It’s time to turn on furnaces here for us in southern Ontario. The cold weather has finally arrived and brings with it the need to heat your home. We have a gas furnace that we call “The Beast” because it takes up a fair amount of space in an awkward spot in our basement and when it comes on you can hear it rumble to life. Our furnace has been around since our house was built in the 70’s. Needless to say I am sure it is not the most energy efficient but we hate to replace when it is still going strong. We have tossed around the idea of getting a new furnace but with having to put on a new roof, eaves and soffit this year the furnace is going to have to wait for another year or two. We have it cleaned every other year by a professional and replace the filters as needed to keep it running as effectively as it possibly can.
We also have a wood burning fire place in our living room and burn fires in it quite regularly in the cold months as it helps to keep the chill out of the first floor. We have it inspected and cleaned by a WETT certified chimney sweep on the opposite year of the furnace cleaning to make sure there are no problems and we certainly do not want a fire!
With a new furnace looming in the next few years it brings to mind other methods of heating. In our small town it is not uncommon for people to heat their homes with wood burning stoves. The house we rented before we purchased this one had been converted the year before we lived there from wood burning to a gas furnace. I imagine the gas furnace was just less of a hassle for the landlord to worry about. Wood burning stoves are a great economical means to heat your home if you have the desire to do so. Wood is cheaper to buy (off a farm by the cord: a cord is a wood pile measurement of 4ft tall by 4ft deep by 8 ft wide that wood is sold in). It can get you off the grid heating and be easier on your pocket. Wood burning stoves aren’t going to be for everyone and for some people they are the only means. By using a wood burning stove you could lessen your carbon foot print and be using a heating source that can be replenished.
Corn Pellet stoves are something else that could lessen your carbon footprint and have you using a heating source that can be re grown. When I was a child my friend’s farm house was heated by a corn pellet stove. At the time I thought it was something unique and different to them. As I have gotten older and look into more cost effective and “green” ways to heat my home I realize that corn burning stoves are another eco-friendly way to heat a home. Corn pellet stoves can heat your home for the cost of a bushel of corn per day.
There are also Pellet stoves that burn compressed wood or biomass pellets to create a source of heat. These stoves slowly feed fuel from a special storage compartment into the burn-pot area. There these stoves create a consistent flame that requires little to no effort on your part.
There are several methods to heating ones’ home that I have not covered. Some of these are hot water heat and electric base boards (we had electric base board heating in a rental we had in the city and it was quite pricey).
Of course I have missed some other means to keep your home comfortable so please feel free to share any others you know of.
Here are some final tips to help reduce your heating bill for the cold months.
- · Make sure you have sufficient insulation
- · Place plastic window kits over old and leaky windows if you cannot afford to get new windows.
- · Use insulation gaskets/covers behind you outlets and switches that are on outside walls.
- · Make sure weather stripping is intact on the bottom of outside doors.
- · Turn down your thermostat 5 to 10 degrees while you are out of the house.
- · Open your curtains to let in the sun. You might as well use the solar heat instead of paying for your heat.
- · Make sure heat vents are not covered by furniture. This will allow the hot air to better circulate through your home.
If anyone has any further tips for reducing heating bills please pass them on. We all like to save where we can!
It would not surprise me if your old furnace from the 70s is at best 60% efficient. If you replace it with a 95% efficiency furnace, you would save about one-third on your heating bill, which could be significant. I know you said you’re planning on doing it soon, but it may be worth it sooner depending on how much your current heating bill is.
The Feds are offering ecoENERGY grants on things like replacement furances until March I believe. We’re looking at replaceing our furnance and AC (7-8 grand) and stand to get about $1500 back in grants. Takes some of the sting out of it. Plus we’ll save some on our monthly gas and hydro billss.
5-10 Degrees when not home??? What do you heat your home at??? We keep ours at 20-21C during winter and turn it down 1-2 degrees at nt. No one should have their home over 21C, just wear a sweater!!!
We turn ours down 5 degrees when not home…I think that’s a great tip…might as well save when I’m not there…We usually heat at 20…and turn it down to 15 or so when we are going to be out…makes sense to me…just because you turn your heat down doesn’t mean you’re running it hot all the time…I like this post.
we keep our house at 21 in the winter and about 18 at night. when we’re gone for a few days I’ll turn it down to about 15.
We also have a furnace from the 70s that is still going strong. Our maintenance guy who comes every September (and who also sells furnaces) says that this Airco furnace was built so well and each year suggests that we keep it while its running well. He mentioned that the newer furnaces are more efficient but break down MUCH faster …. some people are replacing their furnaces every 10 years! So much for efficiency….
We have a gas fireplace upstairs which does the job quite nicely, so the main furnace really doesn’t get used a whole lot anyway….
When you burn wood, you’re releasing all the carbon that the tree absorbed. It is totally incorrect to say burning wood could lessen your carbon footprint.
I’m curious: how is burning wood (inefficiently, judging by the smoke in that photo) going to reduce one’s carbon footprint?
