New England B.S. Thread

How difficult your life is with kids largely depends on who you've had kids with.

 

Random question.

Anyone have forced hot air for their heating?? What temp do you keep your thermostat at?!

I have a raised ranch, and have forced hot air/central AC. It runs off of 2 100 gallon propane tanks, and the furnace is supposed to be (at the time I bought the house and got it all installed) really efficient.

 

I have forced hot air and keep the thermostat set around 65-66°. The pellet stove is run on a thermostat in the living room and kicks on when the cool air starts to really hit. If I lived alone with no kids, would keep the heat set around 63

 

I keep mine at 67 because of the little ones.

The pellet stove is downstairs, to just keep the downstairs warm since it's ground level, so it gets really cold down there.

 

Unless they've changed in the last six months, I've been using modern solder

 

Your furnace may be really efficient but air, as a fluid, does not hold heat very well. That's radiant head is so sought after. With hot air, you're just blowing hot air into a cold space. The second the fan kicks off, you're back to feeling cold again. Eventually, the things in that space will heat up, but in the mean time you will feel cold. Radiant heat heats up a large mass, whether it's a cast iron radiator, the floor, etc so even though it may read colder in the room on a thermostat, you'll still feel more comfortable.

 

Wood heat FTW.

Room too cold? Add wood to stove
Room too hot? Turn stove damper down
House too hot? Open window
House too cold? Close window again
GF too cold? Normal. Woodstove working properly
GF too hot? House on fire.

 

I'm a cheap bastard when it comes to heating. Thermostats stay at 60 during the winter!

 

Yeah... that radiant heat thing seems to be the new way to go. Don't think it'll be worth doing in my house at this point. Probably cost an arm and a leg.

 

I mean from the solder from several years ago. I'd imagine you're not buying the Home Depot stuff either, right?

Nothing new about it. Forced hot air is the 'new' way to heat your house. People have been using cast iron stoves and radiators for years.

 

My bad, I'm talking about the floor being/having radiant heat. Never really heard of that until recently. Maybe it's been around for a while, but I hadn't heard of it being done before.

 

No, I buy it at the local hardware store. Don't remember the brand, though.

 

I've never greased my balls before but I am certainly open to the idea.

 

Cast iron radiators are priceless in heatyness too bad fir the most part they ugly AF

 

You need some airbags

 

They're handy for a bathroom or a kitchen, though, because they pack a lot of surface area into a relatively small space, since they go vertical. 1 foot of CI radiator is the equivalent of something like 4 feet of baseboard, if I remember correctly.

 

Or timbrens.

 

I used to have forced hot air, now I have forced hot water. I thought I'd hate it because it takes longer to heat the house, but I love it. Feels warmer all the time.

I have a 30-year-old triple pass low mass oil boiler and I've gone through very little oil. Last guy said he went through 400 gal last winter. Seemed like a low number to me, but I could barely tell on the gauge where I have used any so far. Can't complain about that!

 

400 gallons isn't a lot for us. I think we go through only 2 or 2.5 tanks of oil a winter.