This morning I was busy running around the house doing chores and answering phone calls and failed to keep an eye on the pellet stove. Once I checked on it, I realized it had shut down due to being out of pellets, and the house seemed very cold indeed. It was 64 degrees, but I usually try and heat it to at least 69 degrees in daytime so when we come home from work it's still got some warmth in it.
So I turned on the HVAC, which heats the whole house using extremely expensive propane. It's now warm and toasty. A luxury I don't indulge in often, and therefore greatly appreciated. A heater which heats every room in the house, closets, and bathrooms, at the same time! I used to take that for granted.
So nice to have a really warm house, but we won't do this every day. As I said, propane is expensive and although having constant temperatures throughout our living spaces is lovely, it's not really worth going broke over lol.
Have your propane and natural gas prices skyrocketed this year too? Around here, and especially up in Wisconsin and Michigan, there is a "shortage" due to the extremely cold winter. Shortage as in they can charge more for it. Regardless, this winter has shown me it needs to be a priority for me to do geothermal when I build. I'd probably end up running my mouth to the propane guy and he'd leave me in the cold! But I totally take HVAC for granted. I should think of it as a luxury as you do. It certainly is!
ReplyDeleteI never thought of HVAC as a luxury until we bought a propane-heated home here. Hence the wood-burning pellet stove. Natural gas at our old place was so much cheaper! Our neighbors who use propane to heat spend about $300 a month in winter, and as you know, it's not really THAT cold here! If I was going to build a home, I agree with you -- geothermal would be a brilliant way to go. I can't believe more homes aren't built that way, since it's not only inexpensive, it also requires no maintenance costs. It's brilliant, really.
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