I turned on the heat

[Woodsplitter67]

After 30 hours of high winds, I actually turned on the heat. My heater hasn't run in over 2 years. It got cold in the house this morning when I woke up like 64ish.. Been quiet some time that I had forgotten to turn the thermostat back on. Most times I set the thermostat to the mid 60s and it never goes on. Been a while since its gotten this cold with a good sustained wind. I had the heat on along with the stove running this morning.. evened out the house temperature and let the stove run.. I turned the heat back like 10am and the house stayed at 72 today. Heat only ran for couple hours today.. I also have a gas fireplace on a thermostat.. that was set to low. like 61.. why I dont know.. Got all the thermostats set correctly now.. guess sometimes when you go with out doing thing for a while.. you forget to check on them..
I'm totally against having the heat on. I dont like any utility bills or I try to pay as little as I can. I felt ok turning it on as I look back I spent no money on oil last year and at the most may spend 50 bucks heating my house this winter... so thats not bad ...

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

What gas fireplace do you have?

 

[marty319]

64 ish lol.i get up some mornings in this drafty old cottage and its 55ish.

 

[begreen]

Our cold wave has made its way across the country. Don't be afraid to supplement with the central heating system when necessary. It's good to exercise the equipment and running it occasionally may stop pipes from freezing.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I use to get bent out of shape when I heard the furnace kick on. I’ve since come to terms with the fact that when it’s really cold out the encore just needs a little help. It’s rare though. It has to be below 15F over night for it kick on so it really isn’t a big deal. It’s also nice to know the house will be fine if I’m away to long and miss a reload.

 

[gthomas785]

I knew it was time when I had the stove cranking at 650F and I was sitting across the room feeling a cold draft down my back. This house has air leaks all over the place that I'm slowly picking away at but I really notice it when it gets down into the low teens or single digits. The stove just has no hope of keeping up.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

What gas fireplace do you have?

I have 2 American hearth one downstairs and one upstairs.. the one up on the main floor is on a remote thermostat.. which is great if I remember to se it correctly ..
how u been man

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Our cold wave has made its way across the country. Don't be afraid to supplement with the central heating system when necessary. It's good to exercise the equipment and running it occasionally may stop pipes from freezing.

the stove does such a good job that the majority of the time that I forget to set them.. only take for the house to get below 66 and thats enough of a reminder ..

 

[Woodsplitter67]

64 ish lol.i get up some mornings in this drafty old cottage and its 55ish.

bro...55s like cold.. what do u sleep in.. thermals...

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I knew it was time when I had the stove cranking at 650F and I was sitting across the room feeling a cold draft down my back. This house has air leaks all over the place that I'm slowly picking away at but I really notice it when it gets down into the low teens or single digits. The stove just has no hope of keeping up.

I'm lucky.. my home is not drafty and its all 2x6 outer wall construction.. the wind though will beat up any wood framed house..

 

[MoDoug]

I'm on the other end of the spectrum, we just passed our 1 year anniversary with a wood stove and I'm appreciating how little the furnace has been used. Little by little, the stove is paying for itself!

 

[begreen]

I'm lucky.. my home is not drafty and its all 2x6 outer wall construction.. the wind though will beat up any wood framed house..

I helped my sister and brother-in-law build their house in NYS in the early 80s. It's staggered 2x4 wall construction, meticulously sealed and vapor barriered. It's about 2400 sq ft with a full shop basement. In a bad winter they use about 2 cords to heat the place. I imagine this week they have started up the wood-fired boiler. Otherwise, when it's above 20º they heat the place with a built-in wood-fired oven and from heat generated by the solar greenhouse.

 

[marty319]

bro...55s like cold.. what do u sleep in.. thermals...

Thats only when it drops into -30s ,and after the stove has burned for 8 hours,hey the wiener dog under the covers keeps us warm

 

[MoDoug]

Thats only when it drops into -30s ,and after the stove has burned for 8 hours,hey the wiener dog under the covers keeps us warm

Three dog night! Loved that band!

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Thats only when it drops into -30s ,and after the stove has burned for 8 hours,hey the wiener dog under the covers keeps us warm

I'm starting to appreciate heat more as I get older.. I work outside every day all day.. Im starting to see my wife's point of view... Florida is looking nice and she likes Palm tree's..Id move there because the taxes are better...

