Tips on saving money going into Fall.....ideas?

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Tips on saving money going into Fall.....ideas?

I made a few thermal heaters from a piece of black stove-pipe and a 2x6 as a base. placed them in front of the southern windows to heat the rooms.

...I've never heard of or seen this? Is this like a 4ft vertical simple piece of stove pipe? Does this work? Interesting idea....any pics?

Interesting comments as well about the 1923 house vs. the newer houses. The older character houses are very much in demand and popular still vs. most of the newer stucco jobs. The older/character homes are assocated with some of the older 'leafy' neighbourhoods, etc vs. the new sub-division stucco stuff which is not overly popular except for those on a budget or young families....but hey, different strokes.
all good
BP

 

[nwcove]

Re: Tips on saving money going into Fall.....ideas?

...I've never heard of or seen this? Is this like a 4ft vertical simple piece of stove pipe? Does this work? Interesting idea....any pics?

Interesting comments as well about the 1923 house vs. the newer houses. The older character houses are very much in demand and popular still vs. most of the newer stucco jobs. The older/character homes are assocated with some of the older 'leafy' neighbourhoods, etc vs. the new sub-division stucco stuff which is not overly popular except for those on a budget or young families....but hey, different strokes.
all good
BP

ive done alot of reading on solar curtains, and other indoor solar collectors, and the consensus was that there is no thermal advantage to this approach. ( wish i could understand the science behind that conclusion!) but the popcan outdoor panels work amazingly well when you recycle indoor air. and if you use one of those small "boat type" electric solar panels to run a 12v fan.....its free heat after the initial investment is recooped.

 

[jkust]

Re: Tips on saving money going into Fall.....ideas?

While our house is closer to 5500 square feet with a couple thousand more of expansion space unused, it isn't that old but was built with full masonry fireplaces, with 40+ foot brick chimneys. In other words built with less of a cost cutting aproach as opposed to having had gas firplaces as was commonplace to keep costs down. Two things that helped a bit for us: One was to convert the family room fireplace to a gas insert with a furnace rating and a high output fan. Literally the best $ i've spent in my life and two was replace anything not brick on the house with Hardiplank siding. When they install hardiplank of course they recover your house in house wrap but they also cover it with sheet metal then the siding if it is done up to the Hardi standard. That keeps the wind down among other attritubutes or at least it did for us. Energy costs for our house here in MN are astronomical and any little bit helps. I had a full home energy audit done not the abbreviated one and there was very few things to point to that needed any correction. For us high energy costs are a way of life. When they instituted the graduated natural gas pricing where the more you use the more you pay per therm, it got pretty expensive. Of course I knew it would be challenged as unfair, it was and was removed.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Tips on saving money going into Fall.....ideas?

hurricanes are like tornadoes with warning. that being stated, back to the thread of reducing heating costs.

my old 1923 house (a few houses ago) was great, however sucked in winter. after fully insulating the walls (because a sheet of newspaper wasnt going to cut it), a new furnace, etc. I added storms, 3M shrink wrap, used seal-n-peel caulk to seal up the sashes for winter. every little bit helped

I made a few thermal heaters from a piece of black stove-pipe and a 2x6 as a base. placed them in front of the southern windows to heat the rooms. I also wore a lot of sweat shirts, kept the house at 64, and slept under a 6" down feather quilt.

sold the house to move up. then eventually got sick of winter and took a job in Florida.

It is nothing more than a 3' section of black stove pipe sitting vertical in a semi-uncoiled position. the sun would warm it, and it would in turn warm the room.

and yes, there is nothing like original cherry trim molding and crown molding on old houses as apposed to the white painted stucco carp in Florida.