Cheapest way to heat your home ?

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

find every place that heat can escape, around windows, doors, pipes, cracks between trim and walls. you's be surprised where it can escape from.

stick with gas, lp or natural, get your own 100 lb cylinders and take them to be filled yourself, it you can't plumb it in yourself get a plumber to do it, you may have to go with a high pressure regulator from cylinders to low pressure ones on upper and lower floors. low pressure regulators might not push enough gas upstairs.

LP or Natureal will be your cheapest bet.kerosene/ heating oil is the next best best. but i think it would come out cheaper to run the plumbing and all required for gas than kerosene/ heating oil.

you can get individual gas heaters not sure about kerosene, all we ever used was gas or electric once or twice and i'll never go electric again. not sure about kerosenei would think you'd have to get a furnace and run duct work, could be wrong.

a couple of gas heater choices,

first ones might match the house better if your into that,

32 in. Intermediate 30,000 BTU Vent-Free Dual Fuel Gas Stove

lp gas heaters

Wood fired boiler with the right base board heaters is probably your best option for an old home like that but keeping it refueled is going to be a chore alongside removing ash. Good job for a young son

originally posted by: Brotherman
Wood fired boiler with the right base board heaters is probably your best option for an old home like that but keeping it refueled is going to be a chore alongside removing ash. Good job for a young son

Agreed. Last autumn and winter we went through probably 12-16 cubic meters of wood. Two full wheel barrows a day. A lot of wood, but cheap.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Am in the British Isles and we heat the house, maybe an 1870's by collecting wood from trees, some of it natural fallen sticks and branches, others actual cut downs that the tree surgeons never picked up and let decompose. Wood is everywhere, it's free, it burns beautifully, much of the wood one picks up has already dried out or died, one can also heat your cooking device from it. My choice is a Weber (made in the USA) kettle BBQ, just throw on the sticks, place a big cooking on top, heat your water, cook your food. One really can heat and cook for free

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

I suspect you'd be smart to close off parts of the house you don't use either with plastic sheeting or installing doors. Our place is 3,000 square feet and that's what we do. Our 3rd floor is unused anyway. And I use that stretch film plastic on all the windows in the winter. Makes a big difference.

A wood burning insert in a fireplace will work well (until they're outlawed). Pellet stoves are good as well but you'll need to rely on pellet delivery to keep it running and that's getting $$$ because of popularity. A woodburner just needs dead hardwood. Lately, I've been experimenting with compressed hardwood blocks from Tractor Supply. Meh, they're okay at best.

As far as kerosene and propane go, don't. Both are fairly expensive in small quantities. My kerosene heater (20,000 btu) will go through 5 gallons in a few days which put the cost at around $40 a week provided it's not run 24/7.

I have had great success with a 5k diesel air heater at your cabin, 400 sq ft.

I do have a massive (!) 150,000 btu propane convection heater that will go through a 5 gallon tank in 4 hours. I've got a modest 50,000 btu one that will last most of day on 5 gallons.

Line the walls and windows with Mylar to reflect heat back into the room. Candles produce a considerable amount of heat but beware of carbon monoxide poisoning.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

A few people I know went with Mini Spit systems (Air Conditioner/Heat Pump) one got from Big Box and other went with a AC/Solar setup

I guess in the area they live they don't have natural gas....propane only...either way Both are $$$$ right now.

If humidity isn't too much of a problem the cheapest way is probably heating the inhabitants rather than the house. Wool and heating bottles go a long way in keeping you warm.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Check into pellet stoves. They throw off a lot of heat. Not sure of the cost of pellets. The neighbor buys them by the pallet. Our NG fireplace has a blower so the heat goes into the room. There are corn burning stoves also. There are wood burning stoves that will hold 6 foot logs. But they are outside stoves. Lots of options out there.

I use a EPA certified fireplace insert with a two-speed fan. Best money I ever spent! I bought it over 30 years ago and use free firewood from residential areas. People put out stacks of logs on their front lawn after removing trees. They put a sign on it, Free wood! I also use wood from my property. I had enough wood to burn for 2 1/2 months last winter. All free heat, and inserts burn through cord wood slow.

