from Eversource Energy have gone way up thanks to the wackos in Vermont who forced the premature abandonment of the Vermont Yankee power plant.
OP, how old is your house? Older homes can have a lot of heat loss and it's expensive to heat the great outdoors. Get an energy audit and look at your insulation, windows, door seals, etc.
How old is your furnace? Older ones aren't energy efficient and it may save you money in the long run to replace it with a more efficient system.
Did you review the previous owner's propane bills before you bought the house? Has this historically been the propane usage there? Have you compared propane prices from the dealers in your area?
You've got a big house with potential heat losses and/or inefficient heating, an expensive fuel type, no supplemental heat source, in an average winter, and with comfortable room temps. Decide what issue you want to attack. For comparison, I have a 1800 sq ft, well-insulated and well-weatherproofed home, with oil heat, and thermostat set at 71 during the day and 66 at night, and I pay <$1500/year for heat and hot water without messing with a wood stove.
Also have someone come out to inspect your furnace/boiler. It may need a cleaning (should do once a year) or other maintenance that could improve efficiency.
Moved to NH in November, this being the first house I've had with propane heat. Here it is Jan 31 and I've already spent over $3000 on propane! 3200 sqft house with thermostat set at 70F. Is this normal? What are your bills like?
Did you ask the landlord how much heating costs were for three previous 3 years?
That doesn't sound normal unless you have an older poorly insulated house with drafty windows. For comparison, our propane cost averages about $3k for an entire year on a 4100 sq ft house with high ceilings and floor to ceiling glass in the living spaces. Granted this is in CT, but the overall temp differences are not that great (about 7 deg F).
If you set the temperature too low on a sub zero night, and you have forced hot water, you could be looking at frozen radiator pipes in the morning especially if its windy.
Spend $200 on a home energy audit. They will look at your house with a thermal camera, put a fan on your door and find out where the house is leaking air and more.
Seems like it would pay for itself very quickly in your case.
Thanks everyone for your input. Our house is 17 years old, so I would think it would be energy efficient, but maybe I will have an energy audit done. We are paying around $3.00 per gallon for propane. Sounds like many folks are paying significantly less. We do have zoned heating, but haven't been adjusting the thermostat. I could turn the non-bedroom areas down at night, but for the areas we are using I don't want to go below 70 - I'm always cold as it is.
Thanks everyone for your input. Our house is 17 years old, so I would think it would be energy efficient, but maybe I will have an energy audit done. We are paying around $3.00 per gallon for propane. Sounds like many folks are paying significantly less. We do have zoned heating, but haven't been adjusting the thermostat. I could turn the non-bedroom areas down at night, but for the areas we are using I don't want to go below 70 - I'm always cold as it is.
A 17 year old house shouldn't be all that bad. To be honest, we have found with a larger house changing the temp daily doesn't make all that much of a difference in fuel consumption, unless you are only increasing it for a few hours in the evenings. If you at home during the day and increasing the temp in the morning and then cooling it down late in the evening, the fuel saved during those few hours at night is pretty much lost when you are trying to heat up a large mass every morning.
That price does seem high, do you pre-order or is this the current market price? Also, does that price include "tank rental" or do you own the tank? I own my tank (500 gal. buried in the yard) and typically order 1500 gal. in the fall when the demand and price is lower (last few years I paid $1.79/gal. in CT). Based on what others have posted on this forum it appears NH prices are typically slightly less. Good luck.
Get a programmable thermostat and set it up to go down at night. We use 66 during the day and 58 at night.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
