Yeah I have a lot of room for improvement in this old house. I've thought about the power usage of the fan. For now it's a huge improvement over the 2 -3 1500 watt heaters that used to run almost 24/7. I used to spend $350 - $550 a month during the winter on electricity. Before that I spent $250 a month electric and about $2,000 in one year for propane. So far this year $200 a month electricity and the wood I've burned up to now only cost me the gas for my truck to haul it and for the chainsaw I cut it with.

What I'd like to do is have the blower come on at a set temperature. It can already do that in heat mode. I just have to find a way to bypass the furnace trying to ignite and burn propane. Seems like it should be easy enough. Maybe I can spend one day figuring it out since I have a couple days off for the holidays.

If I might poke around your business a bit, I think the best way to turn it on/off would be to setup a small controller for it. Perhaps we should start a new thread since its not on topic for this thread, but I'll outline the idea. Basically, you want two temperature sensors. One goes in a colder area of the house, and one in a known warm area. When the cold temperature sensor is X degrees cooler than the warm sensor, you turn the fan on to equalize the heat. Once it is within a degree or so, you turn it back off. Basically a thermal differential controller for your furnace blower. Something like this wouldn't be hard to setup or even buy for a relatively cheap amount, and would pay for itself very quickly.

That would be perfect for my setup. My wood stove is in the kitchen and the living room on the other end of the house is the cold area I'm trying to get the heat to. At times it could be 85+ degrees in the kitchen and could be 60 in the living room without the furnace circulating. I'm just starting to poke around in electronics and I don't know much. Any help you can give on the idea would be greatly appreciated.

This discussion continued here: http://ecorenovator.org/forum/applia...ontroller.html

66F or 67F at the tstat...but the temp varies a lot by bedroom/kitchen/etc... lots of warm/cold spots in this old box. Kitchen can be near 70F on sunny winter days (winter sun exposure), while the north facing bedrooms are chilly all day. I burn natural gas and my bills run at most $150 (total/winter) and that is with an energy hog 50 gallon electric water hater and 3 little kids who like to waste hot water. 3 bedroom ranch, uninsulated cinderblock basement, walls with maybe an inch of old fiberglass/tar paper insulation.

Our house gets up to about 78 at night (80 in the loft) and drops to around 68-72 by morning depending on how cold it gets outside and how late the last logs are tossed on the fire.

I'm updating things since I just turned the heat on for the first time last week. I've changed my heating scheme a little bit. It is now 70F when I'm at home at night and on the weekends. It is 60F during the night and morning. I do not turn the heat on when I get up in the morning before work. I did notice a bump in my usage going to this as I did it at the end of last year.

I also just added a duct to my sunroom while remodeling my office. That is going to mess with the vent settings and make me re-tweak things.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...-house-006-jpg

for reference: my electricity bill is around 68CAD/2 mnths, typical daily usage around 12kW, with winter time both my master bedroom + kids room will have a bit of supplementary heat from electric radiant oil heater (mine is on timer on low (500watts), turns on @ 4am and off @ 6:30am only). With electrical heater on low during bed time during winter months, electrical bill would be within 76~83CAD/2mnths.

(*of course, electrical range for cooking as well*)

The whole house (2k sq ft) is heated by natural gas--radiant hydronic in-floor heating, 3 zones. I have them all locked down to 21C (my wifey and I would suffer from chill-related headaches if temp indoor falls below 18C). During the coldest winter mnths (outdoor temp typical -2C daytime, -6~-10C nitetime, our natural gas heating billing can go as high as 183CAD/mnth, with nominal average (winter mnths) around 138CAD/mnth. This also includes hot water heater tank (recently replaced with a GeeEee 12yr 40gal tank, natural gas..high efficiency storage type).

Summer time: electricity typically around 68CAD/2mnths, natural gas (hotwater only) can go as low as 38CAD/mnth.

Q.

I would look again at the GeeEee water heater for its efficiency rating. Many people think that it is high efficiency because it is wall vented and it is not. It is about the same 55% as a natural draft model. What it gains from not venting all the time up a open chimney, it loses by use of a venter motor.

Thanks for the hint, Mikesolar.

Fact is, the high efficiency part of the GeeEee heater is not defined by me, but their classification makes it qualify for our local natural gas company energy rebate (which I got) I know they aren't that "efficient" but compared to my previous 6yr warranty A.O Smith "skinny", this thing does save me some $$.

It could also be a myth or some kind but the local installers and market do not carry/sell any power-vent type hot water storage heater (none that I've seen so far, but crossing the border down-south..I've seen some). That would raise the efficiency a few more points.

Lastly: I did experienced backdrafting shortly after replacing the A.O Smith skinny with GeeEee....(both water heater tank and radiant boiler shares the same rooftop exhaust to the outside)...and that was attributed to less standby heating loss (smaller pilot light?) to that of AO smith skinny, for there's absolutely no change on the radiant floor boiler side.

Q.

I keep the house at 60*F when at home and 58 when away and night.

At night I have a portable electric oil radiator in my room. Turn it on low it consumes about 8kWh per night. After 8 hours the room temp is about 70ish. I only use it to help make mornings easier. I turn it off when I get up then open the door. I figure the extra heat can help keep the rest of the house until it escapes. ECAS says I use an average of 17.9kWh per day total down from an average of 21.8kWh per day when just using house heat.

Man... I need more insulation...