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I'm starting to appreciate heat more as I get older.. I work outside every day all day.. Im starting to see my wife's point of view... Florida is looking nice and she likes Palm tree's..Id move there because the taxes are better...

As a fellow landscaper who spends most of his life outside I’m leaning the opposite way. I love winter. In fact I would move to the Upper Peninsula if I could make the same amount of money up there as I do down here in south eastern Michigan

 

[Woodsplitter67]

As a fellow landscaper who spends most of his life outside I’m leaning the opposite way. I love winter. In fact I would move to the Upper Peninsula if I could make the same amount of money up there as I do down here in south eastern Michigan

I dont have that much more time untill retirement... Its getting old, the ground is tough to work with.. I have 7 irrigation systems to start installing next week.. the pipes are more rigid and tend to crack.. its just getting old..
I'd probably have a higher tolerance, but with no vacation time due to covid and the lack of labor.. I just work to much.. its been at least 16 months since I've had a vacation or at least 5 days off in a row..

 

[jatoxico]

For you guys that hate hearing the burner come on, you couldn't have slept in my place last night. I have far too little fire power wood stove wise to keep the burner off when its in the teens and windy. Once the stove quit the burner was probably running 50% of the time while satisfying both zones. Whaddya gonna do?

 

[Russn77]

While we're waiting on estimates and quotes to fix/replace our liner and replace our stove....we're relying on our heat pump to heat for now...

It's been maintaining a nice comfortable 69 degrees....but the winter has been mild for Ohio. When its in the teens., the heat pump runs constantly. It's only 2 years old though so its at least semi-efficient.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

For you guys that hate hearing the burner come on, you couldn't have slept in my place last night. I have far too little fire power wood stove wise to keep the burner off when its in the teens and windy. Once the stove quit the burner was probably running 50% of the time while satisfying both zones. Whaddya gonna do?

Iv become ok with the burner on.. I guess I got to stuck on not wanting to run anything, but after thinking about it a little Iv changed my mined.. I have the house thermostats set in the house.. I have 3 zones so I can run parts of the house differently..
Last night I ran the heat and let the stove go out.. cleaned the glass and emptied the ash and fired up the stove.. heater hasn't come on... and if it does.. well ok..

 

[Highbeam]

Thats only when it drops into -30s ,and after the stove has burned for 8 hours,hey the wiener dog under the covers keeps us warm

Guys, go buy an electric blanket or mattress pad for your bed. They just sip power at less than like 60 watts and have no problem preheating the bed, keeping toes warm, and wives happy.

It’s easy to go 100% wood heat in my climate and house but for you guys with negative temps, I see no issues letting the furnace do some work. Good to make sure it’s working and ready to take over at 100% if you need it to. Car wreck, thrown in jail, vacation, etc.

 

[jatoxico]

I can usually keep the burner from running so long as I'm up and around to feed the stove but I can't get an 8 hr overnight burn that will heat my whole house. Possibly just as well since running the boiler here and there keeps lines, especially in outta the way places from getting frozen. We have had the odd member post that they busted a pipe. If its in the teens and the stove is keeping the boiler off I run zones manually every few hours to avoid disaster.

 

[EbS-P]

My heatpump kicked on this morning before I got the stove loaded. My kicker is that when it’s cold 25 or below the heat pump just blows cold air around the house 2-5 degrees above house temp. Which helps even out the cold I guess. It should have been a sign that when we night the house they were 3 electric space heaters left in the garage. I do think that sizing any heating appliance for the coldest 2 weeks of the year is probably inefficient. Hence the resistive strips on heat pumps (and need for a defrost cycle). Balancing comfort vs efficiency means we might be a bit chilly or hot if you lean towards the efficient /cheap side of the equation.

 

[Grizzerbear]

I hate electric bills as much as anyone but letting your heat pump run every now and then is really better than it setting idle all season. I think the hardest thing on anything is for it not to get used ever. I run mine probably once a week just to know everything is tip top. As I am in a warmer climate I have never seen it cold enough here that my stove couldn't keep up though so I normally run the heat pump on a warmer day of any given week.

 

[mpaul]

After buying my home about two years ago I found out the previous owner put anti freeze through the boiler. He traveled a lot and being in upstate New York didn’t want to take any chances with the pipes freezing. Gives me piece of mind if the house gets too cold overnight. I still run the boiler once every few weeks to keep it operational. I just hate the expense of propane. We paid a bucket ton for propane our first year here until I was able to get my stove put in.