Heating Bills!!! (Washington: how much, house, heat pump)

[vitodave]

Here we go! The temp has dropped and the wife is rasing the heat!
I would love to know anyones tricks on conserving heat and Decreasing the bill.Is it possible? Help

Dave

[jongig]

I heat a house, a pond and a driveway and I've done some research and believe the best answer to the future is geothermal. It works for cooling, which is each year more costly, and for heating. The problem I see is that I couldn't find anyone who could drill the bore holes at a reasonable price because the ones doing the job seems to be just drillers and the equipment they use is costly and built more for water well. You need only a simple borehole and they make some really nice small rigs to do this. It's very popular in cold states lime Minnesota and Colorado.

I have been in a couple homes using Geotherm and one person a bit south was 600 a year for heat on a 3,000 SQ FT house. When I heard this I said not possible because the house was being looked at by a friend for purchase but when he looked into it, it was true and it was because of the Geotherm.

john

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Wood stoves and pellet stoves help. Wood stoves are great but their require labor.

[MermanMike]

You are right on about geothermal. This has been my family's business all my life and it results in hands down the lowest energy bills you will see. But, the initial cost is very expensive. My dad always uses well drillers when they do the work. If you know you are going to live in a house for 10 or more years and can afford the up front cost, it seems worth it.

This winter will be the first winter I am spending in my house. Main source is radiant heat in poured concrete floors. Should be pretty efficient but even at best it will be crazy expensive.

I am happy with the thermostat around 65 but everyone thinks I'm nuts. A sweat shirt and a cup of tea within arm's length does the job.

I agree with the wood idea too. It is extra work but especially if you've got the wood on your land already, it's great.

Maybe I will send my propane bills to Washington, DC this year along with my tax return.

[MollyMe]

Here is a TIP my Dad swears buy.

PUT A SWEATER ON!

[poconosmama]

I put that frost king plastic up on all my dad's windows over the weekend as his house has cathedral ceilings and is quite drafty. After an hour the temperature went up 2 degrees on it's own. Small steps but every penny counts!

[pocopc]

I have one of those smart thermostats for my electric heat. Turns heat down to 60 when i'm not home and turns it to 72 when i am home. Also keeps your room a stedy 72 by adjusting the amount of power that goes to the heater, so it isn't turning off, cooling down, turning on warming up etc. To heat 1100 square feet with ONLY electric heat my bill my on average 280 per month last winter. That includes the electric heat and all my other electric i use for the month. FYI durning the summer my bill is on average 130.

They are 60-80 dollars for the thermostat but its well worth it in my opinion. It saves me atleast 40 dollars per month durning the winter.

[Bagldot]

When you say that Geothermal is mad expensive for the upfront costs - can you qualify that? How expensive, lets say, for a 2,000 sq ft house? I've not heard of this, but would be interested in hearing more.

[Summering]

Originally Posted by TheHighHat

Wood stoves and pellet stoves help. Wood stoves are great but their require labor.

Yes, your so right there HiHat.........
We had a Vermont Castings wood stove in New Jersey. As long as the wood was free. We spent nothing on our heat bills. We used just one tank of oil over an entire fall and winter ( 275 tank ) Getting six months out of one filling of the oil tank.
So that was the least expensive. Then if you paid for 3 cords of wood you are probably not saving much. We used about 6 cords one winter.
Lots of lugging, but........Oh such wonderful warm heat.
A pellet stove......which we thought would be less work doesn't save too much, but keeps you wonderfully warm.
The problem is if you add the cost of the pellets, your bill for heating would still be about the same.
They are 40lb bags, heavy, heavy for climbing with up steps.
You use about a bag for every 2 1/2 days. There is much cleaning to be done with it also. The pot inside, the pipe going out ( yes that builds sawdust)......
Also, the side must come off for further cleaning. Or, like us you will blame the brand of pellets........and thats not it!
It is the vented pipe, the inner area..........or the need for a through clean, rather then just the weekly cleaning.
And..........if you don't have the special vacume. That fine dust will fly all over.
For clean, quiet, non lugging...........I'm thinking of getting a gas insert.
Gosh, then I'd about tried them all

[MermanMike]

Bagldot, I'm not an expert like my dad but as I understand it geothermal heat works by pulling the heat that is stored deep in the earth out, concentrating it, and then circulating it through your home. It is expensive up front because you need to essentially drill two wells on your property solely for use with the geothermal heat pump. One pump pulls heat up, and the cold air (or hot air in the summer if you're air conditioning with it) is thrown back into the earth through the other well.

Other than the wells it is a fairly standard set up, so the expense would depend on how much you could get the wells drilled for. Lot's of info available online about it if you're curious. My dad doesn't do residential work but I'd be happy to have him recommend somebody to talk to if you'd like.