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You can save your money if you put on a sweater or
sweatshirt before you turn up the thermostat. Each degree lower than 72 you can
keep the thermostat decreases your fuel bill by about 3 percent.
If you can keep your thermostat no higher than 68 you save,
about 12% compared to keeping your house a toasty 72 degrees. So, if your
heating bill is about $150 a month you can save about $18. That will add up
over the course of a winter.
I have an ugly red plaid wool blend jacket with big pockets
that I wear inside the house during cold weather.
My slim wife often wears a blouse under a sweatshirt with her
green fleece jacket layered over top along with corduroy pants. The top
layer comes off when she is busy with housework. When she takes a break, she
puts the green jacket back on.
I don’t know where the idea came from that all you need is a
tee shirt and jeans when you are at home. Maybe it is OK for summertime but not
in cold weather.
Flannel shirts, wool socks, slipper sox, red flannel long
johns, corduroy trousers, long wool skirts, smoking jackets, vests, housecoats,
cardigan sweaters, wool trousers and many other old fashion warm clothes should
be making a comeback.
Fleece is a great modern substitute for wool for many warm
garments. Fleece is easy to care for and less expensive than wool or flannel. My
wife makes fleece pullover tops with a hood to keep the grandkids warm.
Warm yourself and the
bed to save heating the house at night
Warm flannel or fleece PJ’s and nightgowns will help keep
you warm as you sleep. Layer on the blankets and top it with a quilt to stay
cozy warm while the furnace sleeps too.
It will cost you less to use an electric blanket while
keeping the thermostat low. Keep the bed warm but let the house cool down.
If you have wood floors, keep a throw rug and slippers by
the bedside to avoid frozen toes when you sleep walk.
Having the digital thermostat automatically warm up the
house a half hour or so before you get up in the morning is a money saving
luxury that I like.
We really are comfortable with the thermostat set at 68
during the day and at 62 at night all winter long.
Green folks like reducing the amount of fuel burned to heat
their homes. These days the rest of us are happy just to save some money.
Heat is always
looking for ways to escape from your home during cold winter months. Sealing
doors and windows does help, but there are other ways heat can escape.
In the average
home, fireplaces, air ducts, and plumbing and electrical access are responsible
for over 40% of home heat loss. Sealing gaps and air leaks can result
in significant savings on winter heating bills. They also improve the
comfort of your home. Fireplaces
Your chimney is
an escape route for warm air from your furnace. When your fireplace is not in
use, keep the damper closed to prevent air from going up the chimney.
Check the seal on
the flue damper. Make sure that it is as snug as possible. If your damper is
warped or doesn’t fit tight, a chimney balloon or similar draft stopper will do
the job. Read this article for more on chimney
balloons.
Consider
installing glass fireplace doors to help block the path of heat trying to
escape up the chimney. Fireplace doors also work when you are enjoying a heartwarming
fire.
Air Ducts
Over time, air ducts
develop leaks, holes, and loose joints. Seal all ductwork in areas that you can
reach, such as in basements. Use mastic or metal foil tape to seal the
joints. Insulate ductwork in unheated areas, such as attics and crawlspaces.
Contact a heating and cooling professional if you suspect more serious ductwork
problems. Fixing leaky ductwork saves money during both heating and air
conditioning seasons.
Plumbing and Electrical Access
Gaps around
electrical lines and plumbing and gas pipes entering your house from outdoors
result in significant heat leakage. These passageways are made over size so it
is easy for the installer to do his job.
Look where a
water faucet supplies your garden hose. There may be a gap around the pipe that
needs sealing. Good quality polyurethane caulk is a top choice for this job.
The other place
to look is where wires, pipes and ductwork pass into the attic from heated
areas of your house. Seal these areas in the attic with spray foam insulation.
Caution if there
is a gap around your chimney or other heating vent stack; make sure you use a
high temperature sealing material that is rated for this job. Use the wrong
stuff and it may cause a fire.
Because the sun is putting out less energy than normal, we could be hit with some very big heating bills this winter. But, other factors may save you money.
There are a couple of ways that sun watchers keep track of the amount of energy arriving at planet earth from the sun. One method is to track the number of sunspots. The sunspots are an indicator of how active the sun is.
The more sunspots there are the more energy is being set our way. Currently we are in the pits of a deep solar minimum. The sun has an eleven-year sunspot cycle. Right now, we are experiencing the fewest number of sunspots in about a century.
As of September 20, 2009, there have been 723 days without sunspots during this solar minimum. Typically, that number is more like 485 days without sunspots.
There is some indication that the sun is starting up sun spot production again. But, there is no way for us humans to forecast what will happen with the sun.
The other measure of the energy reaching us from the sun is solar irradiance. Solar irradiance is a measure of the amount of energy radiated from the sun that hits the earth.
The trend of solar irradiance over the last few years is downward. Now, we are at a low in solar irradiance as part of being at the bottom of the sun cycle.
If we were to ignore other factors and focus only on the amount of energy arriving here from the sun, we could expect to experience “Global Cooling.” Maybe a new ice age is starting. Some scientists think so.
Other factors influence our weather too
Fortunately, other factors influence how cold our winter weather will be. The temperature here on the surface of the earth is controlled by:
The amount of energy escaping from the earth’s core (yes the planet earth is still cooling)
The amount of energy arriving from the sun
How much of the energy is held within our atmosphere
Number three gets a lot of attention these days
The amount of volcano activity is one of the factors that influence our climate and weather. They are important, not because of the core heat that they let out, but for holding heat in our atmosphere. The more smoke and ash they spew in to the air the more they block the sunshine. On the other hand, the more green house gases that get erupted into the atmosphere the more heat energy is held inside our atmosphere.Sometimes they balance out.
The volcano factor has been stable during the last few years. Volcanologists predict that there will be some big eruptions at some time in our future, so that my change.
Wildfires are another big influence of weather and climate. Wildfires convert plant material into smoke, ash, water vapor, and carbon dioxide in the air. The wildfires that raged this summer may help keep us warmer this winter. Again, the green house gases and water vapor help hold heat in the atmosphere
Many other factors also influence the climate and weather in North America. Winds from the Pacific Ocean, how far the jet stream wanders south, plankton growth, and insect activity are all involved. Human activity is also on the list.
Global Warming to the Rescue
At the present, we have enough “global warming” from water vapor and green house gases that things are pretty well in balance. By that, I mean that the warming factors are counter balancing the reduced energy from the sun.
The result is we can expect a near “normal” winter. For folks in the part of the country where I live, it will be cold and we will have snow. It is not likely to be a heating budget breaker but snowy and cold enough to call it a real winter.
The 2010 Old Farmer's Almanac says, “The prolonged low level of sunspot and space weather activity in the early stage of Solar Cycle 24 reinforces our belief that we are at the beginning of a period of significant change. Over the coming years gradual cooling of the atmosphere will occur, offset by warming caused by increased green house gasses.”
It never ceases to amaze me how nature works to maintain a balance.
My advice is to ignore global whining and get on with the job of holding heat inside your home to save money on your energy bills this winter.
The best thing to do is to remove window air conditioners
for the heating season. That way you can do a good job of sealing the window to
keep heat in and cold out. But, if you choose to leave that heavy monster in
the window, it will waste money on your heating bill unless you cover it.
Window air conditioners are designed to help ventilate your
house with some outdoor air. The solid parts of the machine housing are made of
metal that transfers heat very well. That means they do a poor job of blocking
the flow of expensive heat out of your home.
Most folks think that air conditioner covers are intended to
protect the outdoor parts of the machine from harsh winter weather. Actually, air
conditioners are made to endure the weather. A cover on the outside of an air
conditioner does look nicer and it keeps the paint from fading over the winter.
The real money savings is blocking the cold wind from
blowing into the house. To do that the outdoor air conditioner cover needs to completely
cover the unit and seal to the house.
I suggest using something like packaging tape to seal all
the edges of the cover to the house. Looks doesn’t count for energy savings.
You want some kind of tape that will seal well but peel off, in the spring,
without damaging the house.
An outdoor AC cover
needs to be a wind barrier only.
Save the insulation for indoors where it can block the
escape of heat. A cover for the indoor part of a window air conditioner needs
to both block air movement and insulate.
Think of an indoor air conditioner cover as a quilt to keep
the warm comfort inside your home. There are store bought indoor air
conditioner covers available to do the job.
You can make your own so it matches the décor of the room.
An ideal indoor AC cover would have these features:
1.Air tight layer facing outdoors to seal the cold
air out
2.Good thermal insulation to slow the escape of
heat
3.A reflective foil layer to reflect heat back
into the room
4.Pleasing appearance in the room
I have seen some foil bubble wrap packaging material
that is intended to protect items in shipment form temperature changes.
They would make a great indoor air conditioner cover with
the addition of decorator fabric on the room side.
To be most effective, an indoor air conditioner cover needs to be sealed
around the edges to complete the weather seal.
One of my loyal readers sent me a question about chimney fire
prevention. She heats her home using a wood burning fireplace stove
insert.
Here are some questions you need to resolve if you are going
to heat with wood this winter:
1.Do you know how to recognize a chimney fire when
it happens?
