How much $$ does your heat cost you.?
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James-W
Well-known member
Are we talking about the garage? If we are, my garage has a natural gas modine type heater. I live in southeastern Wisconsin and overall the past month wasn't real cold, although a few days it was pretty bad. The last gas bill I got, counting the meter charge, was not quite $45 for the month. I keep it turned down to 50 degrees when I am not working out there. When I have projects to work on I turn it up to 65 degrees. Sometimes my wife wants to work on something and then I turn it up to 70 degrees because she says 65 is too cold. The weird part is, this Spring when it hits 60 degrees outside, she will be outside in shorts and will think nothing of it.
mattmankow
Well-known member
Garage isn't heated, so its really inexpensive.
Tim The Tool Man
Well-known member
Mine is kept at 43 degrees with my propane fed Reznor. Last month I had my first topping of of my tank in three years. Cost me $160. When I'm working in the shop I fire up my wood stove which brings the building up to 60 some odd degrees in relatively short order.
Ya. 32x50 pole barn insulated and osb sheathing inside. Would like to get cost down. 50,000 btu takes a while to get the heat up, so I've got the parts ordered to upgrade to 75,000 to heat it up quicker. One heated, it stays warm for quite a while.
nehog
Well-known member
Got 80 gallons at 2.49 a gallon last week--its been really cold for a while which jacks up the heat costs.
Steevo
Well-known member
I've had my Mr Heater 75Kbtu hanging natural gas heater in place for two winters now, or one winter and half of this one anyway. I keep the thermostat set at 50 degrees all the time, occasionally bumping it up a little if I am working but not working hard, so need a little more heat. So far, it has raised the gas bill by about $15/mo for the months when it is running every day.
210Hardtop
Well-known member
Natural gas well on the property.
Heats the shop, house and hot water.
Cost is zero!
I turn the shop down to about 70F and warm it up when I'm working in it. LOL
Heats the shop, house and hot water.
Cost is zero!
I turn the shop down to about 70F and warm it up when I'm working in it. LOL
supra90turbo
Well-known member
I might officially hate you. That's awesome!
5lima30
Well-known member
House and garage combined about $90 since we are now primarily using a wood stove to heat the house and electric in the garage.
whatuusay1
Well-known member
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- Jun 15, 2009
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LG Minisplit heatpump (2ton heat/cool) costs about $10-20 a month when its really cold - hardly noticed an increase in the electric bill.
I keep it at 60 degrees (lowest the heat setting will go) and kick it up to 65-70 when I'm out there. I'm in KC Missouri area for reference (its 23 right now).
Every garage I own will have a minisplit from now on. Love it.
I keep it at 60 degrees (lowest the heat setting will go) and kick it up to 65-70 when I'm out there. I'm in KC Missouri area for reference (its 23 right now).
Every garage I own will have a minisplit from now on. Love it.
That's awesome that you have your own NG well and heat garage with free methane!!
I'd recommend you pursue also DRIVING With FREE Fuel by also compressing that methane as CNG (compressed natural gas). Couple good home VRA's are Fuelmaker FMQ2-36 or Coltri. Join the website cngchat.com and search for "gas well" as there are others driving with free cng. Would need to test your NG well gas for composition so that % methane would be known, along with other gases. If you have diesel trucks, you could also blend the fuels as 30% diesel and 70% cng.
JakeKohl
Well-known member
LG Minisplit heatpump (2ton heat/cool) costs about $10-20 a month when its really cold - hardly noticed an increase in the electric bill.
I keep it at 60 degrees (lowest the heat setting will go) and kick it up to 65-70 when I'm out there. I'm in KC Missouri area for reference (its 23 right now).
Every garage I own will have a minisplit from now on. Love it.
Same here - I have two 18kbtu mini-splits...one in my downstairs garage, one upstairs. I have left them running all the time but recently started turning the garage one off (coupled with my wife generally running the house warmer, the bill was increasing a bit). I was worried about recovery time on the garage going from cold to warm, but last night when put on "JET" mode it heated the 24x36 space from 48 degrees to 60 degrees in a little less than 15 minutes. These things are so effective and efficient, my wife and I are considering replacing our whole-house unit with a couple multi-zone mini-split systems.
Concrete data is tough to come by, and we've had a cold month - I suspect I'm paying an extra $40 on my monthly electric bill to heat the additional 1800 square feet of garage/office.
FXDawg
Well-known member
Good gawd! I'm getting porked! I pay like $3.75 a gallon for home heating oil and burn about 1000 gallons a year...and I don't have a garage yet....I'll be using the mini splits in there,
So go figure, I'm about, say for easy math, $3600 a year thats $300 a month ALL YEAR and does not include electric. That comes in about $100 a month in winter and about $175 - $200 month in summer. So my heating/cooling/elec probably averages out to $450 per month all year. OUCH!!!
