Heating costs - I just need to vent!

[NoMoreCards]

We have propane heat as well, and have drastically reduced how much we use by the following:
1.) Purchased a wall (propane) heater, it heats the main area (living/dining & kitchen area). I hang thermo curtians to the doorway to keep most of the heat in these areas as this is where I spend time during the day.

2.) Prior to going to bed, I turn on the electric blanket (30 minutes before), and a small electric heater to take the chill out of the room. (as this gets quite chilly, 47 degrees last night).

3.) main thermostat to the house furnace is set to 60, but it does not run during the day when the wall heater is used. It only runs at night. I also have all the heat vents shut down in rooms we do not use (basement and such). They do get cold, but not below freezing so pipes are fine.

This has taken my heat bill from 3000 to 1000 for the YEAR. Much more manageable. I fill my propane tank once per year by doing the above. And realistically, it is only bad Dec, Jan and Feb and I live in Michigan.

All the best.

P.S. The wall heaters sell for about 250.00 and do not use electricity. So if you lose power, you still have heat. Also, there is nothing to damage the home and when you move you can take it with you. Ours looks like a fireplace (costed a bit more the the standard one), but simply takes a gas line to install, leaving no damage to the home.

[frogger]

Thank you all for your advice! I'll try your suggestions and keep you updated.

Frogger - it's a wood floor

Nothing like an unheated crawl space.....

The exterior of the crawl space under the house "should" be sealed, with vents. Check and make sure that there are no open areas that would allow for cold air to enter the crawl space under the wood floor. Then, make sure that your vents to the crawl space are closed.

When you said your closets were cold, that makes me think that the builder did not properly seal the areas that were hidden from plain sight. Happens all the time when property is built by the cheapest bidder.

Cold closets mean air infiltration, which makes it impossible to heat your house in this cold weather. Sounds to me like your landlord needs to go on a mission of sealing your air leaks...

[ooCHAOSoo]

Again, thank you all for the advice. NoMoreCards - propane heaters are illegal in Massachusetts so we cannot have that but I will definitely look into some sort of heater. My landlord had us call someone to come out. They said it was ridiculously cold! Our fireplace (which had the flue shut) was 48 degrees. There was a 10 degree difference from the ceiling to the floor and a 15 degree difference from the 2nd floor to the 1st floor. They said they wanted to send out someone to look at the duct work b/c they think the exchange is too high. We've been playing phone tag for a couple of days and can't wait to see what they say.

[andy158]

Our gas rates have gone up 20% compared to last years bill for the same month. Seems like the price of all fuel goes up along with the price of crude oil. Go figure. Wonder if they price propane on "speculation" like crude oil prices. When you are on a budget in bk you cringe when the fuel bill arrives every month.