2.Do you know what to do when you have a chimney
fire?
3.Do you have the materials ready to deal with a
chimney fire?
Chimney Fires can be
prevented
The most important thing you can do is to have your chimney
cleaned and inspected by a certified chimney sweep. The National Chimney Sweep Guild and the Chimney Safety Institute of America are two
sources for locating certified chimney sweeps in the US.
Both of these web sites are excellent places to find
information about chimney safety.
Having your chimney cleaned removes creosote buildup and
keeps the smoke passageway open so your fire can breathe properly.
A full inspection is just as important as the cleaning job.
Chimney damage or plain old wear and tear needs to be discovered and repaired
to make your chimney safe for the heating season.
Prevent Chimney Fires
by burning dry fuel only
Using firewood that is not fully seasoned is the main cause
of creosote buildup inside of chimneys. Creosote inside a chimney is what burns
with a hot fire that damages the chimney and can start a house fire.
·Burn only dry wood that has been seasoned at
least six months.
·A small hot fire is better than a big slow
burning fire for keeping the chimney clean.
·Burning plastic, Christmas trees, cardboard and
other materials can ignite creosote inside the chimney.
What does a chimney
fire look like?
A bad chimney fire will have a big cloud of dense smoke
billowing out of the chimney and have flames or sparks shooting out of the top
of the chimney. Because you are inside the house, you may not see a chimney
fire.
Noise and hot smell are the other two indicators. When you
have a chimney fire, you may hear a loud crackling or popping noise. A bad
chimney fire will make a loud rumbling or roaring noise. It may sound like a
freight train or a jet engine.
Warning: a small
chimney fire can go un-noticed but burn hot enough to damage the chimney. A
damaged chimney can let fire migrate to the house.
What to Do if You
Have a Chimney Fire
If you realize a chimney fire is occurring, follow these
steps:
1. Get everyone out of the house, including yourself
2. Call the fire department. If you can do so without risk to yourself, these
additional steps may help save your home. Remember, however, that homes are
replaceable, lives are not.
3. Put a chimney fire extinguisher into the fireplace or wood stove. Close the
glass doors on the fireplace. Close the inlets on the wood stove. Use a garden
hose to spray down the roof (not the chimney) so the fire won’t spread to the
rest of the structure.
Chimney Fire Extinguisher sticks used to be made that worked
like a railroad flare. You struck it to light it, like a flare. Then you tossed
it into the fireplace or stove.
The chemical smoke from the extinguisher stick would put out
the chimney fire. They have been out of production or a number of years so any
that are available are too old to trust.
If you are heating with wood, you should have a large dry chemical fire extinguisher fully charged and ready to go. Get a bigger
extinguisher than is normally found in homes. One in the ten to twenty pound size range is recommended.
Store the fire extinguisher by the door of your house, not
by the fireplace or wood stove.
When you have a fire, your first action should be to get everyone
out. Then after calling for help evaluate the situation. If you decide you can safely
fight the fire, pick up the extinguisher on your way back in.
With the fire extinguisher by the door, you can get it ready
from a safe distance and then move toward the fire with your back to the escape
route. Discharge the fire extinguisher into the fireplace or wood stove.
Close off the airflow into the fire as best you can and get
outside.
Expect a real mess to clean up after the fire and the dry
chemical extinguisher. When the firefighters get there they will do what needs
to be done, but they will add to the mess. Be sure to thank them.
It is your house and your fire so it is your mess to clean
up. Just be thankful that you still have a house to clean.
Smoke alarms save
lives
Everyone, whether you heat with wood or not, needs to have
several smoke alarms installed and working in your home. If you don’t have them
get them and call you local fire department for free advice on where to install
them. They would rather help you before a fire than during one.
The following products are accepted by the Chimney Safety Institute of America for use in fireplaces and wood stoves.
I am having an ongoing battle with bees that have taken up
residence above our garage door. There is a small gap between the brickwork
facing on our garage and the woodwork above. The mortar between a few of the
bricks has crumbled leaving a bee size passage into the attic above the garage.
We try to keep a wildlife and bird friendly yard by not
using chemicals. So, the bees have been thriving on the clover in the yard as
well as the pollen from our flower garden.
I don’t like poisoning the bees because they are beneficial.
However, my wife is allergic to bee stings so we need to take precautions. She
tells me that they are not bees but yellow jacket hornets.
Late summer is the time of year when hornets, wasps and bees
are looking for winter homes anywhere they can get in out of the weather. I
recommend that you take a slow walk around your home watching for flying hole
hunters. If you take time to observe them at work, insects will show you the
openings that need to be sealed to keep the heat inside your house this winter.
When I locate an opening that they are using as a doorway, I
attack. Well not right away. These flying house hunters all return to their
nest just before dark.
Attack well after
dark
These critters don’t fly at night so they will all be inside
the nest. Night is the safest time to approach the nest. Armed with a ladder,
flashlight and a can of poison free wasp & hornet sparay I climb right up to the opening.
I spray right into the hole to soak the nest. Sometimes I
use a drinking straw to direct the spray inside the opening. Then it is time to
retreat and wash up. I have not been stung in the dark.
The next day it is usually safe to approach the area in the
day light. I seal up the opening with long lasting polyurethane caulk.
These bees refuse to
die
The bees above the garage door are refusing to die. They just
get madder every time I spray in their entrance.
I am guessing that their nest is actually up the wall above
the garage door. Next time I am going to try using a bent copper tube to direct
the spray upward.
If that doesn’t work, I will wait until dark and seal the
openings with polyureathane caulk. Then hope they don’t find a way into our living quarters.
Yesterday I was watching the chipmunks working at full speed
stealing the sunflowers that we put out for the birds. They are getting ready
for winter and we should too.
Many people don’t start on winter preparations until after
Labor Day. I’d rather get the job done early so I don’t waste any football
weekends working around the house.
We need to start fixing the air conditioners in January to
have them in good working shape by hot weather. To be ready for the heating
season we need to start working on it now. The same schedule is true at work
too.
We need to start fixing doors and windows both at home and
at work.
If you are adding insulation to your attic you need to plan
it now and get the materials all lined up so when the weather cools just enough
to work in the attic you can get’er done.
Some folks are better at remembering to winterize their ride
than they are about winterizing their homes.
A little time and effort put in now will save you cash on
your heating bills this winter. Pick one of these projects and get started.
·Add a storm door
·Fix up storm windows
·Caulk around the window frames
·Patch that hole in the wall before the hornets
move in
·Seal cracks in the basement walls
·Add clear plastic dome covers over your basement
window wells.
·Fix or add door sweeps and weather stripping
These low cost “Do It Yourself” projects will pay you back
this heating season.
One of the problems of heating homes with a solid fuel stove
or a fireplace is you end up with one over heated room. Meanwhile the rest of
the house is cold. One solution is to use electric fans to move the warm air
from room to room.
Folks successfully use two different types of fans to do the
job. They are through the wall fans and doorway fans.
Through the Wall Fans
Through the wall fans have an opening on both sides of a
wall with the motor and fan blades inside of the wall.
These become a permanent part of the house and are typically
wired to an easy to reach wall switch. The fan should be located high on the
wall and away from a doorway if possible.
They need to be high on the wall to move the warm air by the
ceiling into the next room. It would be ideal if they could send the warm air
toward the floor in the room that is away from the heat source.
These should be located away from a doorway to slow the
tendency for the warm air to quickly circle back to the room it came from.
Doorway Fans
Doorway fans are portable fans with a cord and plug. You
hang them in the upper corner of a doorway. Being in an upper corner of the doorway,
they are high enough to pull ceiling air from the warm room and push it into
the next room.
They do obstruct the doorway opening somewhat. But, since I
am short, it would not bother me. Some folks think they are an ugly eye sore.
Others think they are a beautiful money saver.
The EntreeAir brand unit is shaped like a one-quarter piece
of a pie and fits nicely into the corner. The Minuteman model F-10 is a 5-inch
square box fan that looks and feels like an efficient little machine.
Yes, some fans make more noise than others do. Generally,
you get what you pay for. The EntréeAir fan is generally available and its
price is the lower of the two. You may find that the Minuteman fans are sold
out during the heating season. That says something about their quality and
value.
Minuteman fans are rated for 25 Watts of power. EntréeAir is
rated for 27 Watts. It is doubtful that they use all that they are rated for. The
estimated cost to run a fan 24 hours a day for a month is about one dollar.
Assuming that you make your own firewood or get a good price
for solid fuel, these fans can pay for themselves in one heating season.
They save you money by reducing the fuel you need to heat
the part of your house that is not near the stove.
Save in the Summer
Too
You might want to use a through wall or doorway fan to share
cool air from a window air conditioner during the heat of summer. For this task,
it should be set your doorway fan at a bottom corner of the doorway, where the
air is the coolest.
Remember the hot days of summer when we all
complained about humidity? The moist air made the heat feel even hotter. You can
apply the same principle in the winter to make your house feel warmer.
When your furnace forces warm air through your home it also
dries out the air. You know you have dry air when static electricity becomes a
problem.
