Cold Enough For Ya? (Freeport: house, water heater, living)

[Maineah]

10 below here last night (Freeport) according to my thermometer. Not quite the 13 below they predicted but still plenty cold. The "winter refrigerator"(our breezeway) where we keep drinks,pies,etc. has become the "winter freezer" and we've had to move the stuff to the cellar.
The snow cover around the house is helping to cut the drafts and makes the house feel warmer. Be safe out there. Frostbite happens quickly in this kind of weather. Check on the elderly and infirmed and make sure their heat is working.
This is the time of year the "heat haters" who want to move to Maine to escape the oppressive heat should plan a visit. I'd take 90 degrees outside and an air conditioner running anyday over a gallon of fuel oil per hour being burned to keep it comfortable enough for a sweater in the house!!

[inthetrees]

Gallon of oil per hour? Wow that sucks.....we use a Rinnai for most of our heat, the oil heat stays at about 57 and ive used about 100 gallons so far this winter....it normally only runs when I forget to turn the Rinnai on. Lately ive been leaving the Rinnai on low all night to prevent oil from being used.

60 Gallons of propane since 11/01. The oil is also used for hot water.

There is a pellet stove hookup too, but this Rinnai is soo efficient I decided it wasnt worth it to have to get pellets and deal with ash, etc.

It was bitterly cold last night and still today here in Knox County a bit off the coast. I'd trade this weather everyday of the week for hot humid conditions like Florida. I lived there for almost 22 years. ThIS is paradise, just add more clothes! This is our first winter here, although i spent the previous 5 before this in Southern New England, all over eastern MA. I was more worried about clearing snow from an ~125' Gravel driveway than the cold.

[PAhippo]

what's a Rinnai?

sounds interesting

[Submariner]

'Cold enough'? I guess it is pretty good

Not bad I say.

We are relying more and more on a potbelly coal stove we have. This is our second year with it, I am finally getting near the top of the learning curve using it. As I do so, we are using the woodstove less often.

This morning our digital outdoor thermometer said -9.8

Too bad these temps don't last for very long.

[inthetrees]

Originally Posted by PAhippo

what's a Rinnai?

sounds interesting

Rinnai's are very efficient propane heaters. They also make hot water heaters too, however ours is only for heat. I believe they are the one of the most efficient propane heaters on the market.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by inthetrees

Gallon of oil per hour? Wow that sucks.....we use a Rinnai for most of our heat, the oil heat stays at about 57 and ive used about 100 gallons so far this winter....it normally only runs when I forget to turn the Rinnai on. Lately ive been leaving the Rinnai on low all night to prevent oil from being used.

60 Gallons of propane since 11/01. The oil is also used for hot water.

There is a pellet stove hookup too, but this Rinnai is soo efficient I decided it wasnt worth it to have to get pellets and deal with ash, etc.

It was bitterly cold last night and still today here in Knox County a bit off the coast. I'd trade this weather everyday of the week for hot humid conditions like Florida. I lived there for almost 22 years. ThIS is paradise, just add more clothes! This is our first winter here, although i spent the previous 5 before this in Southern New England, all over eastern MA. I was more worried about clearing snow from an ~125' Gravel driveway than the cold.

Our old heater was .8 gph (gallons per hour) the new one runs about .6 gph. There are a LOT of old heaters out there using a gallon per hour or more. Our old oil burner would have been running almost constantly with the temperature below zero. The new one runs far less.
I'd be freezing to death in my own house at 57 degrees. I have to have it at least 68 degrees or I'm cold. The woodstove in the livingroom helps a lot!
If this is paradise where's the palm trees???

[Ode]

Pretty cold here in Michigan right now too, though we don't have your erm..."winter freezer" problem. Our heating plan for Maine winters is a masonry fireplace and a small, open plan cabin with a lot of insulation. That way we can be warm even when power is lost.

inthetrees...you are hardcore! 57 degrees, yikes! We keep our place at 63 generally, unless it is exceptionally cold and also windy when we compensate for it by turning the heat up to 67. We have 3 dogs, so letting them in and out in really cold and windy weather sucks the heat right out of the house in a hurry.

63 doesn't feel too bad really, we certainly aren't uncomfortable in any way. We just dress for the cool temps with long sleeve shirts rather than short sleeves, and we always wear our slippers inside to keep the feets warm. We've also been known to spend all day Sunday in our bathrobes and slippers being lazy, and we aren't particularly cold in those or we would put more clothes on. But during cold snaps I tend to wear a pair of wool socks with the slippers.

[Northern Matt]

Is it -9/10C or farenheight?

We had a freezing period with those temps here in england in December but since then it has warmed up. Just keep warm, put a few blankets by front/back doors where the cold comes in like the bottom on the door ect. Worked well for us.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Some Rinnai heaters run on Kerosene which is over $4.00 a gallon here right now. I would go with propane. The Rinnai competes very favorably with Monitor. The prices are similar, but the Monitor heaters are very expensive to service which will be necessary in 3 to 4 years. The Rinnai is much less expensive to service. Both units are the most economical petroleum based heat you can buy.

Right now wood pellets are the most economical and efficient heat in Maine. Nobody knows what energy prices will do in the future. With wood pellets comes the need to lug 28 or 40 pound bags. If you can't or won't do that, go with propane or oil.

Electricity is the absolute most expensive way to heat a home, but those small heaters they sell at Mardens can heat the space where you spend time and keep you in a nice bubble of warm air.

This morning we had -16 F and a hard wind.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by northern matt

is it -9/10c or farenheight?

We had a freezing period with those temps here in england in december but since then it has warmed up. Just keep warm, put a few blankets by front/back doors where the cold comes in like the bottom on the door ect. Worked well for us.

-9f [-23c]