How do you heat your home?
- Thread starter Steel
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Steel
Ideal_Rock
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- Jul 8, 2006
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Size: Our house will be about 2000sqft+ once we fully complete the build.
Primary Heating: We will have oil central heating as a primary heat source and radiators on the walls.
Secondary Heating: But we both love fires so have a fireplace with a wood burning stove in almost every room. The stove in the smaller reception room will have a back boiler which will heat the radiators (so the oil system is more of a back up really, we will heat the house everyday by the fires and backboiler).
ETA: Location: Ireland
Primary Heating: We will have oil central heating as a primary heat source and radiators on the walls.
Secondary Heating: But we both love fires so have a fireplace with a wood burning stove in almost every room. The stove in the smaller reception room will have a back boiler which will heat the radiators (so the oil system is more of a back up really, we will heat the house everyday by the fires and backboiler).
ETA: Location: Ireland
mela lu
Ideal_Rock
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- Nov 21, 2006
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- 2,481
location: Canada (brrrrr)
Method: Natural Gas Furnace, Water Radiators (called radiant heat)
Age of house: approx 90-95 yrs old
size of houes: approx 1600 sq ft (not including the full finished basement); 2400 sq ft total.
Critique: LOVE IT!
There is a cast-iron radiator in every room of the house (most of which we have a cover on so that it becomes a shelf).
The heat is very efficient and VERY warm.
We have very little dust because there are no vents to shift dust around.
There is very little maintenace to this method. DH occasionally "bleeds the lines" to relieve any air that may have accumulated in the rad; thus making it more efficient.
A bit costly. Because we''re using gas to heat the furnace, to then heat the hot water tank, to then circulate around the house, it''s not the cheapest. The summer is cheap because the only hot water used is for showering. Winters can climb to sometimes $500 a month depending on the price of natural gas.
Does this help?
Method: Natural Gas Furnace, Water Radiators (called radiant heat)
Age of house: approx 90-95 yrs old
size of houes: approx 1600 sq ft (not including the full finished basement); 2400 sq ft total.
Critique: LOVE IT!
There is a cast-iron radiator in every room of the house (most of which we have a cover on so that it becomes a shelf).
The heat is very efficient and VERY warm.
We have very little dust because there are no vents to shift dust around.
There is very little maintenace to this method. DH occasionally "bleeds the lines" to relieve any air that may have accumulated in the rad; thus making it more efficient.
A bit costly. Because we''re using gas to heat the furnace, to then heat the hot water tank, to then circulate around the house, it''s not the cheapest. The summer is cheap because the only hot water used is for showering. Winters can climb to sometimes $500 a month depending on the price of natural gas.
Does this help?
joflier
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2007
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- 3,504
We have electric heat. Its ok. We live in a town that has some dams that produce our own local energy so its a little cheaper than the rest of the surrounding areas. But our house is around 100 years old and 2000+ sq ft, and not real great on insulation so a lot of the heat escapes unfortunately. It gets pricey when its really cold!
Location - Northeast Wisconsin
Location - Northeast Wisconsin
diamondsrock
Brilliant_Rock
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- May 5, 2005
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- 981
New England
forced hot air heating system, oil heat
no problem with the oil (prices have finally come down), but the system itself sucks. Hard to maintain a constant temperature. When it''s running and blowing hot air, it''s super warm, then it shuts down and cools off very quickly. I live in a drafty house buildt in the 40''s and need to add more insulation, so that could have a lot to do with it. My old apartment was drafty, though, and didn''t have this problem with maintiaining a temp. It had baseboard heat and pretty much stayed the same most of the time.
Plus I notice a lot more dust than I did in my old house from the air blowing around I guess.
Let''s just say I alternate between fleece and regular shirts most of the time
I have a fireplace, too, which we occassionally use.
forced hot air heating system, oil heat
no problem with the oil (prices have finally come down), but the system itself sucks. Hard to maintain a constant temperature. When it''s running and blowing hot air, it''s super warm, then it shuts down and cools off very quickly. I live in a drafty house buildt in the 40''s and need to add more insulation, so that could have a lot to do with it. My old apartment was drafty, though, and didn''t have this problem with maintiaining a temp. It had baseboard heat and pretty much stayed the same most of the time.
Plus I notice a lot more dust than I did in my old house from the air blowing around I guess.
Let''s just say I alternate between fleece and regular shirts most of the time
I have a fireplace, too, which we occassionally use.
ladypirate
Ideal_Rock
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- Jul 30, 2007
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- 4,553
Our house (in Portland, OR) has oil heat, but we haven''t used it yet. We''ve been getting by with wood fires and an electric space heater in our bedroom. It does get chilly in here, though!
happyfeet1988
Shiny_Rock
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- Mar 5, 2007
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- 119
Our house is almost a year old. We have electric heat, and we love it. It is so much cheaper than gas! I have noticed it is a more constant warm heat versus bursts of very hot heat from a gas heater. We also have a wood fireplace that we use a lot.