When my wife greets me when I return home from work, her kiss is
delivered with an unintended spark this time of year.
Save Energy and Save
Money with more Moisture
Dry air feels colder than moist air at the same temperature.
When the relative humidity is about 40%, you feel warmer without noticing the
dampness.
Homes with forced air heat often have relative humidity
readings around 20% or less during the winter. That is dry enough to irritate
you nose and throat. frequent nosebleeds are another sign that the air is too
dry.
The colder it is outside the more your house dries out because cold
air hold very little moisture.
When you have enough moisture in the air you can save on
your heating bill by turning the thermostat down a degree or two. With enough
moisture in the air you will feel comfortable at a lower temperature.
How to Boost the
humidity in you home
I have an inexpensive temperature and humidity meter that I
got at a garden supply store when I was trying to grow orchids. Now I use it to
check the relative humidity in our house.
It is very hard to keep the relative humidity up near the
recommended 40%. If you can keep it up close to 30% you are doing a good job.
Here is a list of ideas you can use to keep the moisture up
so you feel warm at a lower temperature.
1.Have more houseplants and keep them well
watered.
2.Plant seeds that you can transplant to your
garden in the spring.
3.It is a good time of year to have tropical fish
or a pet gold fish.
4.Do not use the bathroom vent fan in the cold
weather. Just open the bathroom door and share the moisture with the rest of
the house until the fog clears.
5.Leave some water in the bathtub after you
shower.
6.Hang laundry indoors to dry. Towels and
sweatshirts are the best for this.
Seniors
can be especially susceptible to even slightly colder temperatures, even when
they are indoors. A cool draft of air can be pleasant on a warm day in August,
but that same cooling draft is uncomfortable inside a senior’s home during
winter months.
As we
age, we need to be warmer to stay comfortable. For many older folks it is more
than just a matter of comfort. They need warmth to stay healthy.
To
help reduce the potential for hypothermia the National Institutes of Health
recommends that seniors set their home thermostats for at least 68 to 70
degrees in the winter. For seniors on fixed incomes the energy costs to keep a
home this warm may be too expensive.
Here
is a list of no-cost or low-cost ideas that can increase a senior's comfort in
the home:
No-Cost
Tips
-When
heating a house, you may be able to save energy by reducing the heat in unused
portions of your home. Try creating a "warm room" in areas where you
frequently spend time. Turn down thermostats in closed-off rooms. Remember
during frigid weather to provide enough heat to prevent frozen water pipes.
-Try
out different furniture arrangements to move the furniture you use most away
from drafts. Your favorite chair will seem that much cozier when it is placed
in the warmest spot in a room.
-When
you turn in for the night, pre-heat your bed with a hot water bottle, electric blanket or electric mattress pad. Adding an extra blanket or a quilt will let
you stay warm while your thermostat is turned down for the night.
-Reverse
the rotation on your ceiling fan to push warm air down into the living area.
Many ceiling fans have a reverse switch on them that will push down the warmer
air from the ceiling to help you stay warm. Run it on the slowest speed so you
don’t feel a draft.
-While
many of us think to dress in layers when outside, folks can sometimes forget
that the same idea can make a difference inside too. Wear several layers of
thin clothing that will help insulate your body by trapping warmth in the air
pockets between the layers.
-Remember
wearing warm clothing to bed to maintain body temperature, while you sleep, is
just as important as dressing for the outdoors. It is ok to wear socks to bed.
-Keep
a pair of throw blankets near-by to drape across your lap to help you stay
warm. Throws and shawls made of fleece are particularly useful because they are
not only warm, but also lightweight and less bulky than other fabrics.
-Wear
warm footwear - fleece slippers are a great choice - around the house to help
keep your feet warm. Look for non-skid bottoms to help prevent slips and falls.
-Your
head can also be a significant source of heat loss. Wear a warm comfortable hat
to keep warmer.
-Use
insulated drapes. Close them at night and on cloudy days to reduce heat loss
through windows. Keep curtains open on the south side of the house during the
day to let the warm sunshine in.
-Block
any drafts blowing into your home through mail slots and under doors.
-Close
the damper on your fireplace when not in use. Better yet, use a Chimney Balloon to seal it completely until you need it.
-If
you have an attached garage, keep your garage door closed.
-Vacuum
heat registers to clean them. Check to make sure registers, radiators and cold
air returns are not blocked by furniture or drapes. Air must circulate through
and around them for maximum efficiency.
-Get
involved in activities in heated buildings such as senior centers, libraries,
churches, and adult day programs. You can turn your home thermostat down while
you spend a warm day being active away from home.
-Light
cleaning, walking, playing with a pet dog and other activities can increase
circulation and make you feel warmer without undue strain.
-Hot
meals and beverages can provide both warmth and energy during the cold winter
months. A cup of your favorite hot beverage will even do double duty, warming
the hands as you hold it and the body as you drink it. Hot cider is one of my
favorites. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Extreme Cold Guide
states: "Eating well-balanced meals will help you stay warmer. Do not
drink alcoholic or caffeinated beverages—they cause your body to lose heat more
rapidly. Instead, drink warm, sweet beverages or broth to help maintain your
body temperature. If you have any dietary restrictions, ask your doctor."
-Have
family members or friends been asking you to visit? Schedule trips during
winter months to take advantage of warmer climates. Turn down your thermostat
while you are away. You will get the benefit of a warmer climate while reducing
your energy bill.
Low-Cost
Tips
-Caulking
and weather-stripping doors and windows are low-cost measures that can reduce
drafts and make your home tighter. Seal doors and windows with draft reducing
weather-stripping and door sweeps.
-Strom
windows help to reduce drafts into and out of existing windows, helping to
reduce heating costs. As an alternative, clear plastic sheeting can be taped
over the whole window to provide a layer of insulation without blocking
daylight. Read more about how to do this here EASY ADD ON STORM WINDOWS FROM THE INSIDE
-Make
a draft stopper for your doors and windows. Draft stoppers can be placed at the
base of doors and windows and are easy to make. Sew a fabric tube or use the
sleeve off an old shirt or an old pair of pantyhose and fill it loosely with
popcorn kernels or dried beans. For a no-cost fix, try rolling up a bath towel
then using it on the floor, up against the door to block the draft. Make sure
you are not blocking your exit so you can leave the room quickly in case of an
emergency.
-A
space heater can heat a small area such as a 'warm room'. Just remember to
practice safety when using any portable heater:
Make
sure that your heater has a timer, or unplug it when it is not in use. Plug the
portable heater directly into an outlet. Do not use an extension cord. Only
purchase newer models with safety features
Clear
the area around the heater of any furniture, draperies, paper or other
combustibles. Take care to set the cord up to avoid creating a tripping hazard.
-Heat
from external sources can be helpful in maintaining body warmth. However, if
you use a heating pad for warmth, limit the length of time it is close to your
skin to avoid potential burns and always turn it off if you are sleepy. Some
heating pads come with safety shut-off switches, which will turn off
automatically after a specific length of time. There are also pillows or cozies
that you can heat in the microwave and that provide safe temporary warmth.
-Change
or clean furnace filters according to manufacturer's recommendations. Have a
professional tune your furnace so it runs at maximum efficiency.
Is
Grandma's kitchen cozy and draft free? Do your parents or an elderly friend
have enough wood, propane or heating fuel for the winter?
If a
senior citizen, living independently is part of your circle of family or
friends, consider starting a new tradition! Cold weather is upon us, so pack a
hot lunch and head over the river and through the woods to a senior's home
today. Take some weatherizing materials and your tools with you.
All electric space heaters are about 100% efficient at
changing electricity into heat. The heater elements, in space heaters, are
electrical resistance devices that are all very effective in doing their job.
The fan motors are about 80% efficient at turning the fan
blades. The 20% of energy that is wasted by the fan motor is given off as heat
so it is not lost when we want heat.
Electricity is an
Expensive Energy Source
Electricity is clean and easy to use, but it is not the
lowest cost source of home heat. Heating the whole house with gas, oil or solid
fuels is less expensive.
Safety is important.
Electric space heaters are the only unvented heater that is
safe to use in your home. Un-vented fuel fired heaters have some risk of carbon
monoxide poisoning.
Warning heaters get hot. Like the printed warning on
McDonalds coffee cups, I should not have to say that. Electric heaters do burn
people and start fires if they are used carelessly.
Do not throw stuff on an electric heater. Towels, clothing
and newspapers have to be kept off the heater.
Make sure that your portable space heaters have:
An over temperature switch or thermostat
A tip over safety switch
A competent adult supervisor
Look for a UL label or CE sticker to show that
the design is safe
There must be guard over the heater elements to
keep your Uncle Fester or the kids from getting burned or buy oil filled, mica,
or a slate stone unit that gets warm but not too hot to the touch.
If you put it in the middle of the room, expect
someone to trip over the power cord.
Long Lasting Quality
is Important
A cheap heater that has elements that burn out all too soon
is a waste of money. If you have to buy a new one every other heating season,
you are wasting your money.
If you find one at a garage sale, you need to look it over
carefully and ask yourself two questions; is it safe and how long will it last.