@Greg and @ecost
Here is a great article on using wood versus gas. It breaks down the meaning of carbon footprint for you as well so you can get a good idea how this is better for the environment.
http://stovesareus.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/how-a-wood-burning-stove-can-reduce-your-carbon-footprint/
@mouse
When I say 5 degrees less I am referring to Farenheit… sorry for being outdated but I can change the setting on my thermostat, LOL
As always, thanks for your input!
also, if you dont’ want to read the whole article, I pulled a sample that explains to save you time.
“As far as carbon footprints are concerned, the main difference between wood and fossil fuels is one of timescale. Fossils fuels such as coal were formed aeons ago from the slow decomposition of plant matter under pressure. Although fossil fuels contain CO2 which was absorbed from the atmosphere, this happened so long ago that release of the CO2 increases greenhouse gas levels. As the CO2 released by burning wood was recently taken from the atmosphere by the growing tree, its release doesn’t cause an increase in CO2 levels.”
One thing you don’t mention about wood burning to heat your home is that you can’t control the temperature. I used to rent a wood burning place and it was a pain. I would have to go outside in the snow to add more wood and the house was always boiling hot, it was even hard to sleep. And god forbid you ever let the fire die, the house got freezing and took forever to heat back up. I didn’t enjoy wood heat and would never have it in my own home.
I have a gas furnace and I keep it at 21-22, I hate being cold and it can go down to -50c at night here. It stays at that temperature all day and all night.
I find opening out blinds/drapes lets in more cold then heat from the Sun in the dead of winter, esp on blustery days keep em closed! We have newere windows.
How much does everyone spend to heat their home? Im maybe $80 per month in s 2000sq home.
Our Gas Bill runs around 150-170 in a cold month…but our Hot Water Tank uses gas to heat as well as the furnace.
Information from a woodstove vendor might be a little biased, because I think, “[a]s the CO2 released by burning wood was recently taken from the atmosphere by the growing tree, its release doesn’t cause an increase in CO2 levels,” is a bit disingenuous.
Of course burning wood releases CO2, and of course it increases CO2 levels, relative to the level that existed before the tree was cut down and burned.
If we stopped using fossil fuels and started just burning wood, we’d have to cut down all the trees, the CO2 levels would rise just as surely as if we’d burned fossil fuels — and we’d no longer have trees as a CO2 sink.
Also, because I’d have to guess that most wood burning stoves don’t burn nearly as efficiently as natural gas furnaces do, and there’s a lot more other nasties (e.g. particulates) produced when burning wood, I just don’t see that chopping down trees to burn them for heat can be touted as a truly “green” alternative.
@greg
Thanks for your continuing feedback. Discussion is highly encouraged!
One of the great things about wood versus gas is that trees can be regrown. In moderation and with good regrowth plans wood is an excellent replacement to fossil fuels.
I also agree with you that there are ways you can poke holes in ‘green’ arguments. My best practice for helping my budget has been to use the furnace to bring the house to a comfortable level and just burn wood to keep things warm after that. Rather than trying to get the fireplace to heat the whole home it just keeps it cozy at a lower cost than running the furnace constantly. I won’t recommended anyone replace an efficient furnace with a wood stove but striking a balance can be a boon to your budget and our environment.
Can i buy a portable solar power heater at a store premade ? ..and how kuch ? and where can i buy ? …pls i need help my parents never use the heat cuz they r living off of pension cheques …and their house is soo cold 🙁
We use gas for heating – in the middle of the prairies where winters can be down to -45, we need good and reliable heat!
In winter, we keep the thermostat around 20, nighttime 18 – but it depends upon how the wind is blowing, because our bedrooms don’t get heat well. At night, body heat and a great comforter keep us warm; in the daytime, put on a bunny hug!
We are on equalized payments, which is awesome – we pay about $90 for our duplex; I don’t know the square footage, it’s quite large, three bedrooms up, full finished basement.
$80 a month!!! That is insane…. I wish! I live in a 3500 sq ft home that is brand new August 2010. We have hydronic radiant floor heating and we pay about $400 a month during the 2 coldest months. We thought that was great, as we have friends who pay 6-700 a month. We are in Nova Scotia. We keep our home at about 22 degrees all day and night.
We also heat our water with gas as well. I wonder what the gas prices are there?
We have a wood pellet stove and I love it! It does use a little electricity to run the fan and auger to drop the pellets but that thing can pump out heat! It has a turn dial that adjusts the fan and pellet output so you can control how hot it gets 🙂 We buy pellets in 40lb bags and use about 100 per year. It heats the entire first floor of our house and the heat doesn’t cut in much in the bedrooms above. Wood heat is different than electric heat and our house is generally 23-24 degrees in the winter with not too much cost!
We have a duel system electric/ thermopump, gas is not that popular here and it’s too expensive relative to electric. Montreal has now banned wood stoves although there is a grandfather clause. It’s not the wood that people burn it’s all the other stuff they burn in their stoves that concerns me(but that’s a whole other can of worms)
We have oil heating that runs both the furnace and the hot water heater. We don’t do budget heating, but we’re in a 3 story town house (probably around 2000 sq ft) and last year the oil costs were around $2000. Keep in mind it’s an older (read, poorly insulated) condo that we do not have the option of reinsulating. During the day and no one is at home, as well as overnight the temp is set at 62, and then in the evenings it’s set around 68. We’re going to try to lower our oil costs more this winter by lots of snuggling and blankets 🙂 We’ll see how it goes.