Delster
Ideal_Rock
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- Apr 22, 2007
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- 2,231
I grew up in a house with a back boiler system and my lasting memory is that it was COLD. There was really only one room in the house that had any heat - the room with the fireplace. In the mornings the entire house was freezing because the fire hadn''t been lit yet. And when we were really small and had no electric shower, no fire meant no hot water. If my Mam hadn''t been at home all day and keeping the fire going we''d have been coming home to a COLD house after school. I remember the panic stations the few times we ran out of coal and there was terror that the fire would go out and then it''d take another two hours for the heat to build back up. Brrrrrrrrrrr.
Of course, the modern wood-chip stove systems are quicker, and you can burn them overnight without someone having to watch them. And the radiators in my childhood home were a bit dodge. I moaned for years about how cold my bedroom was and my parents told me to toughen up and that it was good for me not to be cosseted. Then they switched to OFCH and when they had the radiators changed over the guy doing the work told them my bedroom radiator wasn''t working. At all. Brrrrrrrrrrrr.
So, in short, if you can''t burn the wood-chip stoves 24/7, I recommend setting the oil to come on in the morning for an hour before you get up, and in the evenings just before you get home, so you have a warm bathroom in the mornings, and a warm house to come home to after work
I''d never be without an open fire in my home. We lit ours last night and curled up for the evening with pizza and the TV. Bliss! It''s totally the weather for it too at the moment
Of course, the modern wood-chip stove systems are quicker, and you can burn them overnight without someone having to watch them. And the radiators in my childhood home were a bit dodge. I moaned for years about how cold my bedroom was and my parents told me to toughen up and that it was good for me not to be cosseted. Then they switched to OFCH and when they had the radiators changed over the guy doing the work told them my bedroom radiator wasn''t working. At all. Brrrrrrrrrrrr.
So, in short, if you can''t burn the wood-chip stoves 24/7, I recommend setting the oil to come on in the morning for an hour before you get up, and in the evenings just before you get home, so you have a warm bathroom in the mornings, and a warm house to come home to after work
I''d never be without an open fire in my home. We lit ours last night and curled up for the evening with pizza and the TV. Bliss! It''s totally the weather for it too at the moment
anniee19
Shiny_Rock
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- Mar 31, 2008
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- 308
Our house is about 1800 sq ft, and we have propane. It''s okay, but it''s not fun when they come filll up the tank and leave an $800 bill on the door! What I do love though, is our on-demand water heater. It''s run from the propane, and it''s the tankless kind that heats instantly instead of having a huge tank that takes energy to keep at a constant temp. And it gets HOT, fairly quickly. We live in a quad-level and have been considering purchasing a corn burner to put on one of the lower levels, in hopes of the heat rising to the other levels. I''d love to hear of anybody elses experiences with a corn burner because we don''t really know anybody that uses one.
MichelleCarmen
Super_Ideal_Rock
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- Feb 8, 2003
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We have a 2,000 sq. foot townhome and have vents in floor - forced hot air/furnace and it does a great job. We just moved during the summer, so I'm not sure how high our powerbill will be yet.
Our previous home, 2,600 sq feet, was electric and we also had a propane fireplace. Both worked good, but our powerbill was through the roof because we had a solarium and much of the heat was lost through that.
Our previous home, 2,600 sq feet, was electric and we also had a propane fireplace. Both worked good, but our powerbill was through the roof because we had a solarium and much of the heat was lost through that.
Gailey
Ideal_Rock
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- May 14, 2008
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We live in a modestly large house 2400 sq ft on top two floors and about 1600 sq ft in the basement. Our house was built in 1981. Last year we upgraded our two forced air furnaces to new Lennox High Efficiency furnaces. Difference, they run all the time, so there is a slight hum but I don''t hear that any more. However when the temperature drops below the thermostat and they kick in to heat mode they are noisy! This surprised me. I guess I equated high efficiency to quiet, or at least quieter than before. I sleep a couple of feet from a vent and it will wake me up - but I am a light sleeper.
As we have had them a year now, I guess I could work out if they are significantly cheaper to run, but so far I haven''t.
I''m interested why you wanted to know about different kinds of heating systems. There are so many factors that come in to play when evaluating one system with another. Age of property, how efficient is your house insulated etc. etc.
If I was building a new house I think I would opt for a geothermal heat pump. Does anyone have one of those? Experiences?
As we have had them a year now, I guess I could work out if they are significantly cheaper to run, but so far I haven''t.
I''m interested why you wanted to know about different kinds of heating systems. There are so many factors that come in to play when evaluating one system with another. Age of property, how efficient is your house insulated etc. etc.
If I was building a new house I think I would opt for a geothermal heat pump. Does anyone have one of those? Experiences?
