We were supposed to get 18" snow yesterday but only got ~ 4" with more coming later in the week, though. Going down to minus 0 tonight, and I really feel Winter is underway. It was lucky younger son was here for a brief visit for his father's retirement party. That meant, I felt safe - a great pleasure, since it's been a good while since snow was anything but a source of fear, especially when it's coated with heavy ice as this one is. It was a beautiful snowfall, though, every little twig coated.

Wondering how youall are faring in your various parts of the country.

And where do you set your thermostats - day and night? Having gotten much more sensitive to temperature changes with age, I worry about fuel costs (plus supplemental electric radiators). Also concerned about how my heating bills might influence selling my house. (Hoping the increase is more a consequence of my own internal thermostat.) Son suggests using a small propane heater in various rooms I sleep or work in, to economize on electricity. Good idea? Safe?

On ToDO list is checking out TJMaxx for a few more cozy cardigans, and bundling up more.

We just had a significant storm. Several inches overnight and today, plus some freezing rain earlier this afternoon.

We had a performance this afternoon at the opera house in Lebanon, and it was not cancelled!! Everything and all was cancelled, but not this performance. I think the director was a bit in denial over it; possibly some non refundable dollars involved, I don't know. But I think it was not the wisest decision to keep it on--can't imagine they got anyone for an audience. So we all had to decide for ourselves whether we thought we could make the trip. No here, and I know 3 other cellists who did not go. Oh well.

We've been into the minus temps since the new year, but not consistently and today it was 16 (it's 4 right now).

When I moved up here I was a bit severe with leaving the thermostat on the low side of things and I used the wood stove my first winter. Since the price of oil dropped, I've been relying on oil for heat and keep the thermostat at 68 during the day (down to 60 at night). Only the downstairs is heated. I pay $200/mo all year round for a guaranteed price per gallon. Steep. I may resort to wood heat again next year to augment the oil. This year I put a small heater in my 2nd floor bedroom, which I've kept unheated up to now. I was tired of waking the middle of night with my hands out of the blankets and my fingers frozen! It does feel nice to have a little heat in there. Not a lot, just enough to take the chill out. I still use a quilt and thick blanket. So with that little heater and the oil filled heater in the bird room, my electric is now about $200/mo. Ugh. In the summer it will run less than $100/mo.

Heat is not cheap.

We got about 8 inches of snow and temps dropped into low single digits. Will be quite cold for the next couple of days. Rain on Tuesday and then it gets beastly cold at the end of the week.

As we’ve gotten older, both Mr wtg and I like the thermostat set a little warmer. During the day, usually around 70 and 68 at night. That’s the temp on the thermostat; it is cooler on the second floor where the bedrooms are located. Used to be 68 and 66 in our younger youth.

We bought one of those small propane heaters for occasional use in our unheated three-season room. After 10 minutes I started to get a headache. I don’t know if I’m particularly sensitive to whatever byproducts of combustion they put out, but I would never use one.

68 during the day, 60 at night. I cannot sleep in a warm house.

Y’all don’t want to know how our weather is here ...

Our heating bills are higher than our A/C bills though. I think that’s because the A/C portion of the HVAC works better and in the summer we set it on one temp and leave it. But in the winter I’m constantly turning the heat up and down, up and down. That’s probably why our heating bill is more.

We keep the thermostat at 62 at night and 66 on wake up to get ready for work. If I’m going to work from home I’ll bump it up to 68. Heating the house from 62 (if the house gets that cold overnight - it’s rare) to 68 takes about 1/2 hour. I’d probably keep the night temp higher if we had a slower acting system.

We’ve gotten some 10” of rain over the last few weeks. This is good.

Please, no unvented propane heater in the house. The fumes will kill you if the house doesn’t burn down first.

12 inches of snow and still blowing hard. Cold and getting colder. Thermostat 68/62. And I have electric space heater in the kitchen.

Jf

Storm here was frozen rain over and mixed with snow. Much worse than snow. And temps are dropping fast for below zero wind chills. Can't get out of the house for the ice. Thick. Ugh...

Steve, they sell units that are labeled for indoor use; that’s what we bought. They are available all over the place. How can they claim they can be Used inside?

quote:

Originally posted by well-tempered gardener:
Steve, they sell units that are labeled for indoor use; that’s what we bought. They are available all over the place. How can they claim they can be Used inside?

I don’t know how they can do that. If it burns propane it produces CO. Maybe the flame is small enough it gets exempted like the flame on a gas range. In a drafty room it might be OK.

I still wouldn’t use one and portable heaters like that are a fire hazard. The oil filled electric units are the only ones I’d consider using in a house.

If I wanted to heat one room I’d save up for a proper wall furnace or perhaps a console heater. If natural gas is available I’d opt for one that does not require electricity to operate. Just the thing for power outages.

Yup, winter in Chicagoland gets cold and sometimes it snows...

It seems that the news tries to make a story about each storm which causes people to flock to the grocery stores and line up at the gas stations. For what? A few inches of snow and some cold! We got maybe 7" here. Got out with the snow blower the next morning and went for walks as the temps dropped into single digits. We have appropriate clothing and footwear.

We are in a rental house and fine with the upstairs hovering around 60 degrees - downstars is in the mid to upper 60s. We have layers as needed.

Boy-nyc this morning: “What are those deer doing outside in 5 degree weather?”


I marvel at how my little boilers can keep a 60 degree temperature differential in a house with windows for walls.

But we sure do pay for it. Last month’s Con Ed bill was $841 (that combines electric and gas). This month will probably be over a grand.

Yikes! I thought my $350-$600 utility bills were bad!

Yikes, indeed.

Guess I should be very grateful that our gas and electric combined averages $200 a month over the course of a year. Our house isn't very big so that is probably part of it. And over the nearly 40 years we've lived here we've tried to address all the energy leaks we could find. It has made a big difference in reducing the number of drafty cold areas.

We still have one problem wall between the house and garage that we plan to address this spring. Somewhere there is air moving through one part of it and on really, really cold days the water pipe that goes to the master bathroom sink can freeze. We've been leaving it running at a trickle during this cold snap. Frozen pipes are the pits.

It was a brisk 39F this morning. I was gonna ride my motorcycle. I drove the car instead.

I just got my first furnace oil delivery in over a year. $1000.