A Related Winter Question
January 4th, 2008 at 11:43 am by Dee O'Neil Andrews
Hey!
We made it through the cold snap and it's now back up to 48 degrees here at nearly noon today. That's still cold for here, but not as bad as 17 degrees and a hard freeze for a couple of nights. I mean, we're talking about South Mississippi.
Now I understand it's supposed to be fairly warm all across the country for a few days. At least through the midwest. I see on this morning's news that California is having heavy wintery weather.
Here's a question for you today related to my last post. A lot of you stopped by to visit and to comment about your weather where you are. My question now is - what temperature do you keep your thermostat on in the winter both during the day and at night, if they are different?
Also, share what kind of heat you have in your house. Up until we moved to Picayune, we had natural gas heat and it was very economical around here. Now, in our new house we are all electric with a heat pump. So, I'm wondering how that is going to effect our utility bills (electric bill).
I am very cold natured, so have been keeping the thermostat in the house set during the day at 72, with the night temperature set at 68. However, I'm beginning to worry about the electric bill being high, so with the new year (and really cold weather!), I've decided to keep the daytime temperature at 68 with the night time temperature set at 65.
I'm thus going around with a sweatshirt jacket on all day long and Tom and I both wear them around in the evening while we're watching TV and stuff.
Tom taught me a "trick" to try to keep warm while sitting on the sofa reading or watching TV. He said (and it works) to hold a pillow close against my chest. Tom put his under his zip up jacket and that looked really funny. He looked hilarious! But, at least he was warm.
So . . . guys . . . what kind of heat do you have in your house and how do you keep it set by day and at night? Comment and share those and then we'll see if we need to share heating bills!
Cheers! & Blessings to you all today! Dee
we heat with wood, so I spent my time feeding the stove! and if the wind isn’t blowing hard , it stays warm,
it is 50 here today,but very windy! if you keep your head coverd you will stay warmer too!
have great weekend!
We heat with natural gas — which seems to work well around here (but is getting expensive). Our new church building uses geo thermal — nice heat, and relatively inexpensive (and environmentally friendly, for the tree-huggers out there).
My son is running the Blizzard Busters 5K tomorrow morning. The temperature is supposed to be in the low 30’s. Brrrrrr!
We have exactly the same…all electric with a heat pump. Get ready for the utility crunch! December was $250.00 with the Christmas lights and all. I can count on one hand the number of times our electric bill has been below $200.00 You will notice higher electric bills but not quite as high as ours because of the summer and running the pool pump. It got very close to $500.00 one month this past summer!
We are looking into new doors, windows and re-doing attic insulation to help lower the costs.
We have an electric heat pump but butane gas logs. They keep our den and bedroom warm so sometimes the heat pump don’t kick on. I would keep the thermostat at 68 all the time but David is the cold natured one…he will turn it up to 70 and 71….
If I have my lap top in my lap (which I usually do when I am at home) it keeps me very warm.
we have gas heating and keep it set around 68 most of the time. lower when we can handle it. we just dress warm. my comp is in the basement so I often need a fleece jacket or an extra layer down here
We currently heat with gas and keep the thermostat set at around seventy degrees, day or night. I think, however, we need a new thermostat because I’ve been feeling cold lately. Or maybe it’s because I’m a year older than I was last year.
While in college up north, I lived in a modified house trailer, complete with wood stove. The stove, being old and cheap, did not have a thermostat. We’d stoke the stove before bed and hoped the fire kept the place warm enough through the night. By the time morning rolled around, however, the fire was nothing more than barely glowing embers and, depending on how cold it was outside, I could see my breath as I’d trudge out to the living room. I’d throw a couple of logs into the stove and make coffee while I waited for the wood to burst into flame.
As long as the wind wasn’t from the North Northwest, we were fine. If we got a sustained wind from that direction over the course of the evening, however, and if the temperature hovered around zero, our water pipes would freeze. I found out that the pipes were frozen when I’d turn on the faucet to draw water for coffee and nothing would come out.