It may be ugly, but if it passes those two questions, it may be a bargain.
All Home use Electric
Space Heaters put out the same amount of heat
Essentially all home use space heaters are made to use up to
1,500 Watts of electric power. So they all put our about 5,000 BTU’s of heat
per hour. All electric space heaters have the same maximum power input so they all
have the same maximum output.
When I say all, I mean the fancy expensive great looking
ones and the old fashion ugly ones all do the same thing period.
They are all made to be used on a standard household 20-amp
circuit.
There are some space heaters made that use less that 1,500 Watts
and they put out proportionally less heat.
If you buy good looks,
know that you are paying Extra
If you buy an electric space heater that looks like a fancy
fireplace, your are paying a lot for the way it looks. It will not work any
better, or put out more heat than an ugly one.
Ignore any advertising claims about one type or brand being
better than another is. All space heaters do the same job pretty much the same
way.
A basic good quality space heater will cost about $20 to $30
or so. If you spend more, you are doing it for looks or style not for better
performance. A better-looking unit may be what you want for your home.
If you plug two space
heaters into the same circuit, you will blow a fuse.
OK, now days you are likely to pop a circuit breaker. I just
like to write, “Blow a fuse.” Electric space heaters use so much power that they
should be alone on a circuit.
If you have a space heater in your bathroom and plug in your
hair drier to the same circuit, you will blow a fuse when you blow your hair.
Same thing anywhere else in the house. If a space heater is
plugged in, you can not have any other big power appliance on at the same time
on the same circuit.
Don’t get mad when the circuit breaker pops or a fuse blows.
When it happens, say a prayer of thanks, because it just prevented a fire from
starting.
You can only use 2 or
3 space heaters in a typical house.
Because of the above fuse-blowing problem, most homes can
not support more than 2 or 3 space heaters. Do not waste your money buying
more.
Yes, you can save
Your Money Heating with one Space Heater
By heating just one room with your portable space heater
and letting the rest of the house stay cooler your total utilities bill will be
lower.
As an example: If your TV is in the living room and that is
where your family gathers you can heat the living room to 70 degrees with a
space heater. Then set the rest of the house at 66 on your main thermostat.
The result is a room that is very comfortable while saving
money on the rest of the house.
If you are a caregiver, the bedroom of an elderly parent or
sick child can be kept warmer than the rest of the house, using one space heater,
and save money.
My wife uses a space heater to warm the bathroom while she
takes her morning shower. That way she stays warm while wearing a wet birthday
suit.
After dressing, she unplugs the space heater and blows her
hair dry. The house stays an energy saving 68, but the bathroom is much warmer
for a short time.
Note: this only works if the main thermostat is NOT in the
room that you are heating with the space heater.
EXCEPTION: If you have a heat pump, do not use a space
heater, or you will pay extra for it.
Electric space heaters
as insurance against high fuel prices
The price of electricity does not jump up like fuel prices
can. If you use Natural Gas, Propane or Heating Oil as your primary heating
energy source there is a price risk.
Storms, wars and politics can cause havoc with fuel prices
as we have all seen in recent years. We cannot predict when the next storm, war
or the fools in government will hit us in the pocket book again.
There may come a time when it is less expensive to heat with
electricity than with fuels.
It the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, when the price of
natural gas went wild, it was actually better to leave the lights on all the
time to heat my work place with the electric power than to burn natural gas.
That day will likely come again. If you have a couple of
electric space heaters ready, you can weather that storm too.
Electric space heaters can save you money this winter. Don't be fooled by a sales pitch, all electric space heaters are 95 to 100% efficient. Buy one that you can afford.Click here for electric space heaters
Which home heating fuel is best for you? Perhaps you should
choose two. One as a primary heat source and one as a power failure and price protection fuel.
The choice of which home heating fuel you should use as your
primary heat source is not as clear-cut as it used to be. You should give some
thought as to whether you should stay with what you have or make a switch to
save money.
You should also have a back up source of heat. Do you have a plan
ready to use when the price of your primary heating fuel spikes upward? Do you
have a back up you can use to keep from freezing during a power failure?
I made
up a list of some of the possible fuels that you could use and checked their
prices. (Prices to vary from one part of the country to another and you can get
volume discounts on some fuels.)
Here is the chart I developed.
The cost per
million BTU heat output is calculated using typical efficiencies and moisture
content for these fuels.
Hard Coal produces the most heat per dollar
Hard coal is hard to find outside of the
coal producing parts of the US. If lots of folks burned coal, it would increase air pollution.Soft coal smokes even more.
If you have a
coal stove, it is a good choice as a power failure back up heat source. There
are a few problems with burning coal.
First, the skills needed to do a good job
of burning coal have long been forgotten in most parts of the country. You need
coal bin to store the fuel and a way of disposing of the clinkers and ash.
Firewood is the second thriftiest
It
takes a lot of work to cut and split firewood so it can dry for a year before
you use it. It also needs storage space that should be covered to keep it dry. Firewood
is said to warm you twice, once when you make it and again when you burn it.
I
priced it based on cut, split and delivered prices for a full cord (4 ft x 4 ft
x 8 ft stacked).
There is risk involved in that using firewood to heat a home
is a major cause of house fires. Your homeowners insurance cost will be higher
if you are burning wood inside your home.
One answer is an outdoor water heater
wood burning furnace that keeps the fire out of the house. The only drawback is
that you need an electric water pump and controls to make it work. It is not a
power failure option. It takes work to feed the fire and dispose of the ashes.
Wood smoke is almost as bad as coal smoke.
Using a wood stove, fireplace insert
or a fireplace with glass doors can work as a power failure heat source.
Natural gas is an all around winner
If
it available where you live, it is a low cost easy to use choice. It is great
for heating, cooking, clothes drying and water heating. Some gas appliances
will operate just fine when there is an electrical power failure so it can be
your back up fuel if you plan for it.
The Blue Flame line of natural gas heaters
are 99% efficient and do not need to be vented. Many models work without
electrical power. Some natural gas fireplaces can be used during a power
failure to provide heat. Check yours and be sure it will work without
electrical power.
Natural gas is the cleanest burning home heating fuel.
Premium Wood Pellets are neater that wood
Wood
pellet fuel is made from sawdust and other wood waste making it a good
renewable fuel. It cost a little more but in some ways, it is better than
firewood. Pellets have a lower moisture content, a high heat value and lower
percentage of ash compared to firewood.
You need a special stove for burning
wood pellets or an iron basket to use them in your fireplace. You need some
available space to store the 40-pound bags of pellets. Wood pellets are a
fairly clean and cost effective way to heat. They work as a power failure fuel
too.
Shelled Corn works just like wood
pellets
The demand for corn to be used for food, cooking oil and ethanol
make it more expensive than wood pellets. Corn makes about twice as much ash as
wood pellets do, otherwise they work the same. They work as a power failure
fuel too. You do need a stove that is designed to burn corn.
Heating Oil, Propane or Heat Pump
If
you don’t have natural gas available, and you don’t want the work or mess of
using solid fuels, you need to choose between Oil, Propane or Electric as your
primary heat source.
If you live where you have mild winters, where low
temperatures stay above 20 degrees F, an air source heat pump is a good choice.
If you live where the lows often dip below 20 degrees F, you need a ground
source (expensive) heat pump, heating oil, or propane.
Heat pumps need a back
up heat source when the weather goes cold. Gas, propane or electric resistance
heaters are the possibilities.
Heating oil and Heat Pumps do not work during an
electric power failure. Heating oil is used only for heat in a forced air
furnace. Some folks consider heating oil safer than natural gas or propane.
Heating
oil and propane both require a storage tank and, all weather, delivery truck
access. Heating oil packs a lot of energy in a small volume so oil storage
tanks are relatively small. A 150-gallon tank full of oil lasts a long time.
Propane,
like natural gas, can be used in several appliances. Propane storage tanks are
big and hard to hide. These big tanks need to be next to the driveway located a
short pipe run from the house. Many propane-fueled appliances do not need
electricity to operate. Propane can be used, in some heaters, during a power
failure.
I grew up in a cold climate house that was heated with heating oil. It
provided good reliable comfort, but I think I would prefer propane because it
will do several jobs and work when the power is off.
Electric Base board or space heaters are a good plan B
Electrical
resistant heaters are normally too expensive to use as your main source of
heat. They use electrical energy at 100% efficiency but that is still too
expensive, unless you use them only to avoid wasting money. I know that that is
a strange statement but read on.
You can save money using an electrical heater
in just one room where you need the heat the most. You save by letting the rest
of the house cool off. If you can, for example, warm up the living room to a
comfortable 70 degrees using an electric heater. While letting the rest of the
house be 65 or cooler, you will save on your total heating bill.
You should
also have a few electric space heaters on hand, in case the price of your
heating oil or propane spikes up making it more expensive than electric. Most
homes will not be able to plug in more than one or two space heaters without
blowing circuit breakers. You can only have one space heater and no other
appliance on each circuit or you will not be able to keep hem running.
Why consider Charcoal?
I have used
charcoal in the fireplace during a power failure. Folks, in some parts of the
world, do use charcoal as their primary cooking and heating fuel.
