You may - and probably will - think me crazy, but we keep the house at 60 in the winter, and 57 overnight anyway, so it was pretty on par.
The furnace guy came on Halloween morning, and we added another piece to our heating puzzle for the winter: bringing the gas stove in the game room back online. There's no heat essentially in the back half of the first floor - kitchen, bathroom, game room, man cave. I think when the previous owners renovated the kitchen, they took out a radiator - based on what I can see of the pipes & the leftover radiators we have.
Until this past summer, the game room & man cave had zero insulation. The gas stove that heated that part of the house would have been pumping heat basically straight outside. The floor was icy cold in the winter.
Then, this summer, we got insulation put in! Huzzah! Then we finished the man cave!
So, this year, when we had the furnace guy out, I had him look over the gas stove - out of operation for close to three years at this point, since the house sat empty for a year before we bought it - and fire it back up.
The animals are pretty sure this is the best present I've ever gotten for them.
Oh, and now that it's November, the furnace is officially on.
I start freaking out if the heat goes below 70. I would probably die in your house. Or I'd sleep with the dog in front of the fire.
ReplyDeleteOh I wish I could keep the house at 70, believe me. And I do turn up the heat when we have company! But it would be thousands and thousands of dollars to heat it through the winter at that temp and I just don't have that kind of budget. :(
DeleteAw they are so cute! I don't even have a heater in CA. Our gas (for heat) is optional through my apartment complex, so I just never had it shut on. I'll be curious how cold it actually gets in my place!
ReplyDeleteConversely, I've never lived anywhere with central air! I would think you'll be fine through the winter - nothing one of those little oil radiators can't solve if it does get a touch chilly. I have one in my sewing room in the winter. They work great.
DeleteLooooove the fire. And when I lived alone I also kept my place pretty chilled...saved money and I could cope.
ReplyDeleteI admit I am still a bit torn because I prefer a proper wood fire. But I do like the convenience of flipping a switch to turn this on!
DeleteOkay, has my husband been lying to me? We have a gas fireplace that we have NEVER used. Mainly because the cats want to climb into it, so we keep it covered. But I think if we started a fire, the cats' sense of self-preservation might keep them from crawling into the flames. Maybe. Anyways, the hubs says that since it's gas, it doesn't produce much heat. Can I call bull now?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't set month goals and I also live in Georgia, but I never like to use the heat either. 60 would be amazing, if it would just get that cold. Our air conditioning is still kicking on.
I don't claim to be an expert, but my understanding is that it varies quite a bit by the fireplace itself. Some of them are designed for decoration, that's true. Ours is designed specifically for heat - it's a cast iron stove, and the flames inside just have a different origin.
DeleteThis has a door and I'll be honest I was convinced the animals would do something really dumb like try and lick the stove or lie under it but so far they've been good! If your fireplace is open flame, in your shoes I'd want a screen just to be sure.
So...maybe turn it on and see how much heat it kicks out?
We're predicted to go down into the teens overnight starting this week. :(