Nothing we tried–heat tape, sawdust, straw, burning light bulbs–would keep the pipes from freezing when the wind came from that direction. Fortunately, we had a set-up whereby we could remove the pipe fairly easily, bring it into the trailer, stoke the stove and wait for the pipe to thaw out.
We did this because, at the time, we were “poor” college students and this living arrangement was very economical. I do thank God that I graduated, started making money, and hope and pray I never need to do anything like this again.
I live in relatively balmy Houston, in a duplex on the south side, postage stamp yard - sheltered by close neighbors and am warm natured. SO I keep my heat turned off most of the time, turn the gas furnace on (68)to take a shower or when I have company, wear a warm up suit when I’m not moving around and enjoy shivering thinking about how hot (& expensive) the electricity will be in July running the AC.
We live in the Texas panhandle and have electric heat. One of the few areas where I have my way (I’m not a pet lover, but have three cats and a dog) is at the thermostat. I keep it cool, and everyone else complies. So far. I’ll be introducing Michele to the pillow technique so that my sinuses don’t get parched.
When I lived in New England, this Oklahoma boy finally found out what they meant by “home heating oil.” I’d always heard on the national news about the rising price of home heating oil, but had not a clue what it was. Oil-fired, hot-water heat is the best. No blowing air, drying you out. But the oil does get expensive. As the winter drags on, the prices get higher and higher.
We have all electric with a heat pump. We set our thermostat on 68 for most of the time. We have a fireplace we will use if it gets down into the 20’s, which it did the other night.
We usually don’t get lower than about mid 30’s here in Southeast Texas. So, we stay cool most of the time.
I also sleep with a window unit a/c right above my head and it runs all year! Of course, in the winter, the compressor doesn’t come on and therefore it is just air that is blowing. But I love the cool breeze on my face, even in the cold. We have a water bed and turn up the heater so that our feet and body stays warm. My husband thought I was crazy at first, but now he likes the “white noise” the a/c makes and even likes the cool air. So, we are probably not the people to ask about heating and cooling!
Our electric bill is so much lower now that we have a new system with the heat pump. And remember you don’t have a gas bill! So don’t forget to factor that in!
One of the very best gifts Ned ever got me was a heated throw. It uses hardly any electricity but this miniature electric blanket is wonderful, little dog and I use it everyday in the winter.
Blessings
Neva
We have natural gas heat, which we keep on 68 usually. Our house before this one was new and well insulated, and we had a heat pump. I really liked it - our bills were not bad at all. I keep throws around for sitting under on the sofa and watching TV or reading.
Alrighty. I hate to pay “the man” for a warm house! We have gas heat and our house is 20 yrs old - last year we used a nice chunk of change and laid insulation in the attic. That’s because it was cold in the house and the bills were bad!
Now it stays set at 65. If it’s really cold outside during the day (say 30 or below,) I may turn it up to 67 - BUT no higher! Then it goes back down at night.
Our bills are lower by about $75 - but it’s the summer that’s a killer….. (It stays on 78 to 80 and I’m HOT!)
Gas heat. This house is insulated so well, we don’t run the air or heat except when we’re home. The AC will cool the house down in minutes during the summer and the heat will warm it up quickly. Even when the temps drop down in the 30s at night, the house stays about 62 during the night. We turn on the heat at 6:30 and by 6:45 the house is toasty. I never cared much for the heat pumps, though. Just didn’t seem to really warm the house for me. Never had one but the people who do that we visited seemed to have a permanent chill to the house.
We live in southern New England and heat our four zoned older home with oil, hot-water baseboard heat. We have a thermostat in the kitchen that is on a timer. It is set to go on and off certain times of the day. The temp goes no higher than 70. The other areas of the downstairs are set at 65 and are only changed when someone will be in those areas for an extended time. The upstairs where the bedrooms and one bathroom are, are set for 60 degrees and stay that way all the time. We like to sleep with cool temps. In the bathroom, we have a Nutone combination heat, light and exhaust fan that works very well for the time one is in there to take a shower. Very adequate.