The price is
based on large bags of briquettes at an end of the season sale. You might get a
better price by buying in bulk. I was surprised that it came in the middle of
the pack in terms of heat value per dollar.
I recommend it only as an outdoor
cooking fuel and as an addition to your power failure firewood supply for use
in a wood stove or fireplace.
Be careful when burning it indoors as it has a
carbon monoxide risk.
The typical U.S.
family spends close to $1,300 a year on their home's utility bills.
Unfortunately, a large portion of that energy is wasted. The amount of energy
wasted just through poorly insulated windows and doors is about as much energy
as we get from the Alaskan pipeline each year.
Electricity generated by fossil
fuels for a single home puts more carbon dioxide into the air than two average
cars. By using a few low cost energy efficient ideas, you can reduce your
energy bills by 10% to 50%. At the same time, you reduce air pollution.
The key
to getting savings is a whole house energy efficiency plan. To take a whole house
approach, view your home as an energy system with separate parts.
For example,
your heating system is not just a furnace. It is a heat-delivery system that
starts at the furnace and delivers heat throughout your home using a network of
ducts.
You may have an efficient furnace, but if the ducts leak and are un-insulated,
and your walls, attic, windows, and doors are un-insulated, your energy bills
will remain high. Taking a whole-house approach to saving energy ensures that
dollars you invest in energy efficiency are wisely spent.
Energy saving
improvements not only makes your home more comfortable, they can yield
long-term money savings. Reduced utility bills, over time, more than make up
for the price of energy efficient improvements. In addition, your home will
likely have a higher resale value.
These tips shows you how easy it is to
reduce your home energy use. They
will save you energy and money. In many cases, they will help the environment
by reducing pollution and conserving our natural resources.
Money Saving Tips
Set your thermostat as low
as is comfortable in the winter. I recommend 68 degrees during the day and
lower at night.
Clean or replace filters on furnaces once a month or as needed.
Clean
warm-air registers, baseboard heaters, and radiators as needed. Make sure
they're not blocked by furniture, carpeting, or drapes.
Bleed trapped air from
hot-water radiators once or twice a season. If in doubt about how to perform
this task, call a professional.
Place heat-resistant radiator reflectors
between exterior walls and the radiators.
Use kitchen, bath, and other
ventilating fans wisely. In just one hour, these fans can pull out a houseful
of warmed air. Turn fans off as soon as they have done the job.
Close an
unoccupied room that is isolated from the rest of the house. An unused corner
bedroom is a good one to close off. Turn down the thermostat or turn off the
heating for that room or zone. However, do not turn the heating off if you heat
your house with a heat pump. Closing the vents could harm the heat pump
On a windy day, hold a lit incense stick next to your
windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets,
ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and other locations where there is a possible
air path to the outside. If the smoke blows in or out from the wall, you have
located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weather-stripping
Caulk
and weather-strip doors and windows that leak air.
Caulk and seal air leaks
where plumbing, ducting, or electrical wiring penetrates through exterior
walls, floors, ceilings, and soffits over cabinets.
Install rubber gaskets
behind outlet and switch plates on exterior and interior walls.
Look for dirty
spots in your attic insulation. They often indicate holes where air leaks into and
out of your house. You can seal the holes by stapling sheets of plastic over
the holes and caulking the edges of the plastic. Or, use a can of spray
insulation foam to fill and seal the gaps.
When the fireplace is not in use,
keep the flue damper tightly closed. A chimney is designed specifically for warm
smoke to escape, so until you close it, warm air escapes—24 hours a day!
New windows should be double-pane windows with
low-e coating on the glass reflect heat back into the room during the winter
months.
Install storm windows over single-pane windows or replace them with
double-pane windows. Storm windows as much as double the R-value of single-pane
windows and they can help reduce drafts. They also can stop water condensation,
and frost formation.
As a less costly and less permanent alternative, you can
use a clear plastic sheet on a frame or tape clear plastic film to the inside
of your window frames during the cold winter months. Leave the bottom edge of
the plastic sheet loose so moisture can get out stopping the window from
fogging.
Storm windows should have weather-stripping at all movable joints.
Repair and weatherize your storm windows, if necessary.
Install tight-fitting,
insulating window shades on windows that feel drafty after weatherizing. Better
yet, make window quilts for your windows.
During the heating season, keep the
draperies and shades on your south-facing windows open during the day to allow
sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill from cold
windows.
Keep windows on the south side of your house clean to maximize solar heat
gain.
Deflect cold winter
winds by planting evergreen trees and shrubs on the north and west sides of
your house.
I’ve been watching the football practice sessions at the
school across the road from our house. It is a big reminder that the seasons
will soon be changing. I enjoy watch those 7 & 8th graders work
out more than I like watching the professionals teams.
It seems to me that city
folk don’t give much thought to winter preparations until after September first.
I would rather get the job done early so I don’t waste any football weekends
working around the house.
Because everything takes longer than we think, we need
to get started on heating season preparation. To be ready for the heating
season means we need to start on our “to do” list now. The same schedule is
true where you work too.
In early season football practice, they work on the
basics of running, blocking and tackling. We need work on the basics of fixing
doors and windows both at home and at work.
If you are adding insulation to
your attic you need to plan it now and get the materials all lined up so when
the weather cools just enough to work in the attic you can get’er done.
A
little time and effort put in now will save you cash on your heating bills this
winter. Add a storm door, fix up storm windows and caulk around the window
frames. Patch that hole before the hornets move in. Seal cracks in the basement
walls.
Take a real good look at the basement windows. Add clear plastic dome coversover basement window wells.
Fix or add door sweeps and weather stripping. Many low cost, “Do It Yourself” projects will pay you back this
heating season.
It is a great time to work outside around the house when it cools off in the evenings.
Maybe you can save enough on your heating bills to
afford a weekend trip to watch your favorite football team play.
Blocking the escape of air that you have already paid to
heat will save on your heating bills. By cutting off the escape of warm air,
you also slow the entry of cold air. Together they result in money saved on
your heating bills.
Any warm air that escapes from your house has to be
replaced. Nature does not like a vacuum, so outside air will get in to replace
the warm air that got away. The replacement wintertime outdoor air is cold. You
need to heat the cold air to keep your home warm. That costs you extra money.
Warm air rises to escape by moving up and
out.
Because warm air works its way upward, blocking it is a top down job. You
need to find and seal off places were air travels up into your attic. Once your
warm air gets to the attic it can easily escape out the end wall vents.
Personally,
I never did like the idea of crawling around in an attic. It is a job that I
would not do at my age. I suggest that you hire a pro to do it for you. Keep
records of what you spend on this work because the folks who help you do your
tax returns may be able to use it to your advantage.
If you choose to do it yourself,
don’t go into your attic until you have the tools and materials needed to do
the job in one trip. You’ll need a good tripod flashlight that you can set down and
aim where the work is.
Other items are gloves, dust mask and cans of spray foam
to seal openings. Plus, you need to have two or three pieces of heavy plywood
cut so it will fit through the opening into the attic.
These are to walk on and
to crawl around on. Smooth the edges to avoid getting splinters in your knees. Remember
you need to get to all parts of the attic without falling through the ceiling.
Pack
it all your tools and supplies in a tool bag.
Are you sure, you want to this yourself?
What
you are looking for is any opening in the ceiling where heated air can escape
into the attic. Look around and notice if there any areas where the insulation
looks dirty. Air rising up into the attic sometimes leaves a tell tale trail of
dust behind.
Lift the insulation at the top of walls and look under it for
openings. When you find an opening, seal it closed with a generous amount of
spray foam insulation.
Carefully look around pipes that run up into the attic.
Seal around the pipes and ductwork. If you find a big opening, you may need
some pieces of wood to reduce the amount of foam you use.
Seal the small holes
where electric wires come through the ceiling. Even these little holes are
costing you money.
You need to be
careful not to create a fire hazard in two areas.
Electric lights that are
recessed into the ceiling need to be exposed to the air in the attic so they do
not trap too much heat. You are not supposed to insulate over them to avoid
overheating. They let air escape into the attic. I do not like recessed lights.
The
other area where extra care is needed is around chimneys or furnace flues.
These need to be sealed with a special fire and heatproof sealant or sheet metal
skirts. If you used ordinary spray foam to seal these hot spots, it could cause
a fire. Keep all insulation well away from them.
Finish the job with more insulation.
XIf you are going to spend the
time up in your attic, you might as well do a first class job of it. Make sure
that you have at least 15 to 20 inches of fiberglass insulation to get the
maximum savings for all your work. For more information on attic insulation visit Owens-Corning.com.
My thanks go out to Kathy S.
for sending me question on the economics of spending some big money on a wood
burning stove. She has been heating her home with Heating Oil and thought she
could save by burning wood instead.
It was a good question
because she sent along some data for me to work with. With the increase in all
oil prices folks are looking at alternatives for next winter.
Using wood, as a home
heating fuel, makes it a little harder calculate the factors involved. I had to
do some engineering estimating with the help of reference books. If the wood is
dry, that is not more than 20% moisture content, can be burned with an
efficiency of about 55% in a stove. I used 20 million BTUs per cord as kind of
an average number for firewood. The harder the wood the higher the heating value.
