Heating Costs?

stuart45 · 02-16-2011, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jomama45

OK then, that certainly makes sense. I'd have to assume it originally was heated with wood due to it's age. Did it always have the thatch roof? Was it just something they had no other choice on years ago, and you just had to take the chance?

Thatch used to be the peasants method of roofing done with water reed or other crops. I suppose that just took their chances with a wood open fire inglenook, and re built the roof when it burnt down. Richer people usually had clay tiles or stone slates. Nowadays thatch is really expensive.

pyper · 02-16-2011, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sammy 2

Anyone have a good way/formula to compare natural gas heat to electric heat per btu or whatever is a fair comparison.

There are online calculators.

Here are basic formulae:
http://www.energykinetics.com/saving...parisons.shtml

Essentially there are only three variables. The first is your heat consumption in, the second is the fuel price per unit, and the third is the efficiency of your appliance.

My wood is free, so I don't worry about the other two.

Fisher · 02-16-2011, 02:03 PM

New house
House 2800 sq ft
Garage 800 sq ft
Running geo under floor heat in the house and garage and geo forced air in the house
house set to 70 garage set to 65
Our elec. rate is .11 Kwh, last month was cold, -35 at night for about a week and many nights of -20 with day time highs from -10 to 10 above for most of the month. Our total elec bill was $340, plus my wife runs daycare out of our home. Typ bill in the summer is around $150 so we are heating for around $190/month, really happy with that. Our old house was 1660 sq ft heating with NG and was around $220 for the same month last year.

stuart45 · 02-16-2011, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Squirrel

And wow at those icicles. Time to add more insulation in there. :P

Iv'e got 4 inches between the joists(new builds regs is 12 inches)but 12 inches of thatch is said to be the same as 6 inches of fibreglass.
I should put more in but the water tank and pipe work is up there and it's usefull for a bit of heat to get there and stop the pipework freezing, even though they are insulated.
Whatever work you and jomama find for me on the house I will have an excuse not to do it. A lifetimes practice with a nagging wife has made me an expert.

Sammy 2 · 02-16-2011, 07:03 PM

Thanks Fisher, what did the geo system cost you ??

Ron6519 · 02-16-2011, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stuart45

I paid 40 pence per litre for heating oil this year. Got single glazed windows and solid stone 2ft thick walls. It's hard to get the temperature up to 70f in the evening when it's below freezing outside.

That comes out to about $2.58 a gal for heating oil. That sounds reasonable compared to the gasoline prices there. How much is regular gas per liter?
Here the local #2 heating oil is over $3.00 a gal. Regular gas is $3.39 a gal.(about 85 cents a liter)
Ron
Regular gas is now $3.42
Heating oil is $3.74 a gallon(as per the paper today)

Scuba_Dave · 02-16-2011, 11:24 PM

We filled the oil tank last spring/summer when it was $2.49 a gallon
Topped it off again in January @ $3.09 a gallon I think
We normally go thru one tank of oil a year, sometimes less
This year has been colder so we have gone thru 1 1/4 tanks
So per month Nov-March = $148 a month for this heating season

stuart45 · 02-17-2011, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron6519

That comes out to about $2.58 a gal for heating oil. That sounds reasonable compared to the gasoline prices there. How much is regular gas per liter?
Here the local #2 heating oil is over $3.00 a gal. Regular gas is $3.39 a gal.(about 85 cents a liter)
Ron

Road fuel is really expensive.
Diesel is £1.30p a litre
Petrol is £1.25 a litre

Fisher · 02-17-2011, 08:27 AM

Total cost was $22000, and it is a closed loop system 5 ton underfloor and 3 ton forced air, with propane backup.
After a $3400 credit with the elec company and $6600 tax credit it come out to $12000, same system installed with propane was $13000.
Thanks

DrHicks · 02-17-2011, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fisher

Total cost was $22000, and it is a closed loop system 5 ton underfloor and 3 ton forced air, with propane backup.
After a $3400 credit with the elec company and $6600 tax credit it come out to $12000, same system installed with propane was $13000.
Thanks

On the surface this may seem like a really stupid question, but do you feel that it was a good investment?

I don't think I could justify that kind of investment, based on potential return. I'm only spending about $600 per year for natural gas, so even if I cut my heat bills in half, I'd go many years before seeing a return on investment.

It does, though, seem as though you're in a very harsh climate. Where are you located?

Fisher · 02-17-2011, 10:34 AM

We live in northern MN about 10 miles from the Canadian border, pretty much the coldest part of the nation. I feel it was a great investment. Heating bills for elec and or propane systems set up like ours are running around $500 to $1000 a month for a comparable home to ours.
thanks

Ron6519 · 02-17-2011, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fisher

We live in northern MN about 10 miles from the Canadian border, pretty much the coldest part of the nation. I feel it was a great investment. Heating bills for elec and or propane systems set up like ours are running around $500 to $1000 a month for a comparable home to ours.
thanks

Sounds like the payback for the system is a better deal then getting solar panels for electric generation. I think with incentives and rebate it would be about 20 years at the current electric prices. But projecting the inevitable price increases, probably sooner.
Ron

Ron6519 · 02-17-2011, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stuart45

Road fuel is really expensive.
Diesel is £1.30p a litre
Petrol is £1.25 a litre

That's a little over $8.00 a gallon for gasoline! No wonder there are so many subcompact cars there. We went to Italy in 2006 and gas was like $6.40 a gallon. Smart cars all over the place.
Currently gas is now $3.42 a gallon her in lower NY. The highest I've ever seen it.
Ron

operagost · 02-17-2011, 01:14 PM

Electricity is .15/KWh. That will go down to .14 next month as I've switched suppliers.

Fuel oil is a brutal $3.20/gal. I paid over $500 for a delivery this week. I have R30 and a radiant barrier in part of the attic, plus about 2/3 of the house sits at 61F most of the time and 1/3 at 68. However, it's 2300 sq ft so it still burned over 160 gallons of oil last month with the low temps. I'm probably going to have to roll back the radiant barrier and just lay down more insulation once I finish some new wiring, because any effective heating upgrades from my 84% boiler cost in the five figures.

DrHicks · 02-17-2011, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fisher

We live in northern MN about 10 miles from the Canadian border, pretty much the coldest part of the nation. I feel it was a great investment. Heating bills for elec and or propane systems set up like ours are running around $500 to $1000 a month for a comparable home to ours.
thanks

Gotcha! I wondered if you were talking Minnesota. We lived in Southern Minnesota for close to 20 years, and it was extremely harsh with the relentless wind.

So your payback sounds fantastic. Great to hear!