Who burns with no backup heat source?

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Bster13

Bster13

Minister of Fire
Feb 24, 2012
810
CT
I guess I'm not the typical burner here having natural gas as my traditional heating source. I blew out my pilot light in the beginning of the summer and this is my first year burning.

I know I will need to eventually light the pilot light on the NG boiler when we have the petsitting stay a few nights watching "the boys," I'm otherwise my frugal self is really reluctant to light the pilot light as I think (hoping) my BK Princess can keep up even in the harshest of CT winters for my 1957 sqft, one-story ranch (which crappy windows).

Who runs with no backup? Pitfalls? Downsides? Ever screw yourself? :p
 
I think you should have a backup. At the very least an electric heater stored in a closed. If for some reason your princess lets you down you'll be in trouble.
 
Our backup is oil filled radiators in each room. Only time they have been used is once a year to remind me that they can keep the place livable if needed.
 
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If I had that boiler I would light the pilot light and leave the thermostat turned down.
 
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I just installed my PE Alderlea T5 this spring and have had fires for about a week now. My HOPE is to never have to kick on the brand new heat pump with back up propane furnace, that was installed this summer, AT ALL this winter. Maybe overzealous, but I'll see if I can do it. They are just a thermostat button away. :) Best of luck!
 
I'm with BB. No furnace, but I do keep those little oil filled radiators in the bedrooms, and a couple of those stayed closed off with the radiators on the lowest settings just so the rooms stay dry. The main living area is 100% wood heat only for the last 6 years or so.
 
I also have just the fan on for the HVAC to distribute the warm air from the stove throughout the house.
 
I have only wood heat. I had electric ceiling heat as a back up until I cut it up while remodeling and adding chimneys. With 2 stoves, I doubt I'll ever have a time without a stove usable. Not to mention all the ones in the garage.
I never have time to go anywhere in the winter anyway, so no worries there.
 
We have a central heating system that is fueled with propane, but during the past eleven years that we've lived here we have basically heated exclusively with wood in our two stoves. A couple of years ago my wife and I took a week long cruise for out tenth anniversary and my wife's mother and sister came and pet sat for us. I did fire up the furnace for their visit, but that's been the extent of it beyond a couple uses during shoulder seasons just to make sure it's still functioning properly.
 
Only heat source is electric baseboard. We make every attempt to never use it. Keeping the house at 60-62 degrees to prevent the pipes from freezing costs about 350$ a month.

600$ a season (6-7 months) in wood keeps the house 85 in the basement and 75 upstairs.

Really sucks when we have to leave town for a few days. But not the end of the world.
 
all we've got is the stove... 115V electric heaters don't "count", IMHO... yeah, I've got them... but don't use them.
 
When the "antique" furnace went kaput I didn't bother to fix/replace it. Downside: taking a vacation in winter is out, absent a housesitter/stove-tender.
 
branchburner said:
Downside: taking a vacation in winter is out, absent a housesitter/stove-tender.
Click to expand...

THIS!!

And, see sig \/ no real back up here, just a VF in case we are out and can't get home at night. Not what I'd consider a real heat source, just something to keep the dog from freezing if we were to get stuck somewhere.
 
Wood heat with a couple oil-filled heaters for the extremely old days. The house would never get below 65 with wood only, but the spousal unit prefers (insists) that things stay in the mid 70s.
 
I have a heat pump but only test in once a month in the winter to make sure it still works other than that I keep it on and the thermostat set at 55 in case an emergency comes up and have to be away from the house for awhile
 
we have natural gas but its never on in the decade we lived here.years ahead on wood and this year we dipped into our savings to replace the dragon with an epa stove and do nor see turning the gas on.hopefully it will stay that way.
 
What are these "oil filled radiators?" Pic please...

I know I will need to light my pilot light on the NG boiler as we leave from time to time during the winter and there is no way the petsitter is allowed to touch the stove, but it kills me to pay for "insurance." How much u think a pilot light will cost to run during the burning season?
 
Oh, so it is a closed oil system, and electricity heats the oil then circulates it through the fins?

Here I am thinking someone is running around with an oil can topping off heaters all the time!
 
Bster13 said:
How much u think a pilot light will cost to run during the burning season?
Click to expand...
I'm not an expert, but I've heard that a "typical" NG pilot is about 6 therms/month. YMMV as always.

On a safety issue, does your pilot have a shutoff valve? That is, I'm told that some older systems may leak gas if the pilot goes out.
 
I have a shut off value right before the boiler that I close off each summer.

I pay a $15 "just because" fee each month no matter how much gas I use. What a b_tch. Almost would be better to have oil heat.
 
Electric baseboard here, sucks. So far I've been able to keep the house decently warm with my wood stove. I have not turned on my electric baseboard yet (kept at 50f on the tstats). Get home around 6, get a raging fire going and get the main living area to around 80f, 70f in the bedroom. On a night where it's 20f outside I wake up at 8 am and the house is still around 70f and bedroom 60f with hot coals still in the stove. Fill stove to the brim, crack the door, take a shower, come out to a decent fire. Then I shut it down halfway and go to work. Usually come home to the house around 60f-70f depending on how cold it is. This is with pine. I can't wait to get a cord of hardwood dropped off as my life will require much less work/feeding to keep the house at a decent temp. One thing I will say is it all has to be planned properly right down to when I shovel the stove out and how far I let it burn down to fill it to the brim a little bit before bed time. I plan on putting an Enviro Mini on the opposite side of the house to do the work while I'm away. It will be there to keep the house warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing (55f or so), not to HEAT the house.
 
We do have electric base boards, but, hopefully this year, they won't get the chance to heat up. Maybe for a half hour to make sure they work, but, that would be it. We also have a pellet stove, but, doubt that will be turned on this year. No Nat. Gas hooked up to the house at all.
 
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