It typically ranges from 18 to 22.
Kathy said she guessed 5
cords would get her through the winter and she could buy it at $180 per cord.
That is a season cost of $900. Remember that number.
A full cord of wood is 4
feet high 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. Watch out fireplace wood is sometimes
sold as a “Face Cord” that is 4 by 8 by only 2 feet wide. 5 cords is a good big
pile of wood and sounds about right.
5 cords at 20 million BTU’s
per cord means she would actually be putting 55 million BTU’s into the house
because of the low 55% efficiency heating with wood.
I read that the average
price of Heating Oil is $4.22 a gallon. That will vary depending on where you
live and that is last weeks price, I’ll bet it is higher by fall. I am using
$4.25 a gallon as a guess. $4.50 might be closer to reality by fall.
I did the numbers and
calculated that it would take 468 gallons of Heating Oil at 85% efficiency to
put the same amount of heat into the house. 468 gallons of Heating Oil at $4.25
a gallon would cost $2,200 for the season.
Wow, $900 or $2,200. Sounds good for wood.
With a thousand dollars, a
season savings a $2,000 investment in a good quality wood burning system is a
good investment. It would pay back the cost in two heating seasons. Good
quality wood stoves last many seasons.
Electric beat heating oil!
For the fun of it, I also
ran the numbers for electrical heat. To match the heat into the house from 5
cords of wood you would have to buy $2,000 worth of electric power at 13 cents
a kilowatt-hour. Very Interesting.
Please be careful
There is an increased risk
of house fires when burning wood for heat. Make sure you have your chimney or stovepipe
cleaned and know what you are doing. Be prepared with the tools needed to put
any fire out quickly.
The safest way of burning
wood for heat that I have seen is outside the house.
I have seen wood-fired hot
water heaters that are located about 30 feet away from the house. They heat
water that is circulated by pump to a coil in the ductwork of a forced air
furnace. The piping is buried underground.
These units look like a tool
shed with a smoke stack. The house thermostat controls them. When it is cool
inside the combustion air damper on the wood burner opens letting the fire
increase. When it is warm enough in the house, the damper closes and the wood
burns on low fire.
Since there is no fire
inside the house, there is no penalty on the homeowners insurance cost. The firebox
is big enough to hold many hours worth of wood so they do not need to be filled
often.
If you live in an area where
wood burning is popular, I suggest you ask about them. Learn about them on the
internet but buy locally so you can get service if needed.
This free, 17 page, report will help you save money on your next heating bill.
Yes, I know there are only six more weeks of winter.
But, there are things you can do NOW that will save on your next heating bill.
All these money saving projects can be easily done from the inside of your home.
Most of the suggested projects are no cost or low cost ideas that can be completed in an hour or less.
Send me your email address and your name today so I can email you a copy of the report with no delay. The sooner you get this free report the sooner you can put it to work for you.
You will receive an Email message asking you to confirm that you do want the report.
No, HDD is not a medical condition. HDD stands for Heating Degree Days. It is a way of using a number to describe the weather conditions.
Some engineers use HDD data to design heating systems to cope with the weather. I use HDD to predict how much fuel will be burned to heat buildings.
The HDD for the day is calculated using 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18C) as a base temperature. The assumption is that if the outdoor temperature is 65 or higher you do not need to heat your building or home. When the outdoor temperature drops below 65, most folks will be turning their furnaces on.
HDD is calculated by comparing the average temperature for the day to 65. As an example, if the average temperature for a particular day is 40 then the HDD for the day is 25 (65 – 40 = 25).
Yesterday, where I live, the high was 36 and the low was 28. The average of those two numbers is 32. That gives a HDD for the day of 33 (65 – 32 = 33). The long-term average HDD for this area is 41. That means that my heating bill for yesterday will be less than average.
Tomorrow is another day, the forecasted high is 18 and the forecasted low is Zero. Tomorrow’s HDD is likely to be 56. (The average of 18 and 0 is 9 and 65 – 9 = 56)
The bigger the HDD number the more heating fuel will be needed. Again the long-term average is 41 so tomorrow will be much colder than average and I can expect to burn much more natural gas than for an average January day.
Forecasting fuel usage is not as simple as I made it sound because there are other factors involved.
Wind chill can increase the heating bill a lot. The more wind there is the more fuel is needed. Wind chill make people feel colder and makes buildings cool off faster.
The amount of sunshine is another factor. Clear sky and sunshine mean less fuel used during the day light hours.
The amount of heat generated inside the building from lights, people and machinery can also change. When the amount of activity in a building changes the need for heating fuel also changes.
I get the weather data I use from two web sites. Weather Underground is a good source for historical data and current HDD numbers for your area.
As an example a high school class mate of mine has a house on the North coast of Spain. When he asked me about using solar heating for his house, I was able to look up the data I needed, on the Weather Underground web site, to give him a good answer. They have very nice weather.
I also use AccuWeather.com for their excellent forecasts. I use their 15-day forecast to predict the HDD for future days.
Other weather descriptive numbers are CDD (Cooling Degree Days) and GDD (Growing Degree Days).
CDD is calculated for average temperatures above 65F as an indication of how much air conditioning is needed to cope with warm weather.
GDD is based on 50F (10C) as an indicator of how well food crops grow. The higher the GDD is the faster crops grow.
Weather forecasters use math to help them predict the weather and engineers use math to design things to cope with the weather and manage energy use. We all get to have fun with numbers.
Here are some tips to make your relationship with your furnace flourish.
Keep it clean
Show it you care by doing some house keeping around your furnace. Move anything that can burn including; wood, cardboard, paint and paper at least six feet away. Clear space to dance around your furnace makes it easy to work on.
Tune it up to make sweet music
This is especially important for oil burning furnaces. Oil burners are robust. They keep on working, even when they are way out of tune. They continue to eat up fuel oil when their efficiency is very low. The worse they are the more they get out of shape.
You do not need a piano tuner, but you do need a furnace pro to do a full safety check, clean up and adjustment every year.
Natural gas and propane furnaces have a less sensitive nature. But, you will have relationship problems if you neglect them too long. They need the full clean, check and adjust treatment at least every two years.
A furnace that plays in tune makes sweet music for you.
Gifts to keep your relationship humming
Your furnace will love you back if you buy it a new filter every month or two.
Furnace filters protect your furnace from harmful dirt and help you breath easier.
Surprise your furnace with a drop of oil on the fan bearings and motor bearings. Do not over do it. It is like perfume. A little is wonderful, but too much spoils the atmosphere.
If your furnace wears a belt, you should give it a new one every few years, as a fashion statement. Fan belts on your furnace are like fan belts on your car. They do wear out and it is best to replace them before they fail.
Don’t wait until it is too late or your furnace will leave you cold.
Even with the snow, blowing around the house it is not too late to take action to reduce your heating bills this winter.
First, take a look around and see what you missed. This weekend I woke up to the fact that I had overlooked lowering the self-storing storm windows on our bedroom windows. Oops. We like fresh air when it is above freezing outside but that was a month ago. Check all your windows and doors. Pick the one that has the most air sneaking in and do something to stop it.
You can treat the problem from the inside by adding a layer of bubble wrap or clear heat shrink plastic over the whole window. I covered the bathroom window and two upstairs windows in our house with bubble wrap. Working on the inside, I taped it to the edges of the window frame to seal the whole opening.
I had to use two pieces of bubble wrap for each window because all I could find quickly was 24-inch wide rolls. I used clear packaging tape around the edges and to seal the joint in the over lapped bubble wrap.
You can recycle some smaller pieces of bubble wrap buy cutting them to fit each individual pane of glass. Stick them in place by wetting the window with spray window cleaner, and then push the bubble wrap, flat side to the glass. The bubble wrap will stick to the glass like a bunch of small suction cups. This method insulates the window one pane at a time. I prefer covering the whole window because it insulates and seals. Go ahead and do what you can with what you have.
It may be too late for a craft project to make fancy window quilts, but you can hang an old blanket over the window at night. When you put an extra blanket on your bed, add a layer of insulation to your windows.
If snow is blowing in under you door do something to stop it. Use rolled up towels or a store bought draft stopper shoved up against the bottom of the door.
If you heat with oil or propane, you can save money by using electric space heaters to warm up just the rooms that you are using. Save by turning the thermostat down farther on the rest of the house.
Replace or wash your furnace filter today.
Use electric blankets to heat just where people are at night and turn the thermostat down as low as 55.
My friend Jim Cartwright and I worked together on this article. Jim is a certified Energy Manager.
Electric space heaters can be a valuable tool to maintain comfort and conserve energy. They can also be costly devices that waste energy, cost money, and tie up maintenance time. It all depends on how you use them and when you use them. This article may help you understand when it is okay to use them and when you should avoid them.
Let’s look at the benefits and advantages.
At home, you may want to consider using an electric heater in a room that you occupy most. This might be the living room or your TV room. That way you can keep that room a little warmer and dial down the thermostat on your furnace for the rest of the house. Your furnace will run less, you will save money, and you will be more comfortable. This works well if the house thermostat is not in the room where the space heater is being used.
