I am determined not to turn on the heater...

[armitas]

Thanks for be a good ecologist!

[Todah Tear]

...I have my teardrop heater in the bathroom so I can heat that room up to take a shower in the morning, so let it get cold in the house.

The heater is off, the AC is off. The energy industry is not making any money off me right now. I wish it would last all year long.

So, is this my personal obsession, or does anyone else go kicking and screaming into this annual change of the HVAC system?

CD

No CD, you are not alone. I too have my teardrop heater in my bathroom for the morning routine. My thought is that there is no need to heat the whole house. However after the first of the year, a sister will be staying at my house during the daytime one day a week when my heat is usually down really, really low. I wonder if I can convince her to wear her coat and gloves during the day. .

Todah

[Arne]

I also use an electric heater in the bathroom... The room is small and the heater works quite well. I only turn it on for about 5 minutes per day (I shower at the YMCA I go to).. right now, and for the foreseeable future, the only rooms I heat are the living room, little computer niche, and a spare room where I build airplanes... all these rooms are connected.. The rest of the house is closed off with draperies on the door(less)ways.....

Having hot air heat, I can only close so many registers without causing furnace problems. The rooms I do not heat have the baffles closed off at the furnace.

[Fenlason]

I also have an electric heater in my bathroom. It is a ceiling mounted radiant heater. It heats objects directly [like the sun] vs heating the air. So the heat is there almost immediately after turning it on.

I have no furnace to turn on.. no air conditioning to deal with. I hate paying fuel bills also. Enough so that I build a house that uses minimal amounts. It is a passive solar semi underground home. I heat it with less than a cord of wood.

As the house is, it would get a little to cool, downstairs. [Our heat source is upstairs. ]

[When built I installed pipes for radiant heat in the lower concrete floor, but never hooked it up to anything]

I have been working this year to change that and improve the performance. My entry door was crudely made it was first made just to lock the house up while under construction. That has been replaced, I have tightened [air leak wise] a couple places, as well as upgrading the insulation. I have also been building some sun rooms, to collect more heat, and to buffer the house from the winter cold.

The sun rooms are not complete enough to help yet, but the insulation improvements are making a noticeable difference already. This is the latest I have gone, in the season without having to have built a fire.

[Arne]

I'm getting a visit from 'wrap'. the utility cos do it because it is cheaper than building a new power plant. They will put sweeps on doors, put in new light bulbs, etc.

Big thing is my house is old and not insulated (will have that blown in next year, I have plaster walls), and my hot air furance in the cellar has all exposed ductwork.... still a ways to go to get the heat bill down.

[Mary K]

Im with ya CD...sort of...

This last week I also refused to turn the heat on and had the windows open for 5 days in a row. At night it got down to 65 inside, no big deal with warm quilts on the bed.

BUT!!! Once it warmed up yesterday, the AC was back on set to 72. I cant stand to be warm. Id rather pay the bill.

[Arne]

one way or the other.... they get you.

[Mary K]

one way or the other.... they get you.

Its kind of ironic for me. The main customer for the company I work for is the Power Industry... So Im sorta of paying myself when I pay my power bill...???

[traveler]

For three years in a row, I haven't turned on my furnace. I bought two oil filled heaters and have them at the 3rd setting all winter. They do a great job heating my home. Bought them from our local department store. We have already had a 16degree night and it did get a little colder than usual, but not enough to turn on another heater.
Bruce