How do you heat your homes in the winter? (Salem: houses, heat pump)

[jenergee777]

I'm in the desert Southwest and we typically use natural gas to heat our homes on the few days of the year when the temps dip below 40. What type of fuel do Oregonians typically use? (Considering a move to OR.)

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by jenergee777

I'm in the desert Southwest and we typically use natural gas to heat our homes on the few days of the year when the temps dip below 40. What type of fuel do Oregonians typically use? (Considering a move to OR.)

Depends on the area and the house! Electric, natural gas, wood, a combination, even geothermal. Start looking at realty listings. The heat source is usually listed.

[Silverfall]

Most homes are either natural gas furnace, or an electric heat pump in the Salem area, but we don't get the cold that they do in central and eastern Oregon since that is high desert out there.

[texasdiver]

Most newish construction in the past 20 years in urban areas will be gas furnaces integrated into HVAC systems or electric as Silverfall mentioned. We have natural gas in a suburban home built in 2004 by DR Horton. Old homes and those constructed in rural areas without natural gas service can be anything from electric baseboard to oil furnaces to wood stoves to any manner of eclectic options.

[E-Twist]

Many years ago when I lived in the city I had natural gas. Living in the country I have a furnace that runs on propane. I also have a wood burning stove. My nearest neighbors have electric heat and wood burning stoves.

[StealthRabbit]

Rural or urban?

PNW friends who retired to desert SW in VERY rural area have NG due to pivot sprinklers in their basin.

OR would only rarely have NG available to rural homes. AFAIK, ALL NG is imported to PNW (it's very strategic for regions to figure out a better way (locally produced) than importing energy..., While living in CO, many areas had regional NG wells, and my company drilled their own after the 1973 fuel embargo.

Some areas of OR have solar potential, some have geothermal (as in hot steam from Earth, not some salesman claiming a Ground Source Heat pump = Geothermal...)

Traditionally... wood is a very plentiful auxiliary heat source in most of rural OR. It has been our primary heat source for over 50 yrs. All homes I build, I have a basement, or earth sheltered = very low heat or cooling requirement.

I vote a Pendleton Woolen blanket and wool socks are the typical Oregonian's auxiliary heat source of choice.

[Thom52]

Bend Oregon
Forced Air, Natural Gas, with AC incorporated for summers.

My upscale sister has that plus a humidifier for her families home in the same town.

[Cloudy Dayz]

100% electric on the Oregon Coast. Supposedly there are natural gas lines around here, but I don't know where they are and I have never seen even one gas meter anywhere.

This is the first place I have lived where I had an electric water heater. The positive, I like that I don't have to worry about the possibility of the building blowing up in a gas explosion. The negative, taking a shower is pretty expensive.

[ejisme]

A lot depends are where in Oregon you will be living, and if you are looking at a newer home (new construction to past 30 years or so), or if you are looking at older homes beyond 30 years old. Most newer homes in a town/city/suburb will have standard natural gas/whole home HVAC systems, some may have a whole home electric heat pump. Both work well generally west of the Cascades. East of the Cascades the heat pump generally won't work as well, and probably won't be in the houses you'd buy. If it's an older home you look at it could be any combo of electric, gas, wood, oil, etc. Each older house will likely have a pretty unique setup.