Cost to Heat Your House

[socca]

Cost to heat house: $0 / year

I only run the central heat once per year out of curiosity to see if it still works. I'll run a space heater a few times each winter during cold spells. Electricity cost: $20 max. SWFL.

 

[target2019]

We heat for 5-6 months each year in south NJ. 3,000 sq.ft. for calculation. Heating set point is 69-70 when home and awake. Set back is to 65 deg. night and day, about 50% of the day.

2014 - $3,461.89 total gas and electric
2015 - $3,937.15 total gas and electric
2016 - $2,602.71 total gas and electric*

ELECTRIC
2014 - $1,546.67 total electric
2015 - $1,871.49 total electric
2016 - $1,230.44 total electric*

GAS
2014 - $1,915.22 total gas (.66/sq.ft.)
2015 - $2,065.66 total gas (.71/sq.ft.)
2016 - $1,372.27 total gas (.47/sq.ft.)*

Hot water + dryer is $25 per month, so subtract about $300 from yearly gas to get total heating gas. Roughly, .33 per sq.ft. for heat.

* Next year, I estimate still lower gas cost, as there will be 3 additional heating months with newer equipment installed 4/2016.

 

[cj1717]

Basically zero to heat. I live in S FL in a tropical zone and only use heat one day a year to make sure the system is functioning.

 

[RobbieB]

Keep in on good and long to get it hot and bake all the moisture out of the exchanger.

 

[Ronnieboy]

Climate zone 4.
We only use the heater about 4-5 months a year. It's a forced air natural gas heater. It typically increases our gas usage by about $40/month. (We also cook with gas and have an on demand gas hot water heater... so our gas bill even when the heater is not used is about $11/month.)

2000sf house... so 2cents/sf per month... or 10cents/sf per year (5 months heating).

It helps to live in a mild climate... but it was cold enough last night the heater cycled on and off all night.

Sorry to hijack, but how long have you had the OD water heater, has it needed any repairs, do you really 'never run out of hot water', how long does it take to get hot water to the furthest sink in the house, what did you replace with the ODHWH, and was there a cost savings (in natural gas expenditure)?

I have always wanted one but couldn't justify the high cost and the rumor(s) that they weren't reliable?!?

Back on topic:

SLC area, 3300 sq ft house. Natural gas powers the furnace, two 50gal hot water heaters, stove, and clothes dryer. We like it chilly (too much organic insulation) so about 61-62 at night, 68 during the day. We are on 'equal pay' so basically equal monthly payments all year, currently running $89/mo.

 

[gerntz]

In 6A. Last Jan used 20,000 cf NG - $175 - & 780 Kwh of electric - $66. Electric range & dryer, NG water heater & heating. One of first houses in area to use Tyvek wrap in 1986. Keep temp at 68-70F.

In July, used 1500 cf NG & 1100 Kwh. Keep temp at 75F. Lower to 68F over night to knock down humidity inside & for better sleeping.

 

[gerntz]

Get rid of that 50 gallon electric hot water Heater . you have the 220power there obviously and the water lines . Buy a tankless water heater . For the two of us and 1 bathroom and washer we bought a tankless on Ebay for around 500.00 . Installed it myself. ...Pex Pipe is your friend !

Agree on electric water heater & Pex.

I assume you mean GAS tankless heater. Instead of that, we added gas hot water tank recirc lines - Pex - with a pump controlled by an in-line flow sensor. Start/stop hot water for 2 seconds & have hot water at tap in 2-10 seconds when reopen line depending on tap location (Pump runs for two minutes after flow stops.). Before this, 30-60 seconds of running water till it was hot. Many homes can't easily add a recirc line, but there are also "bridge" systems to cold water lines that also allow quick hot water. Pump/sensor/controller were $350.