It gets so hot I've had to open windows and doors before. The heat rises up the stairs and heats the whole house.

You can see the fire through the thick glass, and the flames roll inside, to burn and reburn, so its fairly soot free.

Yep woodburner is the way, mine is plumbed in so heats teh water and the radiators too. can burn pallets taht you can get free so it doesnt cost much on fuel

Those single glazed windows are about the equivalent of a 6" hole in the wall.
Most of your energy loss is there.
There is a ceran wrap type plastic that has a removable self-adhesive.
...just wipe the trim clean and stretch it over the whole thing.
Forget foam, blown in is just fine.
It takes a small hole on top and below each run between the studs.
Inside you just spackle the hole and match existing paint.
The insulation guys will usually do it.
Lowes rents the diy kit also. Cheap, but dusty.
I'd address that before trying to heat the outdoors

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Being raised as a survivalist this subject is near and dear to my heart.

Think how people lived 150 years ago.

Smaller rooms were heated.
Heavy curtains, blankets and rugs were used as “insulation”.
Natural materials like wool, silk, down helped keep things warm.
People used what they had to prevent drafts, sometimes even newspaper. Of course you don’t need to do that now, but there are a lot of good materials you can use instead, bubble wrap on windows, plastic wrap. Blankets over the doors. Honeycomb blinds.
Door draft stoppers at the bottom.

A down blanket in a duvet is unbelievably warm.
An electric blanket.

Acclimate yourself to cold weather. I live in a cold state. By spring anything over 35 feels warm. It’s not a joke, it actually feels warm to the locals because we got so used to the cold. Do more outside to regulate your cold/warm tolerance.

Eat warming foods. Get hot water bottles. A hot water bottle with hot water under a down comforter is all you need!

Wear natural warming fabrics, again silk, wool, down or some of the new synthetics that also are very good.

If your electric company has it, do time of use. This allows you to have cheaper electricity at night, which is when you can do laundry, turn the heat up a bit.

Asian medicine believes you should not try to lose weight in the winter, follow the natural path of things. Animals gain weight to survive the winter, they shed the weight in the spring.
Don’t drink cold drinks and eat cold foods.
Always always keep your feet warm!!

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

We have a sunroom built onto the back of our house which faces south and is open to the kitchen.

In winter, even when it gets down to -30 c, the daytime temperature inside can get as high as +30 c. We have insulated blinds that we drop over the windows at night.

As it cools in the night time our Hearthstone fireplace kicks on. It is clad in soapstone and radiates lots of contained heat after the flame shuts off.

Saves us a ton in regular gas furnace runtime.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

If you have more than one story, a mate had a wood burner in the downstairs living room, with the stainless chimney going up through all the other rooms, so the fire heated the whole house.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

This problem doesn’t really have a good solution.
You have a huge house that’s very old and not at all efficient.

My dad would say you’re trying to heat the outside..lol

The best answer is to use the method with the lowest cost per BTU.
Like if electric is high in your area use gas.
If both are high buy a sweater…😂

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

hell i just found out they make kerosene space heaters. only draw back i can see with them is having to fill them.



indoor kerosene space heater

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

The cheapest overall is to insulate really well, double glaze, and then get a split system heat pump or heat pumps. The problem with this is the initial costs are significantly higher than running costs.

originally posted by: Mandroid7
Those single glazed windows are about the equivalent of a 6" hole in the wall.
Most of your energy loss is there.
There is a ceran wrap type plastic that has a removable self-adhesive.
...just wipe the trim clean and stretch it over the whole thing.
Forget foam, blown in is just fine.
It takes a small hole on top and below each run between the studs.
Inside you just spackle the hole and match existing paint.
The insulation guys will usually do it.
Lowes rents the diy kit also. Cheap, but dusty.
I'd address that before trying to heat the outdoors

Thank you for saying what I was thinking. So much glass, so much inefficiency...

Take up slow cooking your food and move into the kitchen.

/jks

a reply to: Ravenwatcher