Shut the furnace off

[Scarpozzi]

I laugh because so many folks around here only own electric heat pumps and space heaters. In this kind of weather, heat pumps are useless and often get over worked...

My system is dual fuel heat pump and switches to NG when the temp drops below 40 degrees. It was 73 degrees in the house all last night while -2 degrees outside this AM.

 

[NoTine42]

Must be mostly electric heat?


Is it more common for gas heat in the north? I imagine it is, but I don't know how economical electric heat is compared to gas heat.

I've never heard of high winter electric demand around here, so I'm assuming the colder regions focus more on main/secondary heat sources that aren't electric.

I wish I had natural gas, but it's not on my road so I have propane.

Heat pumps are very efficient, but don't capture enough hear below 32, so they need a backup..and up north that usually means gas. You can get an all electric "toaster" but its more expensive and a dry heat to operate...but its a cheaper initial cost, so I think that's more common to the south.

If you have geothermal, you should have enough all-electric heat, but it is a higher install price.

 

[gorcorps]

I'm not sure how ya'll can handle what's going on in the Midwest...I think it got down to like 22F early this morning. I felt like I was going to die on my way into work.

Then again, you guys probably know how to dress appropriately for that climate :hmm:.

Once it gets cold enough it's hard to tell the difference between "fucking cold" and "really fucking cold". It was -15 this morning (real-feel of -36, whatever that means) and most people not in a garage couldn't even start their cars. I guess you know it's cold when you're waiting for it to WARM UP to -5 just to have a chance to start your car.

 

[sdifox]

currently -17C feels like -28C with wind chill

 

[chitwood]

my house is stupid.

we keep it at 67 which is perfectly comfortable. Then we go to bed, and the master bedroom turns into an oven. I woke up at 5am feeling like someone was blowing a hairdryer all over me. Rest of the house is still fine.

 

[HN]

grats op. you sure are awesome at being super chill.

apparently not chill enough; hence, ice water.

 

[gorcorps]

my house is stupid.

we keep it at 67 which is perfectly comfortable. Then we go to bed, and the master bedroom turns into an oven. I woke up at 5am feeling like someone was blowing a hairdryer all over me. Rest of the house is still fine.

Well, if 67 is comfortable for lounging around the rest of the house, why wouldn't it feel hot to now be under blankets? I program my house to set the aim temp to 62 at 11pm, so it's usually ~65 and dropping by the time I get into bed.

 

[fstime]

my house is stupid.

we keep it at 67 which is perfectly comfortable. Then we go to bed, and the master bedroom turns into an oven. I woke up at 5am feeling like someone was blowing a hairdryer all over me. Rest of the house is still fine.

Your duct going to the bedroom should have an adjustable damper as it leaves the furnace or air handler (a lot of the times, its just a butterfly nut you can turn) where you can close it slightly until you're comfortable. Sometimes you just need to rebalance the system.

 

[phucheneh]

Yankee what? Who the fuck says yankee? My thermostat won't go below 60F

Southerners say yankee. Usually old ones.

It's kinda like if I was to employ all kinds of outdated lingo from the early 20th century. BULLY, YOU CHISELER.

Except they reach back to the Civil War.

I don't get called a yankee very much, but I get a lot of 'where the hell are you from.' I lived in Rhode Island until I was two years old, which apparently enables me to not talk like a retard.

 

[gothamhunter]

-55 wind chill

 

[highland145]

Must be mostly electric heat?


Is it more common for gas heat in the north? I imagine it is, but I don't know how economical electric heat is compared to gas heat.

I've never heard of high winter electric demand around here, so I'm assuming the colder regions focus more on main/secondary heat sources that aren't electric.

No idea the breakdown. We used to have gas but went with a heat pump during the tax credit giveaway.

Yeah, the aux heat strips got used a lot.

 

[fjmeat]

what's a furnace?

 

[cbrunny]

Was -39 C this morning when I got up. That's -38.2 F.

 

[sixone]

my house is stupid.

we keep it at 67 which is perfectly comfortable. Then we go to bed, and the master bedroom turns into an oven. I woke up at 5am feeling like someone was blowing a hairdryer all over me. Rest of the house is still fine.

You can get a thermostat with a timer for about $100, if not less. Keep it at 67 when you're home, less when you're at work or in bed.

I keep mine warmer during the evening hours, but down about 8 degrees overnight. I like lots of blankets, so I don't need the furnace to stay warm. Bonus is that it heats up the house by the time my alarm goes off, so the bed is starting to get too warm. I HATE HATE HATE going from a warm bed to a cold room.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Southerners say yankee. Usually old ones.

It's kinda like if I was to employ all kinds of outdated lingo from the early 20th century. BULLY, YOU CHISELER.

Except they reach back to the Civil War.

I don't get called a yankee very much, but I get a lot of 'where the hell are you from.' I lived in Rhode Island until I was two years old, which apparently enables me to not talk like a retard.

I've literally never heard anyone use that term.

Perhaps Virginia?

 

[NoTine42]

Your duct going to the bedroom should have an adjustable damper as it leaves the furnace or air handler (a lot of the times, its just a butterfly nut you can turn) where you can close it slightly until you're comfortable. Sometimes you just need to rebalance the system.

Or it can be a bit more of a pain, like my stupid house with its boiler and hot water baseboards. 1, I have more feet of baseboard per sq FT than other rooms, so I turned off my closet baseboard loop, and put insulation around the basement workshop radiator (that I can't turn off) and nearly shut off my bedroom loop...now it's almost the same as the rest of the house....but you may want to pay attention to the room below your bedroom, because heat rises.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

do you swelter once the thermometer hits 80?

 

[moks78]

It's cloudy in here and it looks like there's gonna be rain...Nah! We are currently in need of rain. Area under Red Flag...http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...g-lafd-20140105,0,6297222.story#axzz2pkBIXAP9.

Temperature is 71 deg F right now...http://www.weather.com/weather/today/34.054380,-118.267280?par=googleonebox

 

[HeXen]

A strange thing did happen to us last night. Our thermostat has a manual switch lever for warm,off,cool and despite neither me nor my wife touching it, our house was freezing this morning and I found the switch flipped to the cool position.
I think we have a ghost.

 

[NoTine42]

I've literally never heard anyone use that term.

Perhaps Virginia?

Not that it is the authority on Boston's culture, but This Old House seems to often use the Yankee term, which carried over to Norm's former show, the new Yankee Workshop.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Current outdoor temperature: -10, with a windchill of negative a lot. Current indoor temperature in these two rooms: 80+. I'm not too worried about shutting off the "furnace" - did so the other day to clean it. I have room to crank it up a little bit more.

Good god man. You and I should switch locations. I think the weather down here would suit you. There's lots of people who haven't been introduced to calculus too.

 

[highland145]

Good god man. You and I should switch locations. I think the weather down here would suit you. There's lots of people who haven't been introduced to calculus too.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I laugh because so many folks around here only own electric heat pumps and space heaters. In this kind of weather, heat pumps are useless and often get over worked...

My system is dual fuel heat pump and switches to NG when the temp drops below 40 degrees. It was 73 degrees in the house all last night while -2 degrees outside this AM.

Yeah it amazes me that some people are so poorly prepared for cold weather. Unlike stuff like hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes etc it is very trivial and cheap to prepare for and it's something that can happen anywhere, especially with the climate change stuff going on in the past 10-15 years.

 

[Howard]

Why not just set the thermostat to 32?

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Why not just set the thermostat to 32?

may as well sell it for scrap, $$$$