well this winter is kicking our but on heat bills. BESIDES WOOD, what do you use for a secondary heat source to cut cost? Basically if you have a heat pump do you have a "amish" plug in heater or mainly Gas logs and used electric space heater? Again I can't do wood heat in our house..
I been doing heating and airconditioning for 30 some odd years. Any thing electric and you might as well let the secondary heat strips on your heatpump run. Unvented gas logs are efficent when the temp gets to cold to make a heatpump ineffective. Make sure you use unvented so your not paying for heat going up the stack. If you have the money to change your system out go with a piggyback system that is a combination heatpump/gas system with a thermostat that senses the outside temp and runs the gas when the temp drops below 32 deg. or so. at which point the gas is cheaper to run than the heatpump with supplemental heat.
I have gas heat but just bought one of the amish style plug in heaters to try and help on the gas bill, man january was a brute.
:groundhog: Come on spring is just around the corner, I hope. ;D
Alot of folks up here have the EdenPure heaters.. Its funny cuz the add says "pennies a day" Everyone I know that owns one says yeah a whole crap load of pennies.. All electric heaters are not cheap
I live in Florida. If I want heat, I just open the windows!!! :z-guntootsmiley:
What the heck is a heat pump? I looked it up and it said it uses a small amount of energy to move warm air from one place to another? Well where in the heck are you getting the warm air, does it generate its own heat?
Rutn, I just tried that here in my office.............it didn't work!
(http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6158/img0801c.jpg)
Quote from: shootumindaface on February 10, 2011, 01:40:43 PM
What the heck is a heat pump? I looked it up and it said it uses a small amount of energy to move warm air from one place to another? Well where in the heck are you getting the warm air, does it generate its own heat?
LOL! Not many heat pumps around these parts. :)
A heat pump is an airconditioner in reverse. Theoretically there is heat in the air down to -360 deg. which is called absolute 0. Refrigerant picks up the heat in the air outside and transfers it to the indoor coil where the blower distributes the warm air.
Quote from: cahaba on February 10, 2011, 02:08:14 PM
A heat pump is an airconditioner in reverse. Theoretically there is heat in the air down to -360 deg. which is called absolute 0. Refrigerant picks up the heat in the air outside and transfers it to the indoor coil where the blower distributes the warm air.
Thanks and as Stinky said never here much about them up this way
Yea they aren't to popular above the Mason Dixon. They are mostly efficent above 32 deg.
Just put on an extra set of long underware my friend :whip2: :fire: :whip2:
Quote from: hobbes on February 10, 2011, 01:47:11 PM
Rutn, I just tried that here in my office.............it didn't work!
(http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6158/img0801c.jpg)
:lol: ;D :TooFunny:
Quote from: drum817 on February 10, 2011, 02:31:42 PM
Just put on an extra set of long underware my friend :whip2: :fire: :whip2:
That ain't working. I even got a hooded sweatshirt on. Just came from shootin' the bull with my gunsmith because it was just toooooo coooold to run the hounds. I've been drivin' the little women crazy with a homemade wingbone call. I'm starting to build some confidence in it and I think it will get some action this May. I wish I had a fireplace! 12 degrees with a WC of -2 at 2pm.
CB
If you have land you can install a geothermal heat pump. Basically you bury a heck of a lot of pipe in your yard and pump water and antifreeze through it. That picks up the heat from the ground. They can be used up north.
Quote from: West Augusta on February 10, 2011, 02:44:46 PM
If you have land you can install a geothermal heat pump. Basically you bury a heck of a lot of pipe in your yard and pump water and antifreeze through it. That picks up the heat from the ground. They can be used up north.
+1 And depending on your soil type, they can drill some pretty deep wells (300+ feet) and bury the pipe vertically if you have a small lot. They're expensive, but they supposedly save money in the long run.
Go to Lowes and get you one or two of those oil filled radiator heaters for about $40 dollars each. Just plug them into a wall outlet, adjust the thermostat to the desired temp and in a little while you'll have heat.
