Bundle Up

GasSavers_maximilian · 03-20-2009, 02:06 AM

I keep my house at 45 degrees and wear ski pants, a jacket, a hat, and fingerless gloves inside the house in the winter. As long as my hands don't hurt, I'm good.

Electric blanket (on a timer to preheat the bed) and a ton of blankets for sleeping. Using the bathroom is the only real downside.

GasSavers_maximilian · 03-20-2009, 06:54 AM

Actually, I have trouble getting bananas to turn yellow. My fridge also freezes up a bit. I have to turn the heat up about 2 hours before I have guests.

vxdude · 03-20-2009, 10:32 AM

you just let your house naturally get that low right? you dont have your ac to 45 degrees, right?

GasSavers_maximilian · 03-20-2009, 10:34 AM

Yep, in winter. I have a whole house fan for the summer. Less tolerant of heat than cold since I don't have a "cooling blanket" for my bed. Maybe well water slowly circulating through some sort of pad? Sounds annoying...and heavy!

vxdude · 03-20-2009, 10:41 AM

i thought i was hard core letting the house get to 55 degrees, Whats your electricty bill per month?

GasSavers_maximilian · 03-20-2009, 10:47 AM

Bill's about $30. A lot of that is user fees. About 150 Kwh. I am still building my own house and it's not fully insulated, so I wintered in just a piece of it that I threw temporary insulation around. If it were finished, 50-55 would probably me a more reasonable level.

vxdude · 03-20-2009, 11:35 AM

how many square feet? I am thinking about getting those energy efficiant windows, i currently have the old school ones. I wonder if my electricity bill would go down any. thoughts?

GasSavers_maximilian · 03-20-2009, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vxdude

how many square feet? I am thinking about getting those energy efficiant windows, i currently have the old school ones. I wonder if my electricity bill would go down any. thoughts?

7,000 when it's finally all done. That's a little misleading as it has no basement (an attempt to reduce stairs) and that counts the integrated garage. My ex is a printemaker and she wanted an extensive art studio so I designed it all into one building. The walls are 14" thick and I blew in R60 in the attic, also the windows are very strategically placed. I have a wood stove (not in operation yet) and I had a solar porch with a plan for a big ol' hot water storage tank, but I needed to cancel that plan as I need to sell it now and people don't want weird and custom, so says the realtor. Nixing the thermal shutters for the windows too. Wish I'd never started it. Taking a long time.

A friend of mine had drafty old windows so he siliconed them shut since he never opens them anyway (not in a bedroom). Fast and cheap fix. He also had single zone heat (hydronic) so we added another zone for the bedrooms. Pex rocks, is all I have to say. I made him insulate his heating pipes (they run through his unheated crawl space), but he doesn't want to ditch his 20 year old fridge for some strange reason (it runs a LOT and is sucking down juice).

I suggest getting a kill-a-watt or just using your electric meter to systematically measure what's using power. Where do you live? Is A/C a big draw? I helped a friend blow cellulose into his walls in CA. He had a 1950s era house with nothing in there. We drilled holes on the inside rather than the outside because the stucco would've been harder to patch. One wall had a hole in the outside and we blew a LOT of cellulose in there trying to fill it up before realizing something was wrong. All over the yard.