The other product that I have considered is the new Electrolux Stove that can boil water in 90 seconds using induction heat. They are a little pricey though!

this can create problems with your furnace shortening its life by potentially damaging the heat exchanger (which can be deadly dangerous) and can also cause it to function in a way that would be less efficient than before closing the registers.

to be brief, your furnace requires enough air passing over the heat exchanger to keep it from overheating. ideally, the furnace burner will stay on thru its cycle until the thermostat is satisfied. longer (read: correct) cycles are the most efficient. when you choke off the air flow, by closing off registers and/or with dirty filters, the furnace will sometimes ‘cycle on its limits’. limits are safety devices to keep the furnace from exceeding dangerous design temps. furnaces shouldn’t reach their limits in normal circumstances though, and if forced to do it repeatedly the heat exchanger can develop cracks in it (not good).

here is where/how money can get lost. -

when/if you force your furnace burner to cycle on and off during a heat cycle, you are spending extra $ by having to reheat the heat exchanger again and again (which has to happen before it’s warm enough to transfer that heat to the air passing by it). its cheaper to keep it at its design temp during each cycle.
* the low air flow problem is further compounded by equipment that is over sized to begin with and/or inadequately designed, low-flowing ductwork. both are unfortunately more common than not. closing registers, dirty air filters are the icing on the cake.

if you damage your equipment and it needs repaired or replaced sooner than it might have originally, you have saved far less than nothing.

last but definitely not least – if you do develop a breach in the heat exchanger, you can allow carbon monoxide to enter your home. CO can and does kill people every year.

annual equipment inspection and CO detectors are both money well spent in my opinion.

i’m all for saving money, thats why i come here. however, i would caution you to add some disclaimers with your advice as ‘its all fun and games until someone gets hurt’.

thanks.

We heat almost exclusively with a wood stove (about 2 cords per winter) and have never paid for wood in the last 3 years. We watch for trees coming down in the neighborhood and ask the tree company cut the logs to the right length for our stove. If we’re lucky, they’ll drop it off in our driveway; otherwise, we get them to leave it there and we haul it home in our trailer. They’re usually happy not to have to run it to the dump. We have to split the wood, though, and let it sit for at least a year to season.

It bears mentioning that burning a fire in your fireplace is NOT a way to save on heating costs — fireplaces are very inefficient and usually end up creating a draft that sucks a lot of cold air into your house.

this can create problems with your furnace shortening its life by potentially damaging the heat exchanger (which can be deadly dangerous) and can also cause it to funtion in a way that would be less efficient than before closing the registers.

to be brief, your furnace requires enough air passing over the heat exchanger to keep it from overheating. ideally, the furnace burner will stay on thru its cycle until the thermostat is satisfied. longer (read: correct) cycles are the most efficient. when you choke off the air flow, by closing off registers and/or with dirty filters, the furnace will sometimes ‘cycle on its limits’. limits are saftey devices to keep the furnace from exceeding dangerous design temps. furnaces shouldn’t reach their limits in normal circumstances though, and if forced to do it repeatedly the heat exchanger can develop cracks in it (not good).

here is where/how money gets lost. -

if you force your furnace burner to cycle on and off during a heat cycle, you are spending un-needed $ reheating the heat exchanger again and again (which has to happen before it’s warm enough to transfer that heat to the air passing by it). its cheaper to keep it at its design temp during each cycle.
* the low air flow problem is further compounded by inadequately designed low-flowing ductwork that is unfortunatly more common than not. closing registers, dirty air filters are the icing on the cake.

if you damage your equipment and it needs repaired or replaced sooner than it might have originally, you have saved less than nothing.

last but definately not least – if you do develop a breach in the heat exchanger, you can allow carbon monoxide to enter your home. it can kill you.

i’m all for saving money, thats why i come here. i would caution you to add some disclaimers with your advice as ‘its all fun and games until someone gets hurt’.

thanks.

We also installed a ceiling fan and that has helped both keep it cool in the summer and warmer in the winter.

Usually the only cold you really notice at those temperatures are hands, feet, and head so if you can figure out a way to keep those 3 body parts at a comfortable temperature then a sweater and a warm drink will do the rest. At night the key is, as Trent said, to warm up the bed quickly. If you have wool and/or down blankets they’ll trap the heat and keep you nice a toasty all night.

I’m not sure what happens in South Africa. If trees are being cut down and never replanted, then yes it’s bad for the environment. Although if the trees are going to be cut down anyway (such as to clear land for farms), then burning the waste wood usefully as heating fuel is actually good, because the tree is already dead and will release all of its CO2 whether you burn it or it just rots (same effect but slower).

As for a shortage of pellets, I bought mine at a discount ($175/ton vs $215/ton now) over the summer and have them already picked up and available for use whenever we need them.

We are looking to renovate another house in the coming months to be able to move and we will be putting in a woodstove or a pellet/corn stove as the heating source. Both give you wonderful heat for your money.

Bottom line. I can do a bunch of these things and save a *lot* of money this winter.

As far as the environment goes, I’m pretty sure the local waste wood we’re burning is better than the alternative of coal burned by the electric plant.

You know.. socks CAN be sexy.. you just gotta get neat above the knee ones XD I like to buy my striped socks from historical costume suppliers in a wide variety of colors.

Aggie