De'Longhi Oil Filled Radiator
Item #: 35277 Model #: TRH0715L
$39.98
i have a oil furnce but it has not been run for 3 years. i bought a Woodstock soapstone wood stove from New England. keeps the intire house 80+ degrees all winter. i cut all our wood on my hunting lease. so for $300.00 i have a place to hunt and all the wood i can cut
Our old house had a gas furnace, a wood fire place and electric baseboard heaters. It was still cold in that old place until we blew another foot of insulation in the attic.
Our new house is never cold, not even on those -30 degree nights. We have about the most up to date system we could afford. The only thing we don't have is geothermal, because the DNR wouldn't let us sink the coils in the ponds. We have a heat pump sitting on top of a gas furnace with an Off-peak electric duct heater for the main system. Two Off-peak electric boilers that run the in floor heat, one down in my shop, and one for the basement and garage. In floor electric coils in the tile bathroom floors, and a pair of gas fireplaces. It's all run from a motherboard in the basement. Might be a little overkill but when you have the heat on for 6+ months out of the year its nice to be prepaired.
CW
I rub my wife's leg. No wait...that hasn't worked either! :z-guntootsmiley:
Turn the thermostat up the bill is what it is.. what you going to do about it don't make much sense to pay a few hundred dollars to try and save a few cents a day.
I have a york heat pump thats 15 years old and it sucks when the temp gets around 20 degrees.I have the old style, condenser and compressor is outside while i have a air handler inside in a closet that has a set of (A)coils and a blower.I also have a ventless gas wall heater that i bought 15000 btu its a floor model has a stand to sit on and i just hook it to a propane bottle but i havent run it this year .It was -2 this morning thought about hooking it up tonight but its suppose to be 60 this weekend.Goodole kentucky weather.
Quote from: OLE RASPY on February 10, 2011, 05:57:38 PM
I have a york heat pump thats 15 years old and it sucks when the temp gets around 20 degrees.I have the old style, condenser and compressor is outside while i have a air handler inside in a closet that has a set of (A)coils and a blower.I also have a ventless gas wall heater that i bought 15000 btu its a floor model has a stand to sit on and i just hook it to a propane bottle but i havent run it this year .It was -2 this morning thought about hooking it up tonight but its suppose to be 60 this weekend.Goodole kentucky weather.
Shoot me a pm when your ready for replacement :icon_thumright:I can get you into a bryant system.
Dang Hobbes, I had to get me a sweatshirt on after that pic.
Rick
Quote from: OLE RASPY on February 10, 2011, 05:57:38 PM
I have a york heat pump thats 15 years old and it sucks when the temp gets around 20 degrees.I have the old style, condenser and compressor is outside while i have a air handler inside in a closet that has a set of (A)coils and a blower.I also have a ventless gas wall heater that i bought 15000 btu its a floor model has a stand to sit on and i just hook it to a propane bottle but i havent run it this year .It was -2 this morning thought about hooking it up tonight but its suppose to be 60 this weekend.Goodole kentucky weather.
That sounds about what I have. I do have an emergecy heat on the airhandler, so when it gets down to 15 or so I just kick off the heatpump and click on the other. If I ever build a house, I wont put another heatpump in.
I use a 3 burner infrared Vanguard heater on bottle gas, I get my propane somewhat reasonable since I work for a gas company, only use it when I am home, I'll come in at night, turned it on till it gets 85 degrees in here then turn it off when I go to bed. My kight bill use to run about $60 a month in the winter but here lately the power co is hitting us hard,, my light bill has gone up to $90 a month, thier beating us to death, I don't know how folks pay them $400 light bills.
A buddy of mine swears by the cornburner. He has a cornburner for his main furnace. I've been looking into a Harmon stove for anthroodite coal. I can store the coal out side. I can burn it wet. The mice dont get into it like wood. I dont have to work to cut wood. It burns like 98 % and is good hot heat. The stove doesnt get hot on the outside. I can run it into my duct work. A lot of pluses compared to wood, and coal is just a little over 200 bucks a ton. I know some others that have these stoves and they have never used over 3 ton in a winter. That IS their primary heat. Thats the the way I'm heading.