A similar situation may happen at work. When the days start getting cooler in the fall, it may be cheaper to use electric heaters in isolated areas, such as offices, rather than firing up the central heating system. The longer that you can avoid running big heating equipment, the more energy and money you will save.
If an office temperature gets cold in the fall before the boiler is on, then electric heaters can be used to bring the temperature up for comfort without turning a boiler on. An electric heater is 100% efficient, which means that all of the energy it uses goes directly into the area it is heating. In mild weather, boilers are about 65% efficient, meaning that we lose a lot of the energy in the conversion and distribution process. Under the conditions we experience before the central heat is on, electric heaters provide an economic alternative.
Okay, so what are the problems?
First, a typical electric space heater uses 1,500 Watts of power. That ties up more that 83 percent of a standard 15 Amp circuit. That leaves very little capacity to run computers, printers, copy machines and other office or household appliances. This makes it very easy to overload a circuit and trip a breaker. When that happens an electrician must spend time to determine what caused the breaker to trip and to reset the breaker.
It also affects your productivity because your office is dark or your equipment is not working. Not only is an overloaded circuit a nuisance, but it is a potential hazard.
Continually overloading a circuit and tripping the breaker will weaken the breaker and the wiring. Permanent replacement may be needed and there is a risk of fire from an overloaded circuit.
Secondly, electric heaters are sometimes used when it is not economical. They are left on when homes or offices are vacant. They also are used to raise the temperature above what is really needed. This wastes energy.
Here are some recommendations for the use of electric heaters.
At work, use them only in the early fall and late spring, when the central heating system is off. Use them to bring the temperature up just to the comfort level. If it is already warm and you feel cool, dress more appropriately. Keep a sweater handy to put on when you feel cool.
Never leave a heater running during a period of extended absence, such as overnight or over the weekend.
Do not use space heaters during times when other equipment is running to avoid overloading a circuit and tripping a breaker.
Under no circumstances should we be using electric heaters during air conditioning season.
When you buy an electric space heater, make sure it has a safety switch that will shut it off if it is tipped over. When a space heater is tipped over the airflow can be blocked. This may make it overheat and cause a fire. You don’t want a house fire because your cat knocked the heater over. Like wise never put a blanket or towel over a space heater.
Here is a money saving luxury idea for you.
If everyone in your home gets up and leaves for the day, you can save by keeping your home thermostat set low until after the workday. Pre-heat just the bathroom and kitchen with a pair of electric space heaters using 15 Amp appliance timer.
Set the timers to have the heaters come on an hour before your alarm goes off. Think about the pleasure of a warm bathroom for showering and shaving and a warm kitchen for a quick breakfast.
Plan ahead and put tomorrow’s clothes in the bathroom to preheat.
Set the appliance timers so the two electric heaters go off before you go out the door.
Set your digital house thermostat to pre-heat the house an hour before your return from work. You will know where the savings comes from when you count the hours that your central heat thermostat is at the low temperature setting. Overnight plus the workday equals 16 hours or more.
Tell me about your creative ways to use appliance timers.
Because crude oil is hitting new highs folks who heat their homes with heating oil will pay more than ever this winter. The action plan presented here is to help to save your money.
The price that Wall Street futures investors pay for a barrel of crude oil has shot up over $90. That means you can expect to pay even more for your next purchase of Heating Oil.
The items listed below are in priority order for action to reduce the amount of oil you use.
Stop drafts – at windows, doors and the fireplace.
Insulate the attic – Make sure you have enough insulation to give you at least R-49 protection for your money.
Have your furnace cleaned and tuned up by a professional. Oil furnaces are very rugged and will burn oil and put out heat even when they are running at poor efficiency. A dirty, out of tune oil furnace can operate with a combustion efficiency as low as 60%. Just by cleaning and tuning the combustion efficiency can be brought up to 75% or more. That is a 25 cents on the dollar improvement in oil use. The furnace pro will also be doing a safety check to insure that a faulty furnace will not cause fire or carbon monoxide poisoning
Back down your thermostat at every opportunity. Especially at night and when no one is home.
Make sure your house walls are well insulated including basement walls.
Change or wash your furnace filter every month during the heating season. A blocked air filter drastically reduces airflow and increases the amount of time your furnace has to run to keep the house warm. This is a do it yourself job. Have the furnace pro show you how when he visits.
Be ready to switch to electric heat. As the price of oil goes up, at some point it will be less expensive to heat with electric power using space heaters. I suggest you buy a few electric space heaters when you can find them at bargain prices so you will be ready. As example, Oil at $3.09 a gallon is equal to electric power at 8 cents a kilowatt-hour for heating use. If you live where the price electricity is moderate, you may want to use space heaters to supplement your oil heat. Using an electric space heater to keep your bedroom warm and let the rest of the house go cold overnight will save on your total heating bill. My wife uses an electric space heater in the bathroom during her morning shower and that is good because it puts heat just where it is needed, for a short time. Click here to read more about when to switch to electric heat.
Plan ahead for next year; fill your oil tank during the summer while prices are usually at their lowest. Some folks decorate their yard with an extra tank, just to save this way.
By Andrew Lake
Currently, most homes do not have high efficiency furnaces. Most homes are equipped with 60% efficient 80’s era furnaces or 80% efficient 90’s era furnaces. They only move 60-80% of the heat they create into your home. The other 20-40% is lost up the chimney. This is because the exhaust gases are released at temperatures higher than the boiling point of water. This is so that the water produced when natural gas is burnt does not turn into a liquid and rust the furnace and chimney.
New high efficiency gas furnaces have a second stainless steel heat exchanger. All of the heat is removed from the exhaust gases and transferred into your homes air. This results in 90-95% of the heat produced being used to heat your home.
A furnace does not just consume gas. The blower’s electric motor is probably one of your homes largest consumer’s of electricity. Some new models of furnaces are equipped with variable speed motors. They are also known as ECM or brushless DC motors. The average standard motor consumes about 400 watts of electricity when running in heating mode and 300 watts in circulation mode. The average variable speed motor will only consume about 60% as much energy in heating mode as a standard motor. They use only 10% as much power in circulation mode compared to a standard motor. Homeowners who run the fan continuously to circulate the air for freshness and a summer cooling effect can save over $100 a year with a variable speed fan.
Continuously running a variable speed fan can also result in more even temperatures from room to room within the house.
Most manufactures offer a basic 90% efficient high efficiency furnace and a premium 94-95% efficient model with a variable speed fan and very quiet operation.
Energy Boomer’s comments: Using the furnace fan to continuously circulate air in a house is like running invisible ceiling fans. It has the added advantage of filtering the air as it circulates the air. The result is more comfort and some energy savings by having an even temperature through out the house. It is a real money saver if you can avoid air conditioning just by moving the air for comfort.
The next article in this series will be an in depth look Air Source Heat Pumps.
I am happy to introduce Andrew Lake as a guest author of a series of articles about high efficiency heating and air conditioning. Andrew Lake is a licensed heating and air conditioning technician with Shell Busey’s HouseSmart Heating and Air Conditioning in Vancouver, Canada. Andrew has been working with several leading brands of HVAC equipment since their high efficiency models started being available for home use. Here is Andrew’s first installment.
An introduction to energy-saving heating systems
Natural gas prices have more than tripled over the past ten years. Heating oil prices are skyrocketing as I write this post. This has most homeowners wanting to know how to save money on heating costs. New high efficiency heating systems can cut heating costs by up to 70%. With the high prices of these systems, it is important to research whether the savings will justify the cost.
Get closer to 100% efficiency with new high-efficiency furnaces and boilers
Natural gas furnaces made before 1995 are usually only 60-70% efficient. This means that 30-40% of the energy is wasted and is never used to heat your home. New high-efficiency gas models are 90-95% efficient. These models should use 25-40% less gas than most models that are over 15 years old.
Oil is becoming the most expensive way to heat your home. It is also the most environmentally harmful. Unfortunately, most major manufacturers do not make oil furnaces that are more than 85% efficient. This has many homeowners converting from oil to natural gas (where available) or to electric heat pumps (read on).
Owners of hot water heating systems will also have a harder time saving energy than owners of gas furnaces, as new high efficiency boilers are usually only about 85% efficient. 90%+ efficient modulating boilers are available, but they are very expensive, and are only popular with the wealthy.
For the average homeowner, the additional cost of a high-efficiency unit will be worth it when replacing a failed unit. It will not be a good investment to replace a well functioning system. Replacing a well functioning furnace or boiler will usually only be a good investment for homeowners with larger homes or higher heating costs for some other reason.
Go beyond 100% efficiency with a heat pump
A heat pump is like an air conditioner that can work backwards. It can pump heat into the house in the winter just like it pumps it out in the summer. An air source heat pump operates at about 300% efficiency, meaning that it moves in 3 watts of heat for every watt of electricity it consumes.
An air source heat pump can save some homeowners more than 50% on heating. However, some homes will not be able to save as much with an air source heat pump. These are homes in areas with 1) high electricity rates or 2) very cold and snowy winters where the heat pump has a harder time moving in heat.