 

[ERD50]

Get rid of that 50 gallon electric hot water Heater . you have the 220power there obviously and the water lines . Buy a tankless water heater . For the two of us and 1 bathroom and washer we bought a tankless on Ebay for around 500.00 . Installed it myself. ...Pex Pipe is your friend !

There is very little energy lost in keeping the tank warm. Current ones are well insulated, electric especially since they don't have a vent going through them.

The big energy suck is raising the temperature of the water in the first place, which must be done in either case. Holding it once it is hot is minimal.

A tankless can also mean significant addition to your gas or electric supply to handle the higher peak energy needs of these devices. The tanks units spread a lower input over a longer time, so the peak needs are lower.

-ERD50

 

[Texas Proud]

Sorry to hijack, but how long have you had the OD water heater, has it needed any repairs, do you really 'never run out of hot water', how long does it take to get hot water to the furthest sink in the house, what did you replace with the ODHWH, and was there a cost savings (in natural gas expenditure)?

I have always wanted one but couldn't justify the high cost and the rumor(s) that they weren't reliable?!?

I think there was a thread on OD hot water heaters... I had one in my old house and yes it is true, you never run out of hot water... as long as you are willing to pay for the privilege.....

Yes, it is a bit longer to get hot water, but not terrible... a few seconds from what I remember... getting hot water to the farthest faucet is more based on the pipe... like my current house... (regular HWH).... it takes maybe 2 minutes to get hot water to our master bath sink.... but the shower is much faster since it has a larger pipe.... at least a lot more water comes out of it than the sink....


Now, for the downside.... and I think you can make sure this does not happen if you buy the right heater.... I had a low flow shower... well, the problem is you need a certain amount of water flowing in order for the heater to turn on... in my setup it was like 75% of what the low flow shower head would let out... so, I had to turn the hot water on pretty much and it was WAY too hot... then turn it down a bit and shower while the pipe drained and then do it again... so too hot, cold, too hot, cold... you get the drift... went back to a regular show head and it was better, but still a bit too hot to run continuous.... so adjusting the temp all the time... normal faucets were worse as they did not allow as much water....

With a regular HWH, once you get hot water to the faucet you can back down the flow to almost nothing and still get hot water...


BTW, I never did see any 'real' savings.... at least not that I noticed... I am sure I paid a bit less, but it did not register as a 'wow, this is real savings' moment....

 

[Koolau]

While there are plenty of extra or inflated costs associated with living in Hawaii, heating (generally) is not one of them. Neither of our places has had a furnace. We have been chilly a few times, but only because we couldn't seal the windows very well (not a high priority here.)

Air conditioning can be quite expensive as our electricity rates are upwards of $.30/kwh. Both the places we have lived here were oriented toward the trade winds so we have not had air conditioning. There are some hot and muggy days for which AC would be nice, but not a necessity. It has been rare to have bad sleeping weather due to heat/humidity, though it has happened. We do know folks who spend $300 to $400/mo to cool 1200sf apartments/town houses in the summer. They are typically oriented 90 degrees to the trades. For us, it's only when the trades die for a day or two that it gets a bit unpleasant.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We use Heat & air pretty much all year, we are all electric though for the most part with propane for BBQ & Water Heater. Cannot really Split them up. we are in Climate Zone 2. 3300sqft. 2 Electric Heat Pumps and a Tankless Water heater.

This years Electricity and Gas Total: $2,177 (181.41pm)

 

[jcretire77]

Boise is a Zone 6. We have a newer 3500 sq ft home. Last natural gas bill was $114.

 

[Music Lover]

Thanks to this thread it opened my eyes at how little we pay to heat our house, so I'm turning the heat up for the rest of the winter.

Yeah...40 cents a square foot for me and I'm on the Canadian prairies with bitter cold winters. My heating costs (natural gas) are lower than my electric bill, internet, cell phone, cable, etc. I don't have to turn it up as I already keep it comfortable.

 

[LOL!]

Even though we've had a freeze this month, it is now over 80 deg F outside. We might have to turn on the AC.