What type heating do you have?

I have radient floor heating using a hot water tank fueled by propane and a pellet stove. The floor heat is wonderful- you feel so warm at a lower tempertatue but propane is expensive. The pellet stove has the advantage of being on a thermostat and as long as the hopper is full, the stove runs itself. For me a bag of pellets usually lasts 2-3 days depending on the temperature. A bag costs about $6 here.
The bad thing with the pellet stove is that it needs electricity to run. We lose power a lot around here. Need to run the generator to keep warm. I want a wood stove back up but I simple don't want to find and store the wood needed for heating all winter but for back up, I think it's important.
The other thing with pellets is availablilty- I usually stock up in mid-winter and have never run out- it's easy to store bags in the garage.

I don't have free wood and it's expensive to have it delivered.
 
We heat with wood only, and I have the same concerns that you do about not being able to be there 24/7 and worry about pipes etc.

Have you looked into Monitor heaters?

http://www.monitorheat.com/oil_products.html

I don't know what Kerosene costs now, nor the price of the unit, but these types are popular around here and in the States.

Anyone out there with Monitor heater experience?
 
We have oil heat. Can't recommend that, although since prices have gone down this year, it's a little less painful to fill up.
 
We have natural gas, and I am thankful for it. The neighbours don't have the pipeline to their homes, so they have to heat with propane. Natural gas is so much cheaper.

We are planning on putting a woodstove in the basement when we refinish it though.
 
johnElarue said:
We heat with wood only, and I have the same concerns that you do about not being able to be there 24/7 and worry about pipes etc.

Have you looked into Monitor heaters?

http://www.monitorheat.com/oil_products.html

I don't know what Kerosene costs now, nor the price of the unit, but these types are popular around here and in the States.

Anyone out there with Monitor heater experience?
Click to expand...
That's interesting. We have 2 kerosene stoves, but the smell when first lit and when extinguished is obnoxious. I see this is vented but can it be on when no one is home? I never leave my portable models on if I'm gone. Here kerosene at a pump is $3.99 gal but
$12 gal at a box store.
 
we only have electric heat, and I am always worried about a power out. I want a wood stove REALLY REALLY BAD...
 
miss_thenorth said:
We have natural gas, and I am thankful for it. The neighbours don't have the pipeline to their homes, so they have to heat with propane. Natural gas is so much cheaper.

We are planning on putting a woodstove in the basement when we refinish it though.
Click to expand...
Can't get natural gas here because no pipelines around. We had it at our previous house and it was $400 mo. It is more like $650 a month now and priced beyond us even if it were an option. At the time we owned both homes with this one we are in now our summer /vacation home. We sold the other with the gas because this was cheaper to maintain and wheelchair accessible.

Propane is very expensive now, too. When they first offered it, it was such a deal and most converted to it from oil and natural gas. It's been higher than gas recently. On the other hand, because we primarily use wood we wouldn't use as much propane/oil as we would without wood. DH hates the idea of propane with a woodstove for safety concerns.
 
We have electric baseboard heat and a wall mounted electric heater with a fan. Up until this winter it was our main source of heat. It is easy to use but can be expensive with the cost of electricity. If the power goes out so does the heat.

Our primary source is now the wood burning stove. My wood is all free unless you include the cost of chainsaw, fuel, and oil. My time is free. It is dirty, we have to sweep the wood mess all the time and it does take time and effort to cut, split, and everything else involved with wood heating.

If we are gone then the electric kicks in to keep the pipes and houseplants from freezing.
 
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