IN 2009 we replaced an outdated furnace and air conditioner as well as insulated our attic and crawl space. Our home is 1100 sq ft. and my heating bills went from $180 in the coldest months to $75. The installation of furnace, air conditioner and insulation had a total cost of $11,000. The total rebates from the dealer and government was just under $7000. Anyone with an old heating system should definitely look into the ecoEnergy program. It made a huge difference in my heating bills.
We have our gas furance, but we also have a wood burning stove. My husband always has a fire burning it during the cooler months. We cut our own firewood, as we live in central Alberta and a firewood permit costs $10 for us to drive a hour to chop standing dead trees down on crown land. Two trailer loads and we are good for the winter. My only problem with it is my husband sometimes has our house to hot for my liking! But i just keep the master bedroom door closed so our room still is a bit cool for sleeping.
We live on Vancouver Island. Our option doesn’t work for extreme weather (it’s a severe cold front if we hit -10 for more than a couple of days…), but for our climate, a heat pump is UNBEATABLE. We spend 1/2 the average, and have a warm house in winter and cold in the summer. Original cost is more, but you save the $ by year 2 or 3. We have had wood stoves, and would prefer it, but air conditioning in summer is great.
wow, it’s interesting to read people’s heating costs. We have a gas furnace that also heats our hot water, and we pay $65 per month on equal billing for gas. We rarely set the thermostat above 70 (Fahrenheit) and at night it goes down to 62. My kids have learned to snuggle under blankets and they don’t mind except in the morning when they have to leave their snug cocoon!
Yikes Carol, 68 is the legal minimum for renters etc, 62 is pretty cool even for at night.
I have to disagree with the comment about opening the curtains… If you have curtains keeping them CLOSED with keep the heat IN! Buy some fabric, make THICK curtains… you won’t regret it!
We spend about $600+ a month on oil during the coldest months (the ones with -45C and windchill), but that’s mostly because our furnace is not the only thing that runs on oil… our hot water heater does as well. Plus, most of our windows are broken, our insulation is just cardboard (I’m NOT joking! Thin pieces of cardboard boxes are the only thing keeping the heat in and the cold out), we have holes all over the walls and floors… it’s a condemned home, basically. Heat does not like to stay in. It likes to leave.
We haven’t turned our furnace on yet, though. It’s barely hit 0 degrees up north. When it hits -15, then we’ll turn our furnace on. Maybe. We’re considering going furnace free this winter because it’s supposed to snow a lot (snow is a GREAT insulator). And we’re too broke to pay for an oil bill right now. Low finances are good inspiration for not turning the furnace on. 🙂
I pay $260/mth equal billing on propane and basically heat the 1075 sq ft house with a free standing fireplace. My hydro is $175/mth equal billing and we use an electric fireplace and a couple of baseboard heaters. We turn the heat down at night and during the day when no one is home. Our house by any means is not hot, I wish gas was an option for us.
i love going to bed with a hot water bottle when it’s cold.
@everyone discussing CO2 and carbon foot print. I wanted to clarify that burning wood/pellets and or other biofuels is considered carbon neutral, ie it is not contributing to global warming as the plants have sequestered C02 (taken it out of the atmosphere) and burning then puts it back in (so the equation is balanced). However very often it can reduce your impact on the environment because you need to burn less wood to get the same amount of heat in relation to the amount of energy you would use if you had gas or electric heating. I believe the best option is using switchgrass pellets as they are completely renewable, the crop can be harvested every year, and the grass is grown on marginal land so space for growing food crops is not reduced. Unfortunately this option is not readily available in many areas of canada yet. Cornell University is doing some great research on this topic if anyone has any further interest in it.
If you have thermal mass and good windows, definitely keep the south facing windows uncovered, cover the ones on the north. Google “passive solar heating”. I don’t have a house designed for passive solar, but it helps with a lot of south facing windows and ceramic tile floor.
Nothing beats sleeping in cozy warm socks. Keeps the toes from freezing. The cats stay warm by cuddling next to me. ha
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2 More Tips for Canadian. ( I’m french, I will try to explain this the best I can. )
If you have a garage, do a garage sale in the fall, clean it and make place to park your car all winter long inside. The heat produce by the hot engine is enough to warm the floor of the room above the garage for a few hours.
I have a town house, our garage is under the kitchen and dining room and it has 2 places. We do the opposite in the summer, leave the car outside and save on A/C!!!
Second tip, this one is easy. Use a clean furnace filter all winter your furnace fan will run smoothly and energy cost will be lower. In french, toujours utiliser un filtre à fournaise propre!
Happy winter.
Jean Nichols
Filtration Montreal
With Hydro One and Enbridge Gas hiking their rates by 40% in the next 12-18 mths….I am definitely instaling a wood burning stove in my home. Firewood in my area sells for $75/$100 a cord (4′ X 5′ X 8′). I estimated that it will take me 6-7 cords to heat my home for 5 months.