So go figure, I'm about, say for easy math, $3600 a year thats $300 a month ALL YEAR and does not include electric. That comes in about $100 a month in winter and about $175 - $200 month in summer. So my heating/cooling/elec probably averages out to $450 per month all year. OUCH!!!
Falcon67
Well-known member
That's nuts. We run 100~150 in the summer and over 200 in the winter with December running $300+ because we're off work two weeks. Our energy efficient dryer uses more than $50 worth of power a month.
The garage adds very little. It is winter, but I haven't run the heater(s) in a couple of weeks. I use 30 lb propane tanks and they cost $22/each to fill, without regard to whats already in the tank. "RV" tanks get charged a fixed fee.
aka Larry
Well-known member
I've got a double-barrel DIY wood burning heater in my shop. I've gotten two truck loads of free wood this year so the cost is really zero right now, but I'll tell you, damn, I do go thru some wood. My shop is metal with an insulated ceiling, but the walls are not insulated. Now I do like it WARM, like 65-75 degrees when possible. On a cold weekend day (say 30's-50's outside) I'll burn of 40 pieces of split dry Oak in a 8-hour day.
If I were you, I'd be checking into converting OFF of home heating oil to instead Natural Gas. HHO is colossal rip off . . . . effectively you are paying $3.75/gal for OFF ROAD Diesel !!!
Natural gas will be much more affordable and consistent in price over the coming years versus the voliatility of HHO.
Run, don't walk, away from HHO !!
FXDawg
Well-known member
I'd have done that already as I could replace my boiler myself and save a ton of money. However, there is no natural gas in my town and propane is not much cheaper than the oil. If I were going to convert to anything it would have to be straight electric.
If there were a good electric boiler I'd have done it already. I would go with heat-pumps but That is a big investment.
Natural gas is really the only viable alternative but, not available to me...
So sorry for you FXDawg . . . . your HHO provider has all customers like "Shooting Fish In A Barrel" as my grandpa would say! LOL.
Electric might actually be more affordable and stable priced way to heat versus HHO. At least you have the PUC (public utility commission) as sort of buffer to keep rates somewhat in line. HHO are just another product line for Exxon, or other Big Oil provider to fleece the public.
Here in KS, bulk propane from rural COOP (ie farm cooperative) can be be bought in offseason as low as $1.60/gal LPG. I would hope you could get propane on east coast for maybe $2/gal.
Good luck on efforts to lower your overall costs.
Electric might actually be more affordable and stable priced way to heat versus HHO. At least you have the PUC (public utility commission) as sort of buffer to keep rates somewhat in line. HHO are just another product line for Exxon, or other Big Oil provider to fleece the public.
Here in KS, bulk propane from rural COOP (ie farm cooperative) can be be bought in offseason as low as $1.60/gal LPG. I would hope you could get propane on east coast for maybe $2/gal.
Good luck on efforts to lower your overall costs.
KPSquared
Well-known member
I haven't heated the garage enough to know yet. Plan to compare next winters bills to this winter to get an idea. . .that is banking on the fact the garage is heated next winter. . .
January was $103 for heat. Thats with natural gas.
Now my power bill however was $250. Blah.
January was $103 for heat. Thats with natural gas.
Now my power bill however was $250. Blah.
padronanniversary
Well-known member
I have natural gas in the 3 car garage keeping it at 60....maybe $20 a month extra. I gladly will pay that rather than scraping ice and snow off the cars in the winter months. And its friggin cold here !
Randy in Maine
Well-known member
I have a 1100 square foot SIP panel garage (R-40 or better) heated to 55º and a 1000 square foot house with injected foam ceilings (R-42) heated to 68º. Both have radiant floor heat from my condensing propane fired boiler. I am about 1/2 through the heating season (stated in October) and have burned through about 325 gallons of propane @ $2.49 gallon so far.
I am expecting to heat everything for $1500 a year with 600 gallons of propane at $2.49 a gallon. No natural gas available here.
I am expecting to heat everything for $1500 a year with 600 gallons of propane at $2.49 a gallon. No natural gas available here.
