Grasshopper Green

...as in, gas prices. I debated about putting this in How To, but I have a feeling this is going to be a topic that affects a lot of folks, and the thread will have more impact here. If it needs moving, then so be it.

Here's my basic problem. Last year's heating bills were already painful, and I have a feeling that this year is going to be a repeat, only much worse; I barely made the payments last winter. I rent a two bedroom apartment, and I need some input on conserving heat. Last year we kept our thermostat (which, by the way, I think may be incorrect) at about 70, because we have birds and a young child. There is no way I can keep it that high this year....so I need to make the heat last as long as I can. I think some of the heat escapes under the doorways, but short of wedging a towel or something under the doors, I don't know what to do about that. Also, does anyone know if keeping the thermostat running at a lower temperature consistently rather than turning it off at night and then back on in the morning saves energy? I read that somewhere. Oh, and I have no fireplace, so that isn't an option.

Basically, any tips would be appreciated. Like I said, I think this is going to affect a lot of people and I'm hoping some others here can get some help too. I'm not looking to debate the evils of using fossil fuels or investing in alternate energy sources...that's not going to help me keep my family warm this winter. Thanks.

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snowy

In winter, it's best to keep your thermostat at a constant 68 degrees. Yeah, it's a bit on the chilly side, but it also keeps germs down and will help you not get sick If you're cold, just throw on a sweater.

Weatherstripping your doors and insulating your windows with various materials is also helpful. Using heavier curtains versus blinds in winter will also keep the cold out

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JumpinJesus

how about buying electric blankets and keeping them around the house while keeping the thermostat down?

Personally, I tend to like it a bit cooler in the house - much to shesus' chagrin - and prefer the blanket method for keeping warm.

We had a similar problem in one of our old places. When it snowed, we could actually see snow blowing into our place through the window sills. Thankfully, the place we live in now we don't have to pay for heat. Aside from that, what snowy said about weatherstripping is probably the best bet.

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Powderedmaggot

Turning down the temp at night and when you are away definately reduces the cost of heating. But it also leads to a cooler house because it takes longer to heat up. If you are renting there is not alot you can do to reduce heatloss ie. you can't add insulation or change the windows. You can get some plastic for the windows and add it to the inside and outside, put up some heavy drapes over the windows, buy some weather stipping for the doors and windows. Keep the doors to the bedrooms closed and close the vents or turn down the heat in those rooms if you are not using them all the time. A forced air electric heater is nice for a quick blast of heat in the morning while you get ready to go to work. It takes the chill off while esentially leaving the house cold. They can be aimed directly at yourself to get you toasty. In British Columbia it is actually cheaper to heat with electricity than with natural gas even if you have a high efficiency furnace. Do the calculations do see if it is the same where you are comparing your current heat source to electricity. If anyone tells youelectric heat is inefficient they don't know what they are talking about. An electric baseboard is 100% efficient.

cellophanedeity

At my counselling centre, we use a little space heater in the winter to make sure that we stay warm despite the best efforts of the old building to freeze us.

Run your thermostat low during the day, and even lower at night.

Buy sweaters and feetie pjs, and drink a lot of hot chocolate. If the birdies and babies start feeling chilly, then turn the heat up for a little bit.

ratbastid

Yep, electric space heaters are pretty efficient. Just be careful you're not trading one power drain for another.

Also, there are fireplace inserts or freestanding fireplace things that use gel fuel and have zero emissions, so you don't need a chimney or even an open window. I don't know how much heat they put out, but you might look into that.

guthmund

It's probably not a problem for you in an apartment, but down here we seem to have a lot of amateur satellite/cable/telephone/whathaveyou installers, who drill holes everywhere to run cable, but forget to plug them up properly. A couple of years ago, it was always nasty cold in my bedroom. Couldn't figure out why until one blustery day I felt a breeze coming in from under the bed. Some guy had drilled an abnormally large hole for his little cable connection and left it open.

