bnbacademy Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 (edited) With gas prices rising by the minute, we are hoping to use only one tank of heating oil this winter. What have some of you done to decrease your heating bills, including home renovations? I'm wondering if anyone has added solar panels with the converter box and found it cost-effective? What other things have you been able to do to your house? Anyone installed any new style of wood-burning stove that recycles the heat before it goes up the chimney? Any new technologies tried and successful for you? New kinds of insulations? We have an older house with replaced windows, oil furnace, basement woodstove under mostly hardwood floors, electric heater like this. So far, I am heating the main floor with 1 electric heater while maintaining a fire in the woodstove. Not sure what the electric bill will be, but I assume it will be better than running the furnace? TIA, Edited November 9, 2012 by bnbacademy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 :bigear: I'm seriously considering doing a fireplace insert, but I'm wondering if it can pay for itself in less than a decade. I'm very interested in any answers you get. It seems everything you need to do 'to save money' costs a gazillion dollars. We need new windows too, but will have to make do with plastic for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Adding insulation to the attic and making sure the seals around the doors are tight are good places to start. If the windows are high end line them with that winter plastic stuff. We strapped some aluminum covered insulation around our house under the siding and it helped some too, but attics and windows are more important. We have a solar hot water heater for our barn. A good wood stove is irreplaceable. Solar panels can get pricey by the time you by the converter and batteries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof4ks Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 My parents used a heater that looked like a fire last year for winter, and the house stayed very warm (no insulation, old house) with that. Their bill was much smaller than when they ran the central heater. Insulation in the attic and sealing doors and windows is a great way to save money, but be careful not to make it too tight. We need fresh air to get into our homes. One thing I know makes a huge difference is spray foam insulation in the walls and attic, but code here requires an air exchange system to let in fresh air so oxygen is not depleted. It is that energy efficient. It would require opening up walls though, and that is very expensive. Basically, with new construction it is worth it, but retrofitting is pricey. It is an option though depending on how much you want to spend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnbacademy Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 Thank you for your input. Anything else to save on the electric bill? Thinking of giving up the heated waterbed. Any suggestions that would be equivalent to the support of a waterbed, to keep dh from having back pain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnbacademy Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 (edited) If you turn off the heater on the waterbed, you don't need to replace the bed. Just put down a thick layer between you and the bed. Solar isn't cost effective here yet. Most people that are getting away from home heating oil are going to wood, usually with the outdoor woodfurnace as most homes here are zoned on three+ acres. On the smaller lots, there is a town prohibition, so those folks go for the pellet stove. Insulating to what the new codes call and stopping drafts for is your best strategy in an older home, then making good use of the heat coming in with the sun. If you don't have a ceiling fan, that may be a good investment as you can get use out of it in summer and winter. For electric bill, you want to reduce usage and be more efficient. Locate your vampires and shut them down. Do the payback analysis and figure if any of the older appliances need replaced. Lower the temperature on the hot water tank if you haven't done so already. Replace incandescents if the payback works for you. Read the dishwasher manual and figure out if you need the dry cycle. Hang clothes to dry. Change the stock dryer vent to one that is more efficient. Seal the chimney if not using it. Wash in cold water as much as possible. Evaluate your day/night billing option and your electric company delivery chocies for cost savings. If you are changing flooring, consider tile for the rooms that get the afternoon sun. Some of these I am already doing, others are great new tips, thank you! "Evaluate your day/night billing option and your electric company delivery chocies for cost savings." Would you expand on this please, I don't know what this means? ps: I grew up in upstate NY. Here's a friendly wave from VA. Edited November 9, 2012 by bnbacademy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnbacademy Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 We strapped some aluminum covered insulation around our house under the siding and it helped some too, but attics and windows are more important. We have a solar hot water heater for our barn. I assume you have wood exterior? Is this an insulation that would be advantageous for aluminum siding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 (edited) We put in a fireplace insert and woodstove (shoved into a fireplace) last year. (Well, my husband just installed the stove) Both have blowers. They are placed in opposite corner rooms (central chimney, living room is front left, dining room is rear-right) and even getting down into the low 30s the other night, the house is in the mid 60s at night (drafts set to low) and 70-72 during the day, when we're up to feed the fire. We have yet to even turn on the heat (the furnace boiler heats our hot water, so it's always on, but the thermostats are set to "off") and don't plan to until at least after Thanksgiving. (Which means the insert and stove paid for themselves in maybe two seasons.) We are expecting some warm weather for the next few days, and I will be caulking windows (trying the "seal and peel" kind instead of the rope caulk this year). We use heavy curtains over our single pane glass windows, both to block drafts and to prevent warm air from cooling against them, and over the 4 doors. We got the stoves at Northern Tool, by the way, and they work great. Here. Century insert and Durango stove on the first row. They were, with shipping, less than half the cost of stoves we could find locally, and had better efficiency ratings. Edited November 9, 2012 by MyCrazyHouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Oh! And one of the easiest things we've done is to vent our (electric) dryer inside the house. It heats and humidifies the air. They have the boxes/buckets at Lowes or Home Depot. You just add water to them to keep the lint from blowing around. (NOT appropriate if you have a gas dryer, though) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Oh! And one of the easiest things we've done is to vent our (electric) dryer inside the house. It heats and humidifies the air. They have the boxes/buckets at Lowes or Home Depot. You just add water to them to keep the lint from blowing around.(NOT appropriate if you have a gas dryer, though) I had no idea! Thanks for this...I have to run my dryer a lot and it would be sure nice to get some benefit to all that hot air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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