Staying warm indoors in cold conditions without turning on heat

Twostep said:
Nothing will go back to used to be. Can you use part of the house only, add insulation, install additional heat sources such as wood/pellet stoves?
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No..to using part of the house only.... the house is already well insulated .... I have gas cetral heating... and an electric fire in the livingroom...I can afford appliances, I just can't afford to run them
 

oldman said:
I have a heated garage, but don't turn the heat on, unless the temp drops below 20°. The garage is insulated, so it seldom gets real cold, but below 20° it does.
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Garage is spray insulated and so are the doors. Individual unit heats and cools it. It would have been a lot of trouble to include it in the house system.
 

Murrmurr said:
My feet get extremely cold, so when this Calif valley is hit with *real* winter temps, I wear 2 or 3 pairs of socks and my wool-lined slippers. When I lounge on my recliner, I cover my legs and feet with a super warm throw blanket (plus the 3 prs socks).
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Right now I have on a pair of shetland wool socks... a pair of leggings, and a pair fleece lined jogging pants over those...

On top I have a sleeveless thermal vest ( tank top).. a long sleeved wool and cotton t-shirt... a Fleece lined long sleeve sweatshirt.. and a feather & Down Gilet...

I also have a pair of fleece lined slip on trainers on my feet.

here at the desk... I have a thick fleece blanket at the side of me to put over my legs when it gets freezing as it was 2 nights ago at minus 2 below zero...

Downstairs I have another thick fleece blanket...on the sofa...
 
When we were young we kept the heat at 68 during the day and 65 at night. Now I would live in a studio before I would live without heat or AC. I keep the heat at 72 when I sleep and 74 when up. I know it’s common in some countries not to have AC or clothes dryers. That’s how it was when I was a kid.

The last house we had was all baseboard electric heat. 12 years ago the January bill was 609😳. Because each room had its own heat I would turn every room to 55 at 10pm except our bedroom would be 70. In the morning during winter it was cold until the house heated up but the bill was only 160. I often wondered when we sold it if the college kids just stuck their parents with a big heating bill or figured out a similar system to mine.
 
hollydolly said:
Right now I have on a pair of shetland wool socks... a pair of leggings, and a pair fleece lined jogging pants over those...

On top I have a sleeveless thermal vest ( tank top).. a long sleeved wool and cotton t-shirt... a Fleece lined long sleeve sweatshirt.. and a feather & Down Gilet...

I also have a pair of fleece lined slip on trainers on my feet.

here at the desk... I have a thick fleece blanket at the side of me to put over my legs when it gets freezing as it was 2 nights ago at minus 2 below zero...

Downstairs I have another thick fleece blanket...on the sofa...
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Gracious! This sounds like time to move.
 
This is the in between part of the year when we can't really start a fire because it gets so warm in the day. I think the house cools down, and even though it might warm up outside the house feels chilly. But, it takes a couple weeks. So we use electric heaters now and do a lot of cooking and baking. Our bill is about $30 higher during this period than when it is full on cold with the wood stove. Then it is much cheaper with the cost of the wood being about half.
 
I have blinds and thermal blackout curtains in all rooms..as soon as it starts to get dark around 4pm, I close all the blinds to keep what heat there is in the house.. and stop the temps dropping too fast.

I have double and triple glazing as well..there are no draughts ( drafts to the US).. from any windows or outside doors. I do my best to make sure there's no obvious reasons for the house to be cold... however during the day unless it's raining hard or snowing. as it has been the last 2 days and still is...... then I always have to have windows open a little bit ..
 
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Paco Dennis said:
This is the in between part of the year when we can't really start a fire because it gets so warm in the day. I think the house cools down, and even though it might warm up outside the house feels chilly. But, it takes a couple weeks. So we use electric heaters now and do a lot of cooking and baking. Our bill is about $30 higher during this period than when it is full on cold with the wood stove. Then it is much cheaper with the cost of the wood being about half.
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Yeah, it sounds ridiculous, but, in the winter, I stay warmer up at the cabin in the mountains than here at the house in the valley because of the wood stove...which has a cook-top, but we have a gas stove w/oven, too.

I have a wonderful neighbor up there named Craig (a permanent resident), and if he sees we're low on wood and he knows we're coming up there, he'll lay in a half-cord or full for me, depending.

It's trade, though...he has the key to my shed and can use any of my tools and snowmobile when he needs to. I only go up there 4 or 5 times a year these days. (and Craig takes very good care of my stuff)
 
hollydolly said:
No..to using part of the house only.... the house is already well insulated .... I have gas cetral heating... and an electric fire in the livingroom...I can afford appliances, I just can't afford to run them
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Well, I need a new frig. I can afford to run a new frig, but buying a new frig, hmm, eventually
 
hollydolly said:
you're lucky to be able to have affordable heat....
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After reading through some of these posts, I'm kind of surprised that utilities in Calif....at least where I live...are quite a bit lower than what most are saying. Could be because we had a few energy saving devices installed in the house just before we moved in, because I can't imagine anything in Calif is cheaper than elsewhere.

Our bills are higher in the worst months of winter and summer, but only by about $10 or $15/mo. (each)
 
Nathan said:
We do too, fortunately we can afford the $600/month propane bill. :unsure:
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$600??!! I assume you have a large tank.

When we lived in Las Vegas, I paid less than $200 to fill mine, but that was in the mid-80s. Huge difference, man!

How often do you need your tank refilled or topped off? Or maybe I should say; how long does the 600 bucks worth last?
 
Murrmurr said:
$600??!! I assume you have a large tank.

When we lived in Las Vegas, I paid less than $200 to fill mine, but that was in the mid-80s. Huge difference, man!

How often do you need your tank refilled or topped off? Or maybe I should say; how long does the 600 bucks worth last?
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Typically just a couple colder months, like December and January. During the Summer months we get a break... :unsure:
 
Just took a look. January 2024 the electric bill jumped to $170, but the average for the other winter months was about $100. Apartment with about 1100 square feet.
 
Get a sweater. If that doesn't work turn up the heat, check the filter and see if it's clogged and should be replaced, or call a repair man, maybe it needs to be replaced. Last resort, fire in the fireplace, but probably not a good idea for the long term, smoke isn‘t healthy.
 

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