Zone Heating

[FarmerChick]

well with rental units you are darned if you do, and darned if you don't.

can't rent without proper heating (more than AC situation) and you have to deal with breakage etc.
all about good insurance

But being smaller trailers on some this zone situation might work well because the write offs are becoming less and less, renters skip rent and leave and cost you money and run out on elec. bill, and tons of worry. MIL has 11 rental trailers. Can we say nightmare in these harder times to come?

older times renting was good. Now it is find where to live and skip out on rent/bills and MIL even with tax writeoffs comes out on the losing end.


rough for sure.



Hmmm...cheap insulation? Are we talking somethig to shoot in walls? or attic or ?

yea I am all about usage being lowered also for personal use.

 

[lighthawk]

Here's my story. Rambling cold brick house, DH on the road 5-6 days a week, electric heat pump that blows cold air, skinny cold, old woman. Read about zone heating and just ordered 2 Pelonis ceramic space heaters. I can't stand the thermostat below 72 in the day and much less than 70 at night, have RA and carpal tunnel. But for gosh sake it's just me and I can't be in 2 places at once so figured why heat to my comfort if I can use a space heater where I am and turn it down. I will let you all know if my bill goes up or down.

GardenWeasel... My home is about 1100 square feet. About 300 of that is dedicated cool storage so I actually heat about 800 sq ft. Two years ago I bought an Eden Pure Gen 3 and keep it in my living room pointed to the dining room where I spend most of my time.
Prior to using the Eden Pure my propane bill was $1700.00 per year. Last winter was the first winter that I used it all winter and my propane bill for the entire year was $800.00. I also use propane for cooking. My total electric bill for the winter heating season increased by just over $250.00. (4 months of very cold temps) The thing paid for itself the first year. (at that time they cost $400.00 now they are selling for $300)
This will be the third winter and the unit has been trouble free. (knock wood) Does require cleaning the filter often.
The living room, dining room, and kitchen are always comfortable the furnace is set to kick on at 69 for extreme cold days and nights when the unit can't keep up.
Good luck.

 

[FranklinStreetWest]

We zone heat our place here in Michigan. Last year we tried doing the elecrtic room heaters for a couple months.... After two successive $300+ electric bills (one ceramic heater in ONE room only of for 8 hours a day) I abandonned that method. This year I didn't even bother getting it out, DH tried, but I kyboshed that instantly. Instead, we waited til half way through November to turn the forced air/natural gas heat on, a cool month later than normal. We have two rooms at the rear of the house that serve as kitchen & pantry, in that there is an antique gas oven. We turn that on low, turn it on and off once in a while once our day rooms are warm...off when we go to bed. Our upstairs bedroom stays 45-60 degrees depending on the weather. The thermostat for the forced air stays set to 45 degrees.

This year we added draft dodgers and weatherstripping to all the inside & outside doors (of which we have at least 26). The draft control help IMMENSLY!!

The house is a 1500sq.ft. victorian, 6.5ft tall wavy glass windows, 9ft ceilings, no wall insulation, wool fiber insulation in the attic, no storm windows. And we managed to keep our first winter bill down to $96 for gas & electric combined!!! Happy day.

I keep looking at all the holes that are cut into our central chimney...I would love to get a series of antique iron parlor stoves and install those in each room. Then we could enjoy each room that we wanted to, or shut it off when we're not in it.