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Our family will be relocating to RI in the fall. We currently reside in Hawaii and are trying to get a ballpark cost for the varying heating methods. We hope to land in the Middletown/Portsmouth areas and are looking at 3/4 bdrm homes from 1500-2K square feet. From what I understand, the least expensive method is gas, while oil is the most expensive. I'm wondering how much of a discrepancy there is between the three? Enough to make that a major consideration in our home search? Anyone willing to share approximate costs from personal experience? Additionally, is there a major difference in heat output between a fireplace and a wood stove?
I would definetly take having natural gas over oil as a strong consideration for making your decision. If you happen to fall in love with a home that has oil, and want to convert to natural gas, make sure it is available in that neighborhood.
It's difficult to say how much your heating bill will be because it depends on many different factors besides square footage. You need to take into consideration whether the house is adequately insulated. Look at the roof/attic. Look at the windows. How about the doors? What about wall sockets? All these will lead to heat loss. Lots of houses in Rhode Island are older and not really up to modern construction standards. You'll get the charming old construction but you'll pay for it in utilities. It also depends on what kind of heating system is utilized in the house.
Generally speaking though I'd take a gas heated house over electric and definitely over oil. Oil is about...what ...$3.70 a gallon or something right now? That's not cheap and yes, you should definitely take that into consideration, too.
Now, concerning fireplaces and woodstoves...a fireplace is not really the best way to keep warm. They throw a lot of heat when they're going but they suck warmth out of the room once the fire is dying down. If you have a way to keep a fire going for long periods of time it would be alright but that's probably not an option.
The woodstove will be a better idea and will throw more heat on top of being easier to maintain.
Well, there are two units in my building. One heats with oil, the other with gas. Just for the winter, the unit with oil paid about $1500, while the unit with gas for heating, cooking and hot water paid $750 for the entire year. Both are one person occupancies.
Average electric bill of of 500 kwh/month about $80.
We have a soapstone woodstove which is excellent at conserving and radiating heat, and we even grill in it; as mentioned a fireplace is only pretty to look at.
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