Anyway.. Lots of plastic, weather stripping, plug the holes and get a good space heater for the mornings. My mother swears by blankets on unused doors and ceiling fans. She says it circulates the warm air instead of letting it congregate and escaping through the ceiling. So, maybe a small oscillating fan set up high?

I've also read that about keeping the temperature settings constant rather than turning it on and off. Can't remember where.....?

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shakran

Actually, they're grossly INefficient. They use around 1500 watts to heat the room. That's the equivalent of leaving 25 lights on. However, because natural gas is expected to be outrageously priced this winter, you'll probably wind up saving money wasting more energy with the electric heater rather than running with your nice, efficient, natural gas furnace.

Destrox

As messed up as that sounds, I fear you are right.
It was bad enough last winter I agree, and only seems to get worse.



If your apartment is rather old there can be unlimited number of reason why you are losing heat. The big things are bad circulation, windows, wooden floors, bad insulation. If its at all possible keep any window that faces the sun completely open (Not literally, but the curtains). Solar heat can make a HUGE difference in an entire house.

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Uncle Pony

Wal-Mart sells a window/door plastic shrink wrap kit pretty cheap. You use the double sided tape to make a square around the window, stick the plastic sheet to the square of tape, then heat the plastic with a hair dryer. The plastic shrinks down as tight as a drum and stops the drafts from coming in and the heat getting out.

Also, buy the foam weather stripping. Put a strip on the underside of your windows to get a good seal between the window and sill. Obviously you should do this before sealing it off in shrink wrap.

I put the foam weather stripping completely around the front door, then close and lock it. I don't open it all winter because it's in the living room. I weather strip the kitchen door too, but have to replace the stripping as needed throughout the winter. We only use one door in the winter, and the other one being sealed also cuts down on heating costs.

You can get weather strips for the bottom of doors that are nailed or screwed into place. to cut down on drafts coming under the door. I use on on my kitchen door and my basement door and they work fairly well.

I use these things every year and for a $20 investment it damned near cuts my heating bills in half.

Also, I keep my thermostat at 67 degrees. I keep my bedroom at about 55 degrees because I like it cool when I sleep. My wife . . . . has gotten used to it.

Oh yeah, fill any holes from cable TV installers with expanding foam. You can find it in a can with the other weather stripping stuff.

tspikes51

Close all vents in rooms that are rarely used or that you can use blankets in (the bedroom comes to mind, people sleep better when the room temp is between 55-65, and the bathroom also). Make sure your heating element in your furnace is working properly, as well as all other parts. The most important advice, though, to quote my parents is to "go in or out, keep the god damn door shut."

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scout

Assuming your forced air gas furnace and ductwork is/was properly installed shutting vents completely off can actually cause you to use more fuel and possibly cause damage to the heat exchangers of your furnace. Your furnace is very dependant upon the proper airflow to function properly and efficiently. By shutting off registers you can actually decrease the airflow across the heat exchangers causing it to run less efficiently. The burners will actually cycle off of the high limit switch with the fan continuing to run. The short cycles can cause moisture to build up where its not supposed to in the primary heat exchangers causing them to rust prematurely. The heat build-up from the furnace cycling on the high limit can cause the heat exchangers to bust open causing a very unsafe situation for you as it allows carbon monoxide to escape into the supply air thus come out the registers you have open. On the newer furnaces with negative pressure heat exchangers when the cracks in the heat exchangers become to large your furnace will cease to operate because the induced draft blower cannot achieve enough of a vacuum on the heat exchangers to pull in the vacuum switch possibly leaving you without heat during the coldest part of the winter.
Hoprfully your landlord is required by local ordinances to have the furnace serviced yearly and a CO test performed during this service. If not then perhaps you should talk with your landlord and suggest they have a qualified heating/cooling contractor inspect and service the furnace. Express your concerns about the high heating bills and ask they have it serviced to insure it is operating at peak performance.

