Bigprairie1
Commander
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2007
- Messages
- 2,568
Ok,
I thought I would put this out there to see if anyone else ever does this or has extra ideas on saving some $$dough going into fall...and have a little fun doing it.
We are trying for the second year in a row to push 'down' our winter heating bill. Now, our house is an older 'heritage' style house from the late 20's/early 30's so although updated, it is not batting 1000 on all fronts for heating efficiency. We do have a new furnace, wiring, well insulated roof and basement and 'some' storm windows on the original (nicely stained) wooden windows.
So what we have been doing is increasing insulation where we can, sealing all the cracks around the windows roof/rafter interfaces, new weatherstripping on the doors and original windows, etc, etc and adding storm (thermopane) windows particular on the vulnerable sides of the house. We have about another 6-8 windows to go before they are all doubled up.
The one thing we have a lot of fun with tho' is leaving the furnace off as long as we can to sort of see 'how long we can go' before we feel the need to turn it on. We have a nice old fireplace so sometimes I will throw on a few logs and bring up the house temp a bit in the evenings.
When you adjust to an increasingly cooler day and evening on a day by day basis its amazing how well you adjust....slowly adding an undershirt or long sleeved shirt, etc.
Now, so far this season our weather is absolutely great...still! We are getting our days in the 18?-23?C. (65? to 75?f) range which is near perfect temperature for me.
Last year we had guests come in late October so in order to keep things comfortable we turned it on....primarily for them and then that was our turning point I guess.
We don't have any actual numbers on how much money this is actually saving us....and I'm sure its more than we think, but its fun and an interesting thing to try.
Next year we might work to get an 'airtight' fireplace insert installed which could arguably get us through one complete winter without the furnace on.
Sidenote: Up here in Victoria- B.C....we have a pretty mild climate compared to some parts of the north. Our climate is probably very much in step with what you find out of the West Virginia or thereabouts.....for reference sake. So we don't get the 1-2 months of snow, blizzards, ice, etc, etc that you find elsewhere. We do howevere.....get the rain....hence the great rainforest beauty of this part of the world.
Any good ideas on improving and saving some dough are always appreciated guys....so let me know if you have any.
My two bits.
BP
I thought I would put this out there to see if anyone else ever does this or has extra ideas on saving some $$dough going into fall...and have a little fun doing it.
We are trying for the second year in a row to push 'down' our winter heating bill. Now, our house is an older 'heritage' style house from the late 20's/early 30's so although updated, it is not batting 1000 on all fronts for heating efficiency. We do have a new furnace, wiring, well insulated roof and basement and 'some' storm windows on the original (nicely stained) wooden windows.
So what we have been doing is increasing insulation where we can, sealing all the cracks around the windows roof/rafter interfaces, new weatherstripping on the doors and original windows, etc, etc and adding storm (thermopane) windows particular on the vulnerable sides of the house. We have about another 6-8 windows to go before they are all doubled up.
The one thing we have a lot of fun with tho' is leaving the furnace off as long as we can to sort of see 'how long we can go' before we feel the need to turn it on. We have a nice old fireplace so sometimes I will throw on a few logs and bring up the house temp a bit in the evenings.
When you adjust to an increasingly cooler day and evening on a day by day basis its amazing how well you adjust....slowly adding an undershirt or long sleeved shirt, etc.
Now, so far this season our weather is absolutely great...still! We are getting our days in the 18?-23?C. (65? to 75?f) range which is near perfect temperature for me.
Last year we had guests come in late October so in order to keep things comfortable we turned it on....primarily for them and then that was our turning point I guess.
We don't have any actual numbers on how much money this is actually saving us....and I'm sure its more than we think, but its fun and an interesting thing to try.
Next year we might work to get an 'airtight' fireplace insert installed which could arguably get us through one complete winter without the furnace on.
Sidenote: Up here in Victoria- B.C....we have a pretty mild climate compared to some parts of the north. Our climate is probably very much in step with what you find out of the West Virginia or thereabouts.....for reference sake. So we don't get the 1-2 months of snow, blizzards, ice, etc, etc that you find elsewhere. We do howevere.....get the rain....hence the great rainforest beauty of this part of the world.
Any good ideas on improving and saving some dough are always appreciated guys....so let me know if you have any.
My two bits.
BP
