How you heat your home?

[JHH]

Just wondering how many of youy in the colder parts (canada,montana,ect) heat your homes in the winter. Wood,Gas (natural or propane), fuel oil. ect.

Just would like to know. It is colder than be nice here and furnace just keeps running.

 

[dun]

Propane central
In the past we've used fuel oil in a stove, gas central and wood in a multiple burning/heating devices. Don;t recall ever using electricity as the main heat. I prefer wood, or did in the past, the concept that wood heats you multiple times is dandy but typically that first heating is done when you don;t need the warmth.

 

[LazyARanch]

We are on a ripple system with electric as primary and fuel oil as off-peak.

Electric is not nearly as warm as the fuel oil however!

 

[JHH]

Propane central
In the past we've used fuel oil in a stove, gas central and wood in a multiple burning/heating devices. Don;t recall ever using electricity as the main heat. I prefer wood, or did in the past, the concept that wood heats you multiple times is dandy but typically that first heating is done when you don;t need the warmth.

We use propane to (central heat and air)
Been thinking of getting a wood furnance (outside) We had wood heat when I was a kid( liked it). Seems warmer. Didnt like getting up and stoking the fire. But with 10 hr or 12 hr burn times it wouldnt be that bad.

Have any thoughts on this? or which kind to get. I dont need the hot water as we have a tankless waterheater.

 

[LazyARanch]

JHH I know you're a ways away from Northern Minn but check out this website:

www.centralboiler.com/

They ship all over the country.

 

[hillsdown]

In our home we have hot water heating and the boiler is run off of natural gas. The barn/shop can be heated by coal and we also have 2 wood burning stoves that can heat it as well, but we have only done that a couple of times since we have been here . Our old home on the acreage after we moved from the dairy was mostly heated by a big wood burning stove and we had a central fan system that blew the hot air into each room of the house. We went through alot of wood , and I chopped most of it, but our natural gas bill was less than $500.00 for the whole winter. We could get all the spruce trees we wanted from our neighbors place.

We are redoing our fireplace in the living room this summer and will be putting in an insert to help heat the house and cut down on that gas bill.

 

[TexasBred]

We're all electric...have a wood pellet stove in the den but the lighter is "electric".

 

[randiliana]

Wood mostly, but we have electric baseboard heaters for the basement and out of the way areas.

 

[MO_cows]

We have a propane furnace. It's 3-4 years old and supposed to be highly efficient. I don't see any big savings over the 40-year-old model it replaced, but maybe that was just eaten up by the rise in the price of propane.

We heated with wood for one or two winters when I was between jobs and we had free oak wood to burn. (Heavy duty pallets) The woodstove was down in the basement. There are vents to downstairs from an old gravity furnace that used to be in the house so we opened them up and the heat came right up. It was very comfortable heat but we had an old hand me down woodstove that needed fed often or it went out, so once I was working again we had to give it up. Got tired of coming home to a cold house, building the fire again and by the time the house warmed up it was bedtime anyway.

 

[MShaffer]

Propane central
In the past we've used fuel oil in a stove, gas central and wood in a multiple burning/heating devices. Don;t recall ever using electricity as the main heat. I prefer wood, or did in the past, the concept that wood heats you multiple times is dandy but typically that first heating is done when you don;t need the warmth.

We use propane to (central heat and air)
Been thinking of getting a wood furnance (outside) We had wood heat when I was a kid( liked it). Seems warmer. Didnt like getting up and stoking the fire. But with 10 hr or 12 hr burn times it wouldnt be that bad.

Have any thoughts on this? or which kind to get. I dont need the hot water as we have a tankless waterheater.

We have an outside wood furnance and love it.

http://www.hardyheater.com/

 

[TexasBred]

Does noone here use clean burning "natural gas"???

 

[hillsdown]

Does noone here use clean burning "natural gas"???

Yes we use natural gas to heat the home and our water, also our BBQ can be run off of natural gas as well. I need to support the hubbies industry. ;-) But for a lot of country folks gas is not an option where they live.

 

[Angus Cowman]

we have a propane furnace( central heat/ac unit ) and used it until last yr and we put in the vent less propane heaters that mount on the wall and we love them and the cost on propane last yr more than paid for them
plus the electric bill went down around $20 per month because we aren't running the blower

I was raised on wood heat and these heaters are the most comparable as for comfort that I have found

we just installed 2 in my mom and dads old 2 story farm house for them and dad wasn't too keen on the idea but since that time all he talks about is hownice they are and how comfortable it keeps the house and that they don't have to worry about keeping the wood stove going at night
they still use wood during the day

 

[c farmer]

Does noone here use clean burning "natural gas"???

Yes we use natural gas to heat the home and our water, also our BBQ can be run off of natural gas as well. I need to support the hubbies industry. ;-) But for a lot of country folks gas is not an option where they live.

Doesnt look like many people use coal either. I have a self feeding coal stove and love it, its computerized and keeps the house a constant temp.

 

[3waycross]

Does noone here use clean burning "natural gas"???

Yes we use natural gas to heat the home and our water, also our BBQ can be run off of natural gas as well. I need to support the hubbies industry. ;-) But for a lot of country folks gas is not an option where they live.

We have it. My wife runs the office for the local Nat Gas Company. I like burning wood but not the work that goes with it.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Propane baseboard heat. We were using an fuel oil furnance til 2008. Got tired of the cost of fuel and the repairs on the furnance.

Plan on propane central air and AC in the new house along with a free standing wood stove in the living room and a pellet stove in the basement.

cfarmer the old Home Comfort stove we are putting in can burn either wood or coal.

 

[hillsdown]

Propane baseboard heat. We were using an fuel oil furnance til 2008. Got tired of the cost of fuel and the repairs on the furnance.

Plan on propane central air and AC in the new house along with a free standing wood stove in the living room and a pellet stove in the basement.

cfarmer the old Home Comfort stove we are putting in can burn either wood or coal.

I doubt you will need AC.

 

[skyline]

Just replaced our 32 year old electric heat strips (central) with SEER 14 and 15 heat pumps. Seeing some pretty significant reductions in our electricity bill this winter. We have a traditional fireplace without an insert, but it's remote from the bedrooms and doesn't do much good at night while we're sleeping. It does a great job of heating up our living room though. Doubt the heat pumps would do much good during the winter up north, but they work well in our climate.

 

[iowafarmer]

Geothermal, liquid in lines barried in the ground about 8 feet down where it is a constant temp at about 50F. Then it pulls the heat from the water in the lines in the winter and reverses in the summer. Runs off from electricity, along with the water heater runs off from the geothermal lines also pulling heat from the liquid in the lines. Kinda spendy to put in but you save enough money to pay for itself in about 8 years. Heard of people heating and cooling their home for 500 bucks over a whole year. So far we love it since it is a constant temp in the house and the electric bill hasnt gone up much.

 

[upfrombottom]

Our house is all electric. We have 2 heat pumps and a fireplace. When we moved in 11 years ago, the fireplace got a regular workout, because REA power would go out constantly, but it has improved allot in the last few years. We mainly just use the heat- pumps and use the fireplace on weekends when both of us are home. I was raised on wood heat, got untold number of thrashings for standing to close to the heater and scorching my clothes. The best part I remember, was how good the pot of beans were that were cooked on top of the heater.