Heat

[SmallTown]

I remember a thread on here recently discussing different types of heat people have in their homes. I have always had heatpumps and felt they were just too cold since they put out air at the temperature you set it, which is generally a lot less than your body temp so it feels cold coming out.

People mentioned gas heat and oil, but seems most newer homes no longer use oil heat. Why is that? Does it cost more? Seems like gas heat is relatively inexpensive, however.

Any info would be appreciated!

 

[John Z]

Good question, ST. My house, which is 40 years old, has electric baseboard heaters and a heat pump. I grew up in Ohio, which is colder in the winter than here, and we had a heat pump. I've never lived in a house with oil heat, but I have had gas heat. I think gas used to be pretty cheap, but nowadays, I'm not sure which fuel source is cheapest. I always perceived (unfairly, I'm sure) as oil heat as a sort of old-fashioned heating system. Can you put your oil tank underground, or are they always unattractively sitting next to the house above ground?

Anyway, to summarize, I don't know which is cheapest around here....:shrug:

 

[JabbaJawz]

You can put an oil tank underground. I'm getting oil in my new house, and it cost us 5K more than it would have if I'd gone with the crappy heat pump. But it keeps ya WARM and COZY!

 

[SmallTown]

I know its hard to judge, but how much will it cost in oil to heat the house the entire winter? Did they give you any amounts? Do you normally get the tanks filled every winter or does it last longer than that?

 

[Old Dog]

We put geothermal heat pump in the new house. The house is on a bluff with no trees. It's 2500+ sq ft with a full basement. We're not living there yet so there's no lights and no appliances.

We set the thermostat at 65 in winter and 75 in summer. It felt fine with really decent bills the whole time (not sure exact numbers, want to say $40 for November but am thinking I'm confused and it must have been $60). We have a blip this winter because the filters were quite dirty so it definitely pays to do that bit of preventative maintenace.

It's quiet and there's no outside unit although the inside unit is rather big (but don't know if it's bigger than a standard forced air system). Course I don't live in it yet, but there don't seem to be any cold spots or warm spots. When you're sitting down it's fine. Now if your face is up near the ceiling, like when you're painting it, then it's a bit warm.

I don't know how the installed price compares to a standard system as I've never had a standard system installed. The price to put this system in, including putting in the geothermal wells, was just over $20K.

(If you really want to know the bills I can double-check.)

Take care,
Melody

 

[Old Dog]

I should have added that the house has 6 inch walls with tons of insulation.

Just doublechecked and the november bill was $38. Keep in mind that's only the heating system. The december bill was much, much bigger but the Tri-County guys were out and said it was because of the very dirty filters. Can't wait till the next bill comes out to make sure of that.

Our wells were dug about 20 feet from the house. Don't know what other requirements there would be if you lived close to another house, which we won't... just farmers' fields all around. For that size house there are 5 wells, 200 ft deep. The wells are warranted for 50 years.

We figure this is the house we'll spend the next 50 years of our lives in so it made sense.

Take care,
Melody

 

[JabbaJawz]

Originally posted by bluto
I know two people with two stories and oil heat, they fill 'em twice per winter.

Yep, that's about what they told us. The price of oil and size of your tak depends on how much each time.

 

[Old Dog]

Originally posted by cariblue
Melody, who supplies your geothermal heat? And, is your water heater on the same system?

Got the geothermal thru Tri-County Aire. They did a fine job. They have Winslow Pump and Well do the wells (so we had them do our water well too - now we just have to figure out how to disguise the white pipe sticking up out of the front yard... guess that's what people have lighthouses and wooden decorative wells for).

We don't have the water heater hooked up yet but I think the plan is to have it assisted by the geothermal.

In theory one can also have geothermal assist in the heating of a swimming pool too.

Help me remember to let you know what the bill is for January once it comes in. It was way high for December and the company says that was an anomaly caused by the dirty filters.

Take care,
Melody

 

[itsbob]

Had a house in NH with Oil Heat. Bought two storage tanks and had them installed in my basement. I could make it through a winter without having to refill, and the secret to saving HUGE money is to refill the tanks in July or August. I could keep my house VERY warm and not worry about heating bills at the end of the month.. Difference between 550 gallons of oil in Jul at say 60 - 70 cents a gallon compared to winter prices $1 - ??

