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How do you heat your home??

Lew L

Lew L

Well-known member
.

When I was growing up my parents bought natural gas from the PG &E company. Now I heat my home, at 6,000 ft elevation, with recycled wood pellets.
Propane is used to cook and heat water.

BUT how do those millions upon millions of people in the big cities of the east coast heat their homes and apartments??? Oil fired boilers I imagine. Please tell me if I'm wrong-------

Sorry if I've offended anyone here but the scale of voluntarily adjusting our lifestyle this winter is beyond the scope of the government types living on our tax dollars.
 
Lew L said:
.

When I was growing up my parents bought natural gas from the PG &E company. Now I heat my home, at 6,000 ft elevation, with recycled wood pellets.
Propane is used to cook and heat water.

BUT how do those millions upon millions of people in the big cities of the east coast heat their homes and apartments??? Oil fired boilers I imagine. Please tell me if I'm wrong-------

Sorry if I've offended anyone here but the scale of voluntarily adjusting our lifestyle this winter is beyond the scope of the government types living on our tax dollars.
Click to expand...

While I left Massachusetts in 1983 and never returned, I do recall my parents having to purchase home heating oil, filling a large tank in the basement.

Having lived in South Florida since 1983, our home is cooled by air conditioning that is electric, and the few times a year we need heat, it too is electric. Heating coils within the air handler utilize the same components as the air conditioner, to heat the entire house.
 
We use a forced air system. We can use either no#2 oil or kerosene. Growing up we burned wood. Alot of folks use wood pellots, (alot less work involved over wood). Heat pumps are quite popular in my area. They work good to about 15 degrees above zero, then they turn on their back up system, oil, kerosene or wood heat. I know this year it is going to be real expensive. We usually burn a tank and a half of fuel. Our fuel tank is 275 gallons. Right now no#2 oil is going for $5.50 a gallon. Two years ago it was $1.65 a gallon. Go figure... Bruce
 
Heating oil is typical for homes in the NorthEast. And refinery-wise it's close to diesel. For which the EIA said we had a 25-day reserve (lowest since 2008) two weeks ago. As noted by safecracker heating oil has become very expensive. So has its availability with 3-day notification and other delivery restrictions. Here's the past year for NYMEX No2 Heating Oil https://www.reuters.com/markets/quote/HOc1/
 
Small town in southern Ohio. Here natural gas is the primary for heating, cooking, and hot water. We had a system that utilized a heat pump for AC and heat down to around twenty degrees and then the natural gas furnace would take over. I say we had because we downsized a year and a half ago to a 1400 square foot condo. This place is brand new and all electric and is pretty darned efficient. Our son lives in one of the big multi story brick homes that were popular a century ago in this town. He has a boiler system that is fired with natural gas.
 
Natural gas fueled furnace for heating. I'm thinking of switching over to heat pumps.

In England it was coal-fired fireplace. In winter, we bundled up warm at home. Never thought anything of it.
 
In the three homes I've owned in northern VA and NC, natural gas. In the home I grew up in in New London, CT, it began with coal, was converted to #2 heating oil before my parents purchased it, and after my father passed away in mid-70s, mother converted it to natural gas.
 
Here in Pensacola. Its all electric here at our home. when I was a kid in PA, it was coal, when we relocated to WVa, it was Oil, but we used coal furnace because it was cheaper...
 
I'm going to toss some red meat into this discussion.

My assertion is Spyder owners are economically-advantaged (income, housing, lifestyle) over those non-owners whose homes are limited to No2 Heating Oil.
 
BertRemington said:
I'm going to toss some red meat into this discussion.

My assertion is Spyder owners are economically-advantaged (income, housing, lifestyle) over those non-owners whose homes are limited to No2 Heating Oil.
Click to expand...

From my experience, Spyder owners run the gamut of socio-economic status. Anyway, this isn't what the O.P. asked.
 
Lew L said:
.

When I was growing up my parents bought natural gas from the PG &E company. Now I heat my home, at 6,000 ft elevation, with recycled wood pellets.
Propane is used to cook and heat water.

BUT how do those millions upon millions of people in the big cities of the east coast heat their homes and apartments??? Oil fired boilers I imagine. Please tell me if I'm wrong-------

Sorry if I've offended anyone here but the scale of voluntarily adjusting our lifestyle this winter is beyond the scope of the government types living on our tax dollars.
Click to expand...

Paragraph 2, I think so, particularly the Northeast.

Paragraph 3...not offended, just perplexed.
 
We have a forced air propane furnace, but also use a pellet stove at night. Cooking, dryer, and water heater are propane. We are in north central AZ at just under 5,000ft.
 
back in mass i used natural gas much much cheaper than oil and cleaner, it averaged about $130- a month and that was for heat/hot water/clothes dryer/ cooktop & oven.
here in florida it's all electric, AC runs all but 30 days a year and on those day & nights the windows are open because i enjoy the cold ( seriously i moved to the wrong state).
last winter we had a few nights it went down to 29˚ and sleeping with the windows open and comforter on was wicked awesome.
cost for electric runs me $120- a month on average.
 
In CT I use an average of 165 gallons of oil (Hot Forced Air) a season but my house is only 780 sf but my garage is full.
 
UtahPete said:
Paragraph 3...not offended, just perplexed.
Click to expand...
In other words, the rich don't give a hoot. (That's saying it kindly.)

Grew up burning firewood and still heat our home with firewood. We use about 5 cords a year. At $200 a cord that's a little over $150 a month for the winter. The neighbors use fuel oil/electricity and their heating bill runs about $600 a month in the winter. They also have a wood stove but are too, "you what," to use it. We live at 4,000 elevation.
 
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Electric window unit for both heating & cooling here in NE Georgia, a 900 sq-ft all-electric home.

It's a 240vac Frigidaire with 16k BTU heating & 18.5k BTU air conditioning.

Monthly Ga Power bill swings between $95 and $120.

I have a propane wall unit for backup heat, but not needed since moving here full time in 2018.
 
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Here in Arizona heating the house is not a common issue. For instance, today, I opened the doors to let the afternoon heat in which will keep my home warm all night. When it gets cooler, I have FAG which will heat the home quickly. Gas is used for heating water, cooking, and heating when needed. But it is not used in quantity, so cost is not an issue. Now, keeping my home livable and cool in the summer is another question...... Jim
 
I keep my house in Florida where it don't really need heating. I do have an enclosed fireplace that I could use if I really needed to. Hardly ever use it.
 
Our home in Central Utah was built in 1899 and has very thick walls. We heat it with a firewood fired fireplace with a forced air natural gas back up. Cooking, hot water, dryer is all-natural gas. We do have a wood and coal fired stove in the kitchen that is also used for heat and occasional cooking. Yes we do spend considerable time in the mountains gathering wood, cutting, splitting, and stacking it in the shed. We use between 4 and 5 cords a winter depending on how long the snow lasts. Because of my heart attack and surgery this year we are behind on our wood gathering and are going to have to ask for some help from relatives and friends to get our supply in before snow hits.
 
BertRemington said:
I'm going to toss some red meat into this discussion.

My assertion is Spyder owners are economically-advantaged (income, housing, lifestyle) over those non-owners whose homes are limited to No2 Heating Oil.
Click to expand...

Not really. I'm sure not economically advantaged. A lot depends on location and infrastructure. In our town where natural gas is readily available most folks use it and why not? The system is in place so why not tap into it? In the rural areas around here #2 oil is still a very popular source of home energy, but all electric homes are gaining in popularity in the rural areas. I think it has more to do with infrastructure and availability than it does with how deep your pockets are.
 
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