Homeowners in areas with cold and snowy winters should look into a geothermal heat pump instead. A geothermal unit will remove heat from the ground where the temperature is much warmer during the winter. It absorbs this heat through a network of hundreds or even thousands of feet of pipe buried under your lawn.
A geothermal unit can cut almost any homes energy consumption dramatically. Unfortunately, these units are priced in the same range as automobiles, so it may still take over 20 years to earn back the initial investment.
The next article in this series will be an in depth look at High Efficiency Natural Gas Furnaces followed by a couple of articles on heat Pumps.
In case you missed it among all the other news, oil process have hit a new all time high. The big drop in interest rates prompted folks to think that the US economy will boom. A booming economy uses more oil so the price of oil jumped up.
Sure, we all know that means the price of gasoline is headed up again. The problem for people who pay the bill for home heating this winter is that the price of Heating Oil is jumping up too. The folks who heat with oil are not the only ones who will feel the pain.
The price of oil also drives the market price for propane upward with it. As you can see from the two graphs show both fuels are hitting new highs. I shamelessly copied these graphs from the Oilnergy.com web site. I use the oilnergy.com graphs to convince folks that energy prices are going up and action is needed now to prevent busted budgets this winter.
The prices shown on the graphs are not the delivered to your house prices. They are the price that investors are paying for energy futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price you pay has dealer costs, transportation costs and taxes add in to boost it up to a budget busting level.
The more you can do to save energy before cold weather arrives the better off you will be when sticker shock sets in this winter. Watch the price you are actually paying for heating oil or propane. The prices are likely to go so high that you can save money by switching to electric space heaters to reduce the amount of fuel you burn.
Normally electricity is too expensive to use as a home heating source but this winter may be different. I recommend that you keep you eye out for a sale on electric space heaters and have one ready for each room that you need to heat.
To determine when to switch over from fuel fired heat to electric look at the chart in my article: WHEN SHOULD I SWITCH FROM PROPANE TO ELECTRIC HEAT?
If you heat your home with natural gas, you are using the lowest cost fuel that is available. If the price of heating oil and propane stays up some folks will want to burn coal to save money. By that, I mean more coal will be burned at the utility electric power generating plants. If folks start installing coal burning stoves to heat homes, like we did in the past air, quality will suffer.
Propane and heating oil tend to be the fuels of choice in rural areas. The higher prices of those cleaner fuels will push more folks to burn wood. That means more smoke and more house fires.
High oil prices cause many serious problems. As a nation, we need to work toward energy independence.
When the cooler fall weather arrives we turn the air conditioner off at our house. I always breathe easier when cut off the AC and save on my energy bill.
At work, we don’t air condition the production areas. We do have extra fans for cooling. I don’t just mean the small propeller fans at the production lines. We have bigger fans that push warm air out the roof. Other roof fans bring in extra outdoor air for the summer.
When the outdoor temperature goes down the first thing that should be done is to shut off the Ceiling Exhaust Fans and Fresh Air Supply fans. Just like at home shutting the cooling fans off saves electricty.
Taking the next step at my house means shutting all the doors and windows. Here at work that should be the next step too. Closing the doors stops cold air from getting in at floor level where folks work.
The windows are in the roof areas and when they are open they let the warm air escape. Closing windows works just like closing the windows at home. They keep the warmth inside so we can enjoy it.
We use a tremendous amount of electricity at work when we are making parts for our customers. At least 80% of all the power used for motors and lights ends up as heat inside the building. By holding the heat in and by blocking the entry of cold air we can keep the building comfortable during the cool fall weather.
When I get up and it is cool outside, I try to remember to put socks on both of my feet. Some autumn days I even take a jacket or sweatshirt to work. Many people have gotten into the habit of only wearing one or two layers of clothes. Folks used to wear sweaters or a vest more than they do now. One additional layer of clothing can make a big difference in comfort when the weather outside is cold.
At home I try to delay turning the furnace on as long as I can by keeping the doors and windows closed. We can delay buying energy for the heaters at work the same way. We save energy by delaying the start of the heating season.
The long-term price graph shows, the price of home N0. 2 Heating Oil has skyrocketed. In the short term, the forecasts about hurricane Dean have reversed the falling market into a raising market. And, this is just the start of the hurricane season. As I am writing this no storm damage has yet been done. These graphs, and more, are available on oilnergy.com.
My point is that if you heat with oil now is the time to be working on making your home more energy efficient.
Add insulation – do your detailed planning of the project now so you can get’er done before the cold weather.
Have your heating equipment checked by a pro now. Do not put it off. You will be able to get the help you need easily during the mild weather and if anything bad is discovered you will have time to fix it before the cold weather makes it a crisis.
Do the caulking and weather stripping chores while you have nice weather to work in.
If your doors need fixing or replacement, avoid the rush, do it now.
If you do not have a storm door think about adding it now so it can start paying you back now. A storm door with a quick-change screen is a joy when the comfortable fall weather is here. You can let all the fresh air in and still be able to drop the glass into place when it gets cold.
By finishing your preparation work early, you will not miss the fall football action.
Yesterday I was watching the chipmunks and squirrels work full speed stealing the sunflowers that we put out for the birds. I was on the phone with my, up north, friends getting an update on their activities. In the slack time, before crops are harvested, they are busy making firewood and stacking it to dry.
It seem to me that city folk don’t give much thought to winter preparations until after Labor Day. I’d rather get the job done early so I don’t waste any football weekends working around the house.
Being real about it means that we have to start fixing the air conditioners in January to have them in good working order by hot weather. To be ready for the heating season means we need to start working on it now. The same schedule is true at work too.
We need to be fixing doors and windows both at home and at work now.
If you are adding insulation to your attic you need to plan it now and get the materials all lined up so when the weather cools just enough to work in the attic you can get’er done.
Some folks are better at remembering to winterize their ride than they are about winterizing their homes.
A little time and effort put in now will save you cash on your heating bills this winter. Add a storm door, fix up storm windows and caulk around the window frames. Patch that hole in the house wall before the hornets move in. Seal cracks in the basement walls.
Take a real good look at the basement windows. Add clear plastic dome covers over basement window wells.
Fix or add door sweeps and weather stripping. There are a lot of low cost “Do It Yourself” projects that will pay you back this heating season.
It is a great time to work outside around the house. As the farmers say, make hay while the sun shines.
Most houses are built with 2x4 framing covered with wall board or plaster. This leaves an empty space where the electrical wires and water pipes are hidden inside the walls. Things like water pipes, sewer pipes and electrical wiring pass through from floor to floor in these hidden spaces inside your walls.
Hollow interior walls can act like chimneys pulling warm air into the space between the walls and sending it up to your attic.
You really should crawl around in your attic to check and seal the tops of interior walls. Sealing around any pipes or wires that pass upward into the attic is a priority.
Being a lazy old man, I vote for the easy way and stop the air leaking into the walls.
We all have seen the flimsy foam rubber gaskets that are used to seal light switches and outlets. Most folks think that these are something to be used only on the exterior walls to stop air leaks to the great outdoors. Not so. You need them everywhere in the house.
Install the gaskets on all outlets and light switches to help stop the loss of heated air up through your walls. Look for them at your favorite hardware or building supply store.
Plastic, child proof, safety plugs can be used to stop air leaks through unused electrical outlets. My wife goes around the house before our grandson comes to visit making sure all the safety plugs are in place.
When he arrives he knows this game and scoots around the house collecting safety plugs like he was on an Easter egg hunt. I did not think that a 14 month old had the finger strength to pull those plugs.
Wrong again.
Keeping the warm air that you paid to heat inside the house is a good way to keep your heating bill down.
Electric space heaters can save you money this winter. Don't be fooled by a sales pitch, all electric space heaters are 95 to 100% efficient. Buy one that you can afford.Click here for electric space heaters
No, HDD is not a medical condition. HDD stands for Heating Degree Days. It is a way of using a number to describe the weather conditions. 
Here are some tips to make your relationship with your furnace flourish.
My friend Jim Cartwright and I worked together on this article. Jim is a certified Energy Manager.
If everyone in your home gets up and leaves for the day, you can save by keeping your home thermostat set low until after the workday. Pre-heat just the bathroom and kitchen with a pair of electric space heaters using 
Because crude oil is hitting new highs folks who heat their homes with heating oil will pay more than ever this winter. The action plan presented here is to help to save your money.
Currently, most homes do not have high efficiency furnaces. Most homes are equipped with 60% efficient 80’s era furnaces or 80% efficient 90’s era furnaces. They only move 60-80% of the heat they create into your home. The other 20-40% is lost up the chimney. This is because the exhaust gases are released at temperatures higher than the boiling point of water. This is so that the water produced when natural gas is burnt does not turn into a liquid and rust the furnace and chimney.
I am happy to introduce Andrew Lake as a guest author of a series of articles about high efficiency heating and air conditioning. Andrew Lake is a licensed heating and air conditioning technician with 
When the cooler fall weather arrives we turn the air conditioner off at our house. I always breathe easier when cut off the AC and save on my energy bill. 