My Shop, 30 by 34, radiant solar heat, cost of running a 60 watt pump, In January it was running about 46 to 48 degrees, now with the sun up its running around 54 degrees. if I'm working out there I'm burning trash wood in the stove, can get it to 65 easily and thats too hot. R 54 ceiling, R 33 walls, its a joy to work in. Solar panel built into south wall, home built by me following www.builditsolar.com
House, passive solar, wood and some oil in shoulder seasons. Maybe 50 gallons of oil and 3 cords of wood, 100 bucks a cord for wood in tree length. So my labor to get it to 2 foot lengths. All my stoves take 2 ft wood. House is 24 by 46, 16 by 24 addition is cut and fit foam in walls, R42 in walls, R54 in ceiling, no heat in there other than open doors. rest of house is R40 in ceiling and r27 walls. Very comfortable, generally around 72 degrees in house
House, passive solar, wood and some oil in shoulder seasons. Maybe 50 gallons of oil and 3 cords of wood, 100 bucks a cord for wood in tree length. So my labor to get it to 2 foot lengths. All my stoves take 2 ft wood. House is 24 by 46, 16 by 24 addition is cut and fit foam in walls, R42 in walls, R54 in ceiling, no heat in there other than open doors. rest of house is R40 in ceiling and r27 walls. Very comfortable, generally around 72 degrees in house
ketas47
Well-known member
Have a older 2 story house(forced air furnace) 1600 sq ft; and 1000 sq. ft. garage. Have infloor heat in garage using Navien on demand water heater(natural gas). Keep garage about 55*f and very comfortable, love it, wouldnt do it any other way. If I want quick heat-up I can switch from in floor heat to a heat exchanger by swinging a couple valves and turn temp up on HWH. Last month had a quite a few cold days down below 0*F @ night and single digits during the day. Paid $ 270 for gas and electric for house and garage,last bill. So I am thinking around $40-60 for garage. Live in central WIS
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I found this spreadsheet helpful:
http://www.eia.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls
You should be able to go onto the websites of your local utilities to get their rates, so you can plug them into the sheet. You can also use the manufacturer specifications for the heaters you're using or looking at buying, and plug those in too. Makes it really easy to make apples to apples comparisons.
http://www.eia.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls
You should be able to go onto the websites of your local utilities to get their rates, so you can plug them into the sheet. You can also use the manufacturer specifications for the heaters you're using or looking at buying, and plug those in too. Makes it really easy to make apples to apples comparisons.
jlckmj
Well-known member
First year for this location so I have nothing to compare to.
The house is about 1,500 sq ft and the garage is 864. We just totally rebuilt this old house so it has all new insulation in the walls, and foam board under the siding. The garage is new, with 2x6 walls and R35 in ceiling.
For the months of December and January I paid $175 and $160 for both the house and the garage, and we had at least one week of zero or below temps in both of those months. I try to keep the garage floor at 56* to 60*. I have a gas forced air furnace, a gas stove, a tankless gas water heater in the house, and a tank type water heater in the garage for heat.
I figure the garage is probably costing about $25 per month, I really don't care what it costs, I will not give up the heated floors in the garage.
Jim
The house is about 1,500 sq ft and the garage is 864. We just totally rebuilt this old house so it has all new insulation in the walls, and foam board under the siding. The garage is new, with 2x6 walls and R35 in ceiling.
For the months of December and January I paid $175 and $160 for both the house and the garage, and we had at least one week of zero or below temps in both of those months. I try to keep the garage floor at 56* to 60*. I have a gas forced air furnace, a gas stove, a tankless gas water heater in the house, and a tank type water heater in the garage for heat.
I figure the garage is probably costing about $25 per month, I really don't care what it costs, I will not give up the heated floors in the garage.
Jim
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I'm not sure $/£ per month is a good comparison, as each of us spend different amounts of time in the shop. The guy who uses expensive electric to heat up his shop a few hours on weekends might spend less per month than the guy with dirt cheap nat gas on 24/7.
Per hour might be a better apples-to-apples comparison?
Per hour might be a better apples-to-apples comparison?
newhollandpuller
Well-known member
Do they make a nice programmable digital thermostat that records system run times?
Some of them keep track of how many hours your filter has on it, which would amount to the same thing if you wrote the number down just before you changed the filter each time.
goneflyin2002
Well-known member
Got my first bill after firing up my floor in the garage.
Hard to tell perfectly accurately as there is not a separate gas meter for the shop, but compared to the same month last year with no garage, my bill is up about $80. And with some pretty cold days in there.
So I'm pretty happy with that, the shop is always kept at a comfortable 63 degrees. (40x50x12.5)
Don
Hard to tell perfectly accurately as there is not a separate gas meter for the shop, but compared to the same month last year with no garage, my bill is up about $80. And with some pretty cold days in there.
So I'm pretty happy with that, the shop is always kept at a comfortable 63 degrees. (40x50x12.5)
Don