In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2) by SIGNYM

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Wednesday, April 17, 2024 23:29
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PAGE 10 of 71

Saturday, December 31, 2022 1:28 AM

It's kind of amazing, really. It's been 40 1/2 hours without the furnace kicking on now and it's 33 degrees outside. But the key is that it's not windy at all right now. The temp has only fallen 3 degrees from 57 to 54 since the sun went down. Last night remained in the high 40's after being in the mid 50's yesterday, and even with some cloud cover the sunlight alone was enough to raise the temps during the day even though it was about 10 colder outside than it was in my house.

The crazy things you discover when you've got the thermostat set between 43 and 50 degrees.

It gets below freezing Wednesday night, but it's going to be 61 degrees on Tuesday. I'm going to easily make back all of the extra cycles used during that cold snap between now and then.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Saturday, December 31, 2022 8:06 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
It's kind of amazing, really. It's been 40 1/2 hours without the furnace kicking on now and it's 33 degrees outside. But the key is that it's not windy at all right now. The temp has only fallen 3 degrees from 57 to 54 since the sun went down. Last night remained in the high 40's after being in the mid 50's yesterday, and even with some cloud cover the sunlight alone was enough to raise the temps during the day even though it was about 10 colder outside than it was in my house.

The crazy things you discover when you've got the thermostat set between 43 and 50 degrees.

It gets below freezing Wednesday night, but it's going to be 61 degrees on Tuesday. I'm going to easily make back all of the extra cycles used during that cold snap between now and then.

--------------------------------------------------

Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

That's too cold for me! We keep our thermostat at 67, but we only have 2 zones (of 3) on during the day, and only one on at night. Still, it'll be interesting to see how high our gas bill goes. We used to be charged $8-10 per month is the summer (for water heating: laundry, showers, dishwashing) but our bill crept up to $13-14. I was worried we had a small leak somewhere so I checked and old bill... nope, same number of therms, just more expensive!

During winter, despite most of our windows being double-paned, our bill would go to $150 on the coldest months. Given that the price has gone up, but we're more consistent and conservative than we used to be, I wonder how high the bills will go this year.

Sis near Bflo hardly pays anything. When the house was built, dad went around filling in the empty spaces with insulation, so its extremely well-insulated. And of course all windows in the houses built there are double-paned. And when they had to replace the furnace, sis bought one with an extremely efficient heat exchanger: it extracts SO much heat from the combustion gases that the vent is at the side of the house, since the gas is too cold to make it all the way up a normal chimney! I'll ask her what her bill was the month tht included the latest blizzard. I would be curious to find out.

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake

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Saturday, December 31, 2022 9:39 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
It's kind of amazing, really. It's been 40 1/2 hours without the furnace kicking on now and it's 33 degrees outside. But the key is that it's not windy at all right now. The temp has only fallen 3 degrees from 57 to 54 since the sun went down. Last night remained in the high 40's after being in the mid 50's yesterday, and even with some cloud cover the sunlight alone was enough to raise the temps during the day even though it was about 10 colder outside than it was in my house.

The crazy things you discover when you've got the thermostat set between 43 and 50 degrees.

It gets below freezing Wednesday night, but it's going to be 61 degrees on Tuesday. I'm going to easily make back all of the extra cycles used during that cold snap between now and then.

--------------------------------------------------

Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
That's too cold for me!

I think if I did a survey, that's too cold for pretty much anybody.

My Grandma and Aunt kept their coats on even when I splurged the last time we were here and turned it up to 64 for a few hours. They keep theirs at 70. Their gas bill last month was $280. I'm not going to be surprised if I hear it's $550 this month.

My buddy won't take his coat off when he comes here and has asked me twice now if I'd turn the heat higher if he gave me some money to help pay my bill.

Quote:
We keep our thermostat at 67, but we only have 2 zones (of 3) on during the day, and only one on at night. Still, it'll be interesting to see how high our gas bill goes. We used to be charged $8-10 per month is the summer (for water heating: laundry, showers, dishwashing) but our bill crept up to $13-14. I was worried we had a small leak somewhere so I checked and old bill... nope, same number of therms, just more expensive!

Sure. Probably quite a bit more expensive right now in the winter too. Up until this point I've been extremely lucky with how little more it was costing per therm prior to the same time last year, but we did just get bumped up to $0.62 per therm (plus another $0.7 delivery charge or whatever) for the month of December, which means all those cycles that went off during Week Frigid were the most expensive I've ever paid for since buying the house by quite a bit.

Quote:
During winter, despite most of our windows being double-paned, our bill would go to $150 on the coldest months. Given that the price has gone up, but we're more consistent and conservative than we used to be, I wonder how high the bills will go this year.

WOW! You can tell that your gas is more expensive and you keep it higher than I do. Last year's January bill (that I'll be comparing the next bill to) was $235. Only $158 of that was my gas. Up until the next two bills (unless I did REALLY GOOD here), last January's bill of $158 was my highest bill ever.

My goal is to pay less than last year even with the jump in price. I don't know if I can succeed, but I'll find out in about another 20 days.

Quote:
Sis near Bflo hardly pays anything. When the house was built, dad went around filling in the empty spaces with insulation, so its extremely well-insulated. And of course all windows in the houses built there are double-paned. And when they had to replace the furnace, sis bought one with an extremely efficient heat exchanger: it extracts SO much heat from the combustion gases that the vent is at the side of the house, since the gas is too cold to make it all the way up a normal chimney! I'll ask her what her bill was the month tht included the latest blizzard. I would be curious to find out.

I've got all double paned windows, but the insulation and caulk jobs were shite. The only two rooms I've actually finished the remodeling and windows are the two bedrooms that are closed off with the vents closed. I'll get to everything else eventually, but boy is it cold popping a squat on a windy morning with that drafty window right next to you when the temp is set to 50 or less!

And don't get me started on the inefficiency of not only my ancient furnace, but the way that uncle bob installed everything.

One day I will install a proper new furnace for the upper duct work and fix the stupid way they did it all.

But I'm thinking for the basement I might install a heat pump or two instead of tying into the lower-level duct work. There is a slab in the crawl with gas to it, but I'm sure that at least one furnace had been flooded out and ruined if not a few more.

I'm convinced I'll get this house flood proof eventually, but even still... I've never actually had any direct heat in the basement the 12 years I've lived here (or coming from the floors in the 1st floor either) and I've been fine. If anyone has ever had a valid reason for testing out a heat pump system, I suppose it would be me.

Anyhow... Going to my friend's to do some electric and a few other things. It won't be an all day thing because he and his family are leaving around 4PM to go meet one of our other friend's and their family at a hotel that has a swimming pool for New Years. I've been invited, but that's really not my bag. There's no way I'm sleeping in a room with either entire family and their dogs for the night, and you know I'm not getting my own room.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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Saturday, December 31, 2022 1:23 PM