Barbecue Blog

Use a programmable thermostat to reduce usage when not at home.
Drop temp by 5-8 degrees when not at home.

Shut rooms not used and reduce the vent openings in those rooms. T

I have a newborn, who doesn’t appreciate my energy misering habits! We need to either heat up our bedroom our the whole house. Our house is 1500 sq ft and it’s gas central heat.
The room is about 300 sq ft and we have a little eletric heater. I’ve heard horror stories about cermaic heaters causing eletric bills to sky rocket!

Any suggestions? Any body "been there, done that?"

I laughed when I read this. I’m cheap also but this is one area you have to bite the bullet. I had the same fight with my wife 12 years ago when we had our first. The best thing to do is close off the vents in the rooms you do not want to heat and open the vents in the rooms you do want to heat. Humidity is important also, if you have a whole house humidifier keep it at 50%. Air flow is very important in an infants room, studies have shown that rooms where the air flow is good has decreased the chances of SIDS,
Sudden infant death syndrome. I always had a cieling fan running on low and clockwise (air Going up) till 2 years old. Don’t want to freak you out but this worked well for us. We have 3 children now.

What Lucie said: It does vary according to where you live and how much you use. Unfortunately, right now, I don’t think you’ll find any such thing as cheap gas.

Keep in mind that you’ll want to be sure of the service too. There are at least two companies I refuse to do business with now because of a severe lack thereof.

not getting the great prices and benefits that are available to new customers. I am with Powergen and wish to change but am not sure how to. Does anyone know the best place to purchase power at the moment? Will powergen offer me better benefits if I threaten to leave? Thanks

Look at http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/ for advice on cutting your energy costs (low energy light bulbs,etc) and get some great tips here.

I have heard that tankless water heaters are more effecient, therefore cheaper on utility costs. How much would I save in a year on my gas bill? 50%? 30% 75%? Would it be worth switching? My water heater is only about two years old.

First you need to figure out what size of tankless water heater, because they need to be right capacity for your home, They have gotten cheaper over the last few years, as they are becoming more common, and the cost of the unit and installation will help you determine if it is worth it to you

Our bill has just come through and my 3 other housemates are stressing because they think the bill is massive. It’s £300 for 3 months which at first does seem like a lot.
But if you break it down it works out at £12.50 each a month for the gas and £12.50 each a month for electric. That’s less than a pound a day.

Is our bill cheap, average or expensive??
And what do other people pay??
The £300 bill is for gas AND electric.

Also my housemate is CONSTANTLY watching tv – would this make much of a difference??

If it’s £300 for BOTH gas and electric, then no it’s not too bad for a 4 person house, though I reckon it’s towards the higher end of average. I have 3 housemates and we tend to pay about £150 for gas, a bit more for electric (though we keep reptiles, so that adds to the cost).
The most expensive use is likely your central heating, so if your mates are stressing suggest to them that you put it on a timer, believe me doing that saves a LOT.
Of course if EACH bill is £300 then yes, that is a huge amount, and you need to start thinking about how you can be more energy conservative, if only for the sake of your wallets.

Hello. I live in a 2 story house and just bought a small space heater. The downstairs is about 650 sq feet. I am not trying to heat the upstairs until I go to bed. The space heater produces enough to be warm with keeping the central heat below 60. By the way I live in Cleveland, it’s about 20 out. So would the small space heater be cheaper to use then my gas central heat? Thanks
It is a small ceramic heater.

we got a real good one its like the ones the Mennonites sell if you have seen them adds and yes it will save you money its half as much as the electric as the gas bill was and it will keep two rooms nice and you can mve it into any room and its safe

I have a gas fireplace that I use to heat a small enclosed porch during the winter. My furnace is set at 62 and I do not turn in on until Dec 1 but my gas bills still seem high. The furnace does not run constantly. I have good windows and instilation. I was wondering if part of the problem is the gas fireplace running too much. Would an electric heater on the enclosed porch be cheaper to run, or would my electric bill go sky high. The gas fireplace only runs in the evening.

those electric heaters are not often too efficient, not to mention the fire risk, I would stick with a gas fireplace for now

Just wondering what it would take to convert the natural gas furnace and hot water tank to all electric. I know that I would have to get an electric hot water tank but can I still use the same furnace? Thinking it would be alot cheaper to pay for the electric bill then having to pay the natural gas bill too which is getting outrageous.

Gallon for Gallon most electric HWH’s cost more than gas even though in most cases the electric heater itself is cheaper. You would need to have a dedicated 25 AMP (or higher) fuse for electricity and be able to detach & cap existing gas lines.
I’m actually thinking about the opposite (elec to gas) since electric rates in our area are very high .17 KWH.

planning to remodel a kitchcen and trying to figure out what to get. currently, it’s electric (stove, and double oven). usability, easy to clean, child proofing, etc.

i guess the initial investment might not be that significant. how about the energy bill and ease of maintenance? gas leak?

any opinion on gas dryer vs electric dryer?

I work as a delivery man for a very large home improvement chain store. As part of the service, we usually take away an old unit that is being replaced. One observation that I’ll share is that most of the electric units are being replaced because they’re broken while I have never once taken away a gas unit that didn’t work fine. Seems most of them are just "out of style"