HELP! My Heating Bill is $500 a Month!

[mrbstephens]

We bought our house in October of this year. It's a 3 bedroom 1600 square foot contemporary. It has a small insert fireplace and oil hot water base board heaters and the hot water heater runs off the oil furnace as well. Lots of windows(love them) and high ceilings. It's currently costing us $500 a month in oil to heat it. I keep the thermostats at 60 at night and 62 during the day. At 62, it's cold. The floors in most of the house are tile or wood. The tile is like ice. I use the fireplace as often as I can(I'm home everyday with the kids). When the fireplace is going I use the ceiling fan to keep the heat off the ceiling.

We're in the process of trying to decide which is most economical and environmentally friendly to get this house heating at a lower cost to us. We're thinking radiant floor heating put into the rafters in the basement to heat the ground floor. This would be 2 out of the 3 bedrooms and living area. The upstairs is the master suite and we don't mind that being a bit cooler). We're also thinking we'll replace the fireplace insert with a more efficient one and maybe adding another heating zone. When the fireplace is going, the living area is nice and warm, but the children's rooms are very cold. I think the one thermostat on ground floor needs to be moved to the diningroom and one added closer to the kids rooms.

Does anyone have any thoughts? We figured out to install the radiant floor heating, it will cost us close to $1000(my husband will install it and we'll pay a pro to hook it up). How much will it cut our heating bill? Is it worth it? Any other suggestions?

Thanks guys! I really value your opinions!

 

[chickenjoe]

Let the light in on south of the house you say it has lot of window. Wear sweater and slipper to keep you feet and body warm. I would replace the fireplace insert with a wood stove. fireplaces most of the heat goes up the chimmey. There are plans for solar space heater that use soda can to heat the rooms.

 

[THEFAN]

If we were on oil it would cost us 700.00 a month in Dec, Jan and Feb each and 1 fill up for Oct, NOv, Mrch in April. 4 fill ups for heat and 1 for water a yr. 5 fill ups roughly at 4.00 a gal with a 225 gal tank. OUCH!! We did everything to cut it down before we installed a cookstove. Insulated everything and everywhere. Turn the thermo down and that helped. The real help was the woodstove. We are down to 2 fill ups a yr now. WOOHOOO. With oil INHO you hit a wall where you just can't save anymore. Even if you off set with electric you'll pay because those rates are climbing. Good luck We had the same problem when we moved into the family house on an island near the ocean. BURRR!!!

 

[mrbstephens]

Yes, most of the windows are southern facing.

 

[mtnviewfarms]

ditto chicken joe's reply - typing one fingered after hand surgery. we have a propane fueled furnace but could no longer afford to use it for last 3 winters - north ga mtns - put in wood burning soapstone - Heritage - 3 yrs ago and it heats 2,000 sf one flr home - outer rooms not 'toasty' but as cj said - socks and sweaters vs huge power bills.

 

[mrbstephens]

ditto chicken joe's reply - typing one fingered after hand surgery. we have a propane fueled furnace but could no longer afford to use it for last 3 winters - north ga mtns - put in wood burning soapstone - Heritage - 3 yrs ago and it heats 2,000 sf one flr home - outer rooms not 'toasty' but as cj said - socks and sweaters vs huge power bills.

We do socks and sweaters.....sometimes I wear my coat. Thing is.....it's been a mild winter and the furnace is almost constantly running.

 

[Beekissed]

http://www.outdoor-wood-furnace-boiler.com/outdoor-wood-furnace-installation.htm

Consider it a one-time, upgrade investment on your home. The only thing I wouldn't do with this system is depend on it to keep your hot water warm, which would require you keep it burning all year round....I'd have an electric hot water tank on a timer.

Even if you don't have your own access to free wood, it can be obtained from many cheap sources if you have a good truck and take the time to shop around, scrounge for free, remove trees for folks, etc.

With this system you don't have to worry about heat zones and such, any room that is currently being heated by your existing duct work will be heated by this furnace...only better and cheaper.

 

[TheMartianChick]

We're in Upstate NY (Onondaga County), so we're used to pretty rough winters. The first thing that you must do is find where your heat is leaking. If the furnace runs almost nonstop, then the house isn't able to hold the heat in. The furnace should kick on to raise the temperature to whatever you set it at and cut off when it reaches the desired temperature.

To check for leaks, turn off the furnace. Use a lit candle to check for drafts. Take the candle near every window and see if the candle starts to flicker. For now, those windows will need to have plastic put up to cut the drafts. Next take the candle to each room and check the outlets to see if they are letting cold air in. If so, insulate them with the pre-made styrofoam pieces that are pre cut to fit outlets. Check the New York State Energy Smart program information for your area. There are places where you might be able to get (at least) a few of the foam pieces for free.

Also look around all of the walls and seek out cracks. Fill any large cracks with foam insulation and small ones with caulk. Those little cracks really let alot of warm air escape from a house. Look in the basement and see if there is any insulation beneath your floorboards. If not, now is a good time to add some. A good staple gun and some batts of fiberglass-type insulation will make a tremendous difference in floor temperature.

Lastly, most oil furnaces are rather inefficient for heating in really cold temperatures. If you are going to replace your current system, consider a forced air system or (at the very least) have an expert evaluate your current system for efficiency. The Energy Smart program may be able to make this type of evaluation more affordable or even free. Regardless of what type of heating system you eventually decide on, you do have to address the heat loss issues or you will always be overspending for your home heating needs. Whether you are losing $50 a month or $500 a month, you always want to seal your house up tight to keep more money in your pocket.

 

[chickenjoe]

How old is the house. If it 60 years or older you probably have little to no insulation in the house. I would see if you can get someone that does energy audit. Have them use a thremal camera to see if it is insulated. Then you would have to do blown insulation. You might be able to get one for free rom the gas and electric co. What it cost you to get it done will save you in the long run.

If you live where there are natural gas hookup. It might be worth you wild to change to NG furnance. I wouldn'y switch to LP it would be about the same as oil.

 

[Joel_BC]

How old is the house. If it 60 years or older you probably have little to no insulation in the house. I would see if you can get someone that does energy audit. Have them use a thremal camera to see if it is insulated. Then you would have to do blown insulation. You might be able to get one for free rom the gas and electric co. What it cost you to get it done will save you in the long run.

If you live where there are natural gas hookup. It might be worth you wild to change to NG furnance. I wouldn'y switch to LP it would be about the same as oil.

I'm in Canada and I've got a house that holds heat - not built that long ago and has good insulation. There's no doubt it would be a good investment, for the long run - if the resident could afford the up-front investment.

But I've heard for a long time about adding blown-in insulation with older frame houses. It's always sounded like a pretty good option, from a technical standpoint. I wonder, though, how much it tends to cost? Like for, say, a 1500sq ft house. $500/month, as mentioned in the subject line of this thread, could easily add up to $1000-2000 spent on heating in a winter. The decision to blow-in insulation would have to take into account the investment versus the likely savings.