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Old 11-04-09, 10:43 PM   #7
Christ
Apprentice EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Look up. No, seriously. Look up. Heat rises, right? So check how much of it is rising into areas of the house you don't use, such as the unfinished attic.

It can leak right through any uninsulated area almost as though there isn't anything there at all, it seems. I'm still working on my Father to do something with his leaky old double cinder block house, even though it's wood heated.

Changing your lighting to something that uses a little less energy would help as well, and maybe even just using small lamps instead of large overhead lights when the latter aren't necessary can make a big difference.

Where do you get your hot water from? If it's electricity, you might consider putting it on a HD timer or maybe just turning it off except for a couple hours a day. My Father's water heater runs only 60 mins a day, and makes enough hot water that I can still burn myself with it well into the next morning. It runs at 1200 every day, until 1300, and the temp is set to something like 120* I think. It's fairly low, just enough that you have to add some cold to it to make it comfortable. There is no jacket on the water heater, and it sits in a root cellar, which is uninsulated and usually stays right around 50-55*.
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