Rodney

In an apartment, your options are limited, but:

*Go with the weatherstripping as others have suggested, and also thick curtains over the window. Curtains really make a difference.

*At night: electric blankets for everybody, and turn the thermostat down to 55. As for the birds: leave a light bulb on right next to it; should keep them warm enough.

*If you've got separate wall or baseboard heaters rather than central heating, close off rooms you don't use that often at various times and leave the heater off in there, if there is one. One of the bedrooms during the day and early evening, for example.

What scout says about shutting vents in central heating is something our own HVAC repairman has brought up. In a system with very few vents (we have just four), it's not recommended to close any.

Charlatan

You don't need electric blankets. They are just another power drain. Invest in a good duvet and some flanel sheets. You will be warm and toasty.

We have a two story house that is about 100 years old. The most important thing for us is weatherstripping. We heat using force air natural gas. Make sure your furnace is cleaned and serviced on an annual basis. Change your filters once a month in the winter months. Foam wrap your hot water pipes.

Turn the heat down at night and wear warm pyjamas and used more blankets. If you can get an automated thermostat set it to bring the temp up around a half hour before you get up and have it turn down in the evening sometime. Saves a bundle.

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vautrain

Apartments are never very well insulated, because landlords (and, consequently, builders) generally don't give a crap how much it costs to heat them, since they don't pay for it, anyway.

Unfortunately, moving into a house will almost certainly give you more space to heat, which will more than make up for any *possible* added insulating efficiency.

pig

To reiterate:

1. Start with the windows. If you are stuck with old single pane windows, I will almost guarrantee you that you are losing the majority of your heat through the windows. Adding something as stupid as saran wrap will dramatically increase your thermal resistance at the window - walmart / kmart etc sell kits for insulating your windows. It can be ugly - but effective.

2. Weatherstrip the doors.

3. After this, if you don't see any improvement, then I'd start thinking exotic. You're situation is a little different due to babies and birds, so you really can't just drop down to igloo temps and wear a sweater. Now, you could tie the bird to the baby, thus allowing them to both conserve heat ....

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MooseMan3000

Something I haven't heard mentioned: If you have a tub/shower, when you're rinsing off (or the whole time) plug up the tub. Then let the hot water sit in the tub until it reaches room temperature. The heat from the water will be transferred to the air, and not down the drain. You have to pay for every drop of that hot water, so why not make it count towards the ambient temperature, too? Same thing with dishwater, if you do dishes by hand. Some people think this is weird, but it really does work. Water has a very high heat capacity, so a little bit of hot water goes a long way towards heating your house.

Ceiling fans work wonders if you have them... but make sure to set them to suck air UP, not push it down. That way the warmer air at the top of the room gets pushed to the walls then back down towards the floor. The room isn't actually warmer overall, but it feels warmer because the warm air is where you are, not at the ceiling.

Paq

mooseman has some good ideas with the water. that's what i do for the morning shower routine when it's freezing outside.

Also, as mentioned before, you don't need electric blankets as they are a huge drain on power nad i've seen my share of people getting burned or fried by them, don't ask how, but they did. I personally go with a soft mattress pad, covered with flannel sheets and a huge comforter at night. The comforter was kinda expensive, but it does save quite a bit of electricity and the wife will like it

towels under the doors or buy those rubber doorsweeps. most aprt doors have massive gaps underneath. You can buy eihter foam weatherstripping in lowes or home depot or buy the insulaation kits at walmart. anything that reduces a draft is going to help.

I do live by the ceiling fan, just set it to blow down and it keeps the warm air down where you can feel it. set it on low, though, after it gets moving, the air continues circulating w/out feeling cold.

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Grasshopper Green

Thanks for the tips everyone. I will be getting weatherstripping stuff this weekend...home improvement project, whoohoo!

I have central air...and oddly enough, no furnace filter than I can see. I will call the landlord to inspect it to make sure it's running properly. Hubby and I have already discussed buying some heavy blankets and wearing sweaters.