 

[willie]

There is a huge difference in performance in oil and gas burners in about the last 10 years. I've got 2500 sq. ft. and usually get about 200 gallons of oil per year. This year will be more. I've two rental homes with new propane gas furnaces that are so efficient they don't need a traditional chimney, just 4" PVC out the wall. The three houses are about the same size and yearly heating costs are close to each other. Installation costs were slightly more for the oil (around $2400 furnace & tank only)) but that was probably because the gas tanks are rental. All three are split systems with heat pump as the primary heat. The oil or gas is so comfortable that the heat pumps are adjusted to only operate above 50*. Oil is more maintenance but I personally prefer it to gas as I think it is safer.

 

[Oz]

If I ever have a choice again, I'd have oil heat as well... I don't have complaints about my heat pump, because the house stays comfortable for a reasonable cost, but oil heat is warmer.

 

[pilot]

I have a heat pump, and I think it works fine. But I'd like to qualify by saying that 1) it's an extremely large, industrial-sized heat pump, and 2) our house has phenomenal insulation. If your house is older and doesn't have good insulation, a heat pump might not be the most efficient option.

There are a few days (about a week total on average), when it gets well below freezing that it seems to struggle a bit. But it's adequate, and like I said, it's only a few days out of the year that it gets that cold.

To me, the biggest advantage of the heat pump is that it makes a cheap air conditioner in the summer.

 

[Oz]

When it gets below freezing, my heat pump runs basically all day long. I recently installed a new programmable "intelligent" thermostat which prevents the electric backup from kicking in so much. It was worth every penny. When the heat pump runs, and the electric backup doesn't, it saves me money.

Ditto on Pilot as my home is an 8 year old SMECO energy saver home with plenty of insulation and an adequately sized efficient heat pump with a high SEER rating.

 

[bbubblyb]

I think a big part of heating is the house insulation and windows. I have oil in my house (which has old windows and not good insulation) and we use a lot of oil through the winter. Last year ran us about $750 for the season and I'm guessing this year will run us about $1000 ($1.30 a gal). We also have a small cottage which uses gas heat which runs us about $150 a month at ($1.75 a gal). I think from what I have read if your in an area with natural gas it isn't that expensive. As for what I would go for in a newer house I'm not sure. Both oil and gas seem to warm very well but for the expense I don't know that it's worth it. I guess I will just make sure my next house has good windows and is insulated well so that no matter what kind of heat I use it won't cost me a fortune.

Oh a little moaning about propane, all the companies charge per gal depending on what your using it for which is just crazy. So say you have a gas water heater and stove (which we do) then they would charge you $2.3 a gal whereas if you were using it to heat your home you would only be charged $1.75 for the same amount. Then it goes by how much gas you get too like if you were to get 75 gals it could actually be less expensive than if you just got 50 gals. It should be one price all the time no matter what. Just my two cents.

Dawn

 

[pilot]

I just got my electric bill for January, and it was $186--about twice what it is in summer, when the heat pump acts as an air conditioner. So, for the coldest month out of the year, I'm paying roughly $100 extra. So say the really cold weather here lasts 3 months, that's $300 for heating TOPS.

 

[alex]

Our house is small - 1200 sq. ft. - 2 stories, built in the 1930's. We use a forced air oil heat system (elec water heater) it is fine. We have relatively new windows (6 yrs old) but poor insulation. I pay about $350.00 a year and we keep the house about 68-70 in the winter. It will probably be less this year since I am on an even monthly plan and I always pay about $10-20 more a month to have a buffer in case oil prices go up unexpectedly.

The thing about natural gas is that a few years ago there were some problems with delivery and if you were on the end of the delivery line you get shut off first. Guess where St. Mary's is???

 

[watercolor]

Originally posted by SmallTown
but seems most newer homes no longer use oil heat. Why is that? Does it cost more? Seems like gas heat is relatively inexpensive, however.

Majority of the time..that we dont put oil in our homes, is because it is more expensive with the HVAC crew. They charge a buttload to install..not to mention alot of people dont want to have the hassle of calling it in. Not that they could just put them-selves on call...as if that is that hard But...anyway...to answer your question...its just easier and cheaper with electric.

From our end anyway........

 

[watercolor]

Originally posted by cariblue
I love geothermal heat. It's the best. Wish I had it here.

Oh I know! That is a new thing here with us where I work