Speaking of heating this winter, can anyone tell me how to

[yy4me]

determine what to use? We have a furnace that does a fairly good job for this old house. I will keep it at 60 degrees. In one room however, an addition attached to the rear, is one of the Hydro-sil electric baseboard heaters. It works fine and replaced an old gas baseboard that gave up the ghost. We also have an opportunity to borrow one of the electric heating stoves. I'm not sure what they are called but it looks like an old small cast iron stove. It throws off plenty of heat for this room too. It is not an element exposed space heater. It is sold as a heating appliance.

Since I can use either, how do I figure out which one will be the most economical to use. I will, like everyone else, be paying over $4.00 a gallon for oil to heat this place this winter. I don't have the money but I'll figure out something. If I can save on the electric bill-which has already taken a big jump- it will be great.

You must be aware I don't know a watt from a volt. My speed is 1 to 10 on the dial. Can you suggest how I might judge which to use?

[Kolesar]

1. The portable, radiant heater will radiate heat right at you with invisible infrared rays

The rays are essentially light with a longer wavelength that your eyes cannot see.

The baseboard heater works by heating the air in the room as it passes over the "elements". The air heats up and rises and spreads through the room by convection.

The radiator will more quickly heat you when you enter the room. If you can operate the heater by turning it on every time you occupy the room, the radiant heater should make you more comfortable per amount of electricity that you consume.

Not that it matters for which electric heater you use, but what does electricity cost where you live? Here it is $0.13/kilowatt*hour.

[yy4me]

2. Just got my bill this week, we are paying .098 per KWH plus

a few other charges I don't understand
PPA .055 per KWH and a base charge of 4.25. Not explained, is this a charge just to have electricity, I wonder?

I have by bill in front of me.
It shows usage for usage and degree days from last year.
I can certainly tell which months I use the most electricity but lights and dryer, small appliances and the computer use electricity too. I have unplugged just about everything I can think of and switch the computer off at the power cord every PM. For August of this year, it says I have 32 days of service, monthly usage of 230, degree days 7. Doesn't look like much but the winter figure for last year, February for example, 30 days of service, monthly usage 1140, degree days 1108. Just with this little info, you can see what I am facing. I really don't know what to do buy it certainly looks animus.

PS, I'm from Massachusetts and am told that our Municipal light company has rates better than many others. I have to handle this bill with the fuel oil too. Since I cannot turn this heater off, I'm in trouble. We have a small bathroom off this room. The pipes will freeze. I have no option but to leave one of these heaters on 24 hours a day.

I never thought I'd see this.

[CC]

3. yy4me I know you have had a major change

so want to suggest if you haven't already, see if you qualify for home heating help. Not sure where to tell you to go from where you are but find out and start application the process. This year they decided to not mail applications at all, even to those that qualified last year where I am. There is a deadline to when you can apply though. :hug:

[old mark]

5. We applied for Pennsylvania's assistance program

and were told we don't use enough electricity to qualify.

We are too efficient and paid our bills, so we did not qualify.

yy4me: try to do everything you can to insulate your home - it will save you a lot of oil and electricity bu keeping heat inside. Especially check around windows.

Good luck.

mark

[hippywife]

4. Gads!

If I were you, I'd close off all the rooms I possibly could and plan on camping in the one with the heater day and night...everybody! I would definitely be living with just that one room, the kitchen and bath and that would be it. I'm dead serious, not kidding in the least.

I wish you luck getting through this. :hug:

[elocs]

12. Coming in late, but I will be doing this--camping out in my kitchen/living room & bathroom.

I live in a 12 x 60 mobile home and it is just right for me by myself. I will close off my bedrooms so they just stay above freezing and just heat the rooms where I will be: the kitchen/living room and bathroom.

My personal 9/11 story is when my full fuel oil tank fell over that evening and that was a disaster. The fuel oil company promised another one, but never delivered so I heated my home with electric space heaters that winter. I have ever since and I am very satisfied with it being more efficient and keeping the rooms more evenly warm. Plus, it give me a lot more control over exactly how and which rooms are heated.

[pengillian101]

6. Hello!

I imagine your older home where you need to keep one room warmer than the rest must be where your pipes are.

There is a thread here that might be helpful. Good luck!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=287x6865

Dang, it's getting fall-like in northern MN already. We had new windows installed 2 years ago. They are worse than the old ones. The installer needs to fix the caulking or something. Seriously, on a windy rainy day w/windows closed - there is a whistling breeze!

Yikes, winter will be here before we know it. The window installer was here today about another job and said he'd check it out and fix it. Fingers crossed. We prepaid our propane delivery double what we bought last year - dollar wise. Hope it's enough.

Good luck to all of us folks needing heat this winter :hi:

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pengillian101]

9. Talk to self much?

Only when my posts get deleted.

[Longhorn]

10. Sometimes you get that error message if you have another DU window open.

I took 'em out. No biggie. :hi:

[pengillian101]

11. Thanks! n/t