I don't know how old the building is, but I would guess it was built in the 60s or 70s. After inspecting the windows, I felt a slight draft, so I think that may be a culprit. I'll be sealing them as well

Thanks so much for the tips everyone...I really appreciate it. You all rock

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analog

I didn't understand any of this. It's fucking gibberish to me. But it sounds awesome.

genuinegirly

What a good thread!

Heating tips:

Our family keeps our thermostat at 60 degrees. We curl up with blankets and wear sweaters in the house. Socks and slippers, warm fleece bathrobes over regular nighties. We recently had our insullation in our walls redone, so that helps keep the heat in. Our windows are double-paned and we have filled all drafty holes. Heavy double curtains (thick blankets in a pinch) in the rooms that tend to lose heat. No electric heaters here, too much of an electricity drain.

General energy saving:

Shut off all unnecessary lights. Switch to energy efficient light bulbs. Shut off the TV and read a book instead. Make music rather than using a stereo. Shut off the computer when it doesn't absolutely need to be on.

About the fireplaces that go on gel fuel - gel fuel burns at about 205 degrees ferenheit. It's not going to emit sufficient heat to make the expense worthwhile.

Now I'm going to make use of some of the advice others have given!

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kramus

A minor point, if an electric heater remains one of your possible options. Look for a quartz radiant heater. These do not heat the air, instead they heat what the radiant energy is absorbed by. This is a more efficient and directed use of electric heat for space heating and such because it heats what you target, and not the entire area. You bask in the radiant heat, and when you shut it off it stops. But you are not heating a mass of cold moving air filling your room, that dissipates before you get a chance to enjoy it.

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pig

Medusa, quick note because I'm a dork. It's not just the draft from the windows - it's the physical process of heat transfer through the window. Turns out that having a double pane window is much more effective in keeping heat in. You can get double pane effectiveness by putting some sort of plastic covering over the window, thus trapping a layer of air inside.

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maleficent

Most hardware stores sells this stuff that you can put over the windows (without blocking the light) that goes on with a blow dryer.. and come spring, i comes off pretty easily.

Humans can always get warm with a blanket and such, birds -- I'm not sure have the same option. Is there any kind of covering you can get for the birdcage (if he lives in a cage) to keep his area warm?

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canuckguy

great thread! awesome idea's here, since i just bought a new (old) house (built 1920-30's) Anything I can do to make it more energy efficient is great! We had a new high-efficiency furnace installed, doing the windows next year, but will for sure be putting plastic over all the windoews my wife will let me.

Powderedmaggot

No, they are very efficient. A light bulb is designed to create light but creates a shit pile of heat therby making it inefficient. A heater turn all the energy provided to it into heat and nothing but heat. 1500w is fuck all in heating terms. If you calculate the cost per BTU from gas from a high efficiency furnace and the cost per btu produced by electricity you will be surprised. Even with a high efficiency furnace a percentage of your heat goes up the chimney. There is no heat loos with electric heat. None. Zero.

Cynthetiq

not true. our apartments have too much heat and most people open the windows because it's too hot!

and our co-op pays for the oil we all pay for it, it's increased our maintenence charges about for $50 a month for 1 year as an assessment.

of course now we'll be even more pissed when we have to open the windows to keep the temperature at a bareable level.

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vautrain

You've got too much heat, but you pay for it, without actually controlling it. It still doesn't mean your building is well-insulated. I don't know how big your building is, but I wonder if there's someone in there who is freezing his ass off, forcing the building management to keep the heat blazing while the rest of you bake.

Cynthetiq

it's called OLD people. they complain all the time that it's too cold.

the place used to be drafty from what i understand. they changed the windows a couple years ago and since that time the building has been much much more efficient.

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la petite moi

How about you try riding your bike to certain place? When you get in the car with your family, make it a many errands sort of day.