Steel
Ideal_Rock
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- Jul 8, 2006
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- 4,884
Thanks for responding everybody.
Gailey, I am interested in the types of heating more commonly used abroad. I find that it can be difficult to get an unbiased opinion from locals. It is a commanilty here (in my experience) that locals will NEVER offer a negative point of view. It seems to be a wish to never be seen to have anything other than perfection.
For example, when we wanted to find out more about heating systems an older couple tried to convince us to get a geothermal heat exchange system. We decided against it. One year later they rip their whole 10k system out and put in plain old oil, because the original system was super expensive and inefficient. But they never mentioned any of that when we asked for their opinions, NEVER! Everybody we speak to raves about solar power, but avoid the specifics of why they like it, or if in fact it saved money. Hence, we are looking elsewhere for opinions.
Our house is new, was a green field 2 years ago. We have almost finished insulating it and it will be (hopefully) SUPER insulated. I hate to use oil central heating but it seems that will have to be our back up. We love what we call wood burning stoves, one with a back burner and I was wondering if that was the equivalent of your furnaces? DH and I are also boggled about rads being heated with steam rather than hot water.
I find this info really interesting and am so happy you all took the time to respond.
Gailey, I am interested in the types of heating more commonly used abroad. I find that it can be difficult to get an unbiased opinion from locals. It is a commanilty here (in my experience) that locals will NEVER offer a negative point of view. It seems to be a wish to never be seen to have anything other than perfection.
For example, when we wanted to find out more about heating systems an older couple tried to convince us to get a geothermal heat exchange system. We decided against it. One year later they rip their whole 10k system out and put in plain old oil, because the original system was super expensive and inefficient. But they never mentioned any of that when we asked for their opinions, NEVER! Everybody we speak to raves about solar power, but avoid the specifics of why they like it, or if in fact it saved money. Hence, we are looking elsewhere for opinions.
Our house is new, was a green field 2 years ago. We have almost finished insulating it and it will be (hopefully) SUPER insulated. I hate to use oil central heating but it seems that will have to be our back up. We love what we call wood burning stoves, one with a back burner and I was wondering if that was the equivalent of your furnaces? DH and I are also boggled about rads being heated with steam rather than hot water.
I find this info really interesting and am so happy you all took the time to respond.
Gailey
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- May 14, 2008
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- 3,783
Hey Steel,
Being a Brit living in Canada, I''ve experienced a number of different heating systems.
Forced air from gas or oil fired furnaces is noisy.
Grew up with a coal fired back burner. It heated radiators full of what I am not quite sure as I was a small child.
Night Storage Heaters. Essentially really fat radiators that consume electricity at a reduced rate through the night to heat up bricks inside which give off heat all day. Got a bit chilly by 5:00 pm
Wood burning stoves - efficient if you get a good model: http://www.clearviewstoves.com/dinhamhouse.htm Never had one of these, but really wanted one.
Baxi grate in open fire. Like sitting in front of a flame thrower, incredibly efficient "real fire place": http://www.c20fires.co.uk/fireplace_accessories/burnall.htm
Rumford fireplaces, incredibly efficient US real open fire: http://www.rumford.com/ Again, don''t have one but would if I could.
Granted some of these are not whole house heating. Your comment about your neighbour''s geo thermal surprised me. I think that price is incredibly cheap, from what I remember. Perhaps you get what you pay for. It''s reasonably recent technology, so not everyone does it well I suspect.
My brother in law works for a company that makes commercial boilers, pool heaters etc. He says the next thing to look out for is a boiler or furnace fueled by a fuel cell. Don''t know anything about that yet.
Where are you BTW?
Being a Brit living in Canada, I''ve experienced a number of different heating systems.
Forced air from gas or oil fired furnaces is noisy.
Grew up with a coal fired back burner. It heated radiators full of what I am not quite sure as I was a small child.
Night Storage Heaters. Essentially really fat radiators that consume electricity at a reduced rate through the night to heat up bricks inside which give off heat all day. Got a bit chilly by 5:00 pm
Wood burning stoves - efficient if you get a good model: http://www.clearviewstoves.com/dinhamhouse.htm Never had one of these, but really wanted one.
Baxi grate in open fire. Like sitting in front of a flame thrower, incredibly efficient "real fire place": http://www.c20fires.co.uk/fireplace_accessories/burnall.htm
Rumford fireplaces, incredibly efficient US real open fire: http://www.rumford.com/ Again, don''t have one but would if I could.
Granted some of these are not whole house heating. Your comment about your neighbour''s geo thermal surprised me. I think that price is incredibly cheap, from what I remember. Perhaps you get what you pay for. It''s reasonably recent technology, so not everyone does it well I suspect.
My brother in law works for a company that makes commercial boilers, pool heaters etc. He says the next thing to look out for is a boiler or furnace fueled by a fuel cell. Don''t know anything about that yet.
Where are you BTW?
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