Electric space heaters

My parents have pellet stoves, one in the basement, and one on the main floor. They are pretty nice for radiant heat, too. Not too expensive, and pretty easy to clean.

 

See.... you blew it right there with the 100 degree thing. I love the heat myself but most people start bitching as soon as it moves outside that 70-78 degree zone.

 

Erotic space hooters

 

electric blankets are warm snuggly and cuddly too.

 

Yup in the north, not from Harbin, but close. I went to Harbin a lot, though. I knew I would never complain again about NZ winters after living in the north of China.

 

i had a roommate who used one until july.....god he was an asshole

 

The cost of furnace oil has doubled since I bought my house so I've been using two oil filled heaters. They cost about $100 a month to run about 12 hours a day but save me over $200 a month in oil.

Always use low heat setting, never max. When you use Max on any 1500watt space heater it is using two elements and maxing out your outlet. This is 12.5 amps on one outlet connector where the whole circuit at your panel blows at 15 amps. This much current at any length of time will burn out your outlet, melt the plug... it never turns out good. They are more efficient, safer, and last longer on lower settings.

Also install a permanent 240 volt baseboard heater if possible. 240V heaters are more efficient than 120V outlet heaters. This is because 240V heaters only need to draw half as much amps for the same amount of heat as a 120V heater. Higher amps equal higher losses in efficiency.

 

I just recently snagged one from Target for $5. I didn't need one, per se. I already have one, but two is one and one is none.

 

they must not work to well, from what i hear space is still cold unless your really close to a heat source.

 

my roommates made it unbearably hot in a huge living room. So i think they work pretty well.

 

what about converting to a gas furnace?

 

There's no direct gas service in my area and if the cost propane for my BBQ is any indication, it would cost a fortune to heat my house on gas.

I have been thinking about getting a diesel generator. It should run off my furnace oil and 7500 Watt ones are around $1500. I think I could set it up in the basement inside a sound-proofing box and vented to my chimney. I would get the benefit of heat from the oil burning but mostly harvest the kinetic energy of the fire expansion to run 6000 watts of heaters. It should be way more efficient than my furnace plus the benefit of running and providing power when there's a storm blackout.

 

they had a little help from the sun

 

I have underfloor heating but don't really use it much on principle, energy bills make me angry. So instead I use a lovely wood burning stove.