The heat is {still} on
We've made it to March and warmer temperatures (it was 54 degrees at 6:00 am this morning). However, it's not nearly warm enough for the heat to be off in the house. Nor is it warm enough to not use my personal space heater when I'm sitting down at home (as I am now with 95 degree air from my heater blowing right on me).
I've used a space heater for my personal comfort for about the past five years. We keep the temperature in the house at 70 degrees in the winter and that temperature is not nearly warm enough for my liking. If I had my druthers, I'd keep the house heated to 75 degrees. Because that temperature would not be tenable to everyone in the family, we keep it at 70 and I rely on my space heater to fill in the gap between what temperature the house is heated to and what I'd like the temperature around me to be (I also wear at least two layers of long sleeve shirts inside in the winter).
The new year was buzzing along with many bumps in the road (2020 is my least favorite year in recent memory so far- I know it's early and am confident it will get better). When my space heater began to give out in early February, I threw up my (cold) arms in despair (et tu, heater??). Of course a heater is pretty easy to replace so that's exactly what I did. Less than two weeks later, that heater stopped working. Ugh. The replacement heater that I purchased that failed after two weeks was a fairly cheap one; I decided I had no choice but to increase my budget in order to get a reliable heater. I bought a new one- it's much bigger and fancier than my original space heater and I couldn't be happier (or warmer, literally).
In other heat related news, back in late December, we had an HVAC technician (/salesman) out to the house and he strongly recommended replacing our furnace and air conditioner. He acknowledged that while replacing both would be expensive ($12,000 to $20,000 depending on the size and bells & whistles), that expense would be somewhat ameliorated by a decrease in energy bills since the new systems are way more energy efficient than what we have now. While the prospect of lower energy bills was appealing, the high price tag of replacing our existing heating and cooling devices when they didn't need to be replaced outweighed savings in our energy bill.
Our energy company sends a bill to us each month (of course...) but it also sends a paper report that tells us what our energy usage is for the month. That paper shows a graph of how our energy usage compares to an energy efficient home. It goes on to provide information/tips about reducing energy consumption (all of which is common knowledge- turning lights off when no one is in a room, etc.). Anyway, for the month of January, our house used less energy than an efficient home (not sure what the standard is for an "efficient home"). I don't ever remember our energy consumption being lower than an efficient home's. I was pleased with that, especially with our ancient, inefficient HVAC system 😄.
I'm boring myself with heater/ HVAC talk so I'll end this soon. Just one more quick bit of rambling. Among my favorite authors of all time, many wrote in the 19th century in the Victorian Era. Charles Dickens, all of the Bronte sisters, Thomas Hardy and most recently discovered by me, Wilkie Collins, all wrote novels that I enjoy for their excellent prose and insight into human nature wrapped up in neat bows of compelling plots and story lines. I just finished Armadale by Wilkie Collins. It wasn't as good as the first two of his that I've read, The Moonstone and The Woman in White, and at close to 800 pages, it was a long one but I still enjoyed it. I read most of the book in "my spot" on the couch curled up with Donnie's Chelsea blanket resting on my lap and new heater blasting hot air on me. Occasionally popping M&M's in my mouth as sustenance while reading, a more comfy tableau I can't imagine.
I guess because I read this book in the winter with recent personal space heater related issues requiring my attention, I couldn't help but think, as I read the book, that I would have fared most uncomfortably in the 19th century bereft of the modern conveniences of central heat and space heaters. I would certainly have felt cold an inordinate amount of time in any season except for summer. It reminds me to be content with life in the 21st century because it enables me to be warm most of the time (plus, with my luck, if I'd lived in the 19th century, I would have likely been a scullery maid or something equally unappealing).
915 kWHs of victory!
My old heater- I don't know how long I had this. Years- could have been anywhere from 5-8. When Alyssa was in elementary, she had to write a poem about things that she liked/ loved. She also had to include things that her family members loved. When it was time for her to poetically describe what I loved, this heater was mentioned...
My new heater!! I purchased the same brand as my original one.
I've used a space heater for my personal comfort for about the past five years. We keep the temperature in the house at 70 degrees in the winter and that temperature is not nearly warm enough for my liking. If I had my druthers, I'd keep the house heated to 75 degrees. Because that temperature would not be tenable to everyone in the family, we keep it at 70 and I rely on my space heater to fill in the gap between what temperature the house is heated to and what I'd like the temperature around me to be (I also wear at least two layers of long sleeve shirts inside in the winter).
The new year was buzzing along with many bumps in the road (2020 is my least favorite year in recent memory so far- I know it's early and am confident it will get better). When my space heater began to give out in early February, I threw up my (cold) arms in despair (et tu, heater??). Of course a heater is pretty easy to replace so that's exactly what I did. Less than two weeks later, that heater stopped working. Ugh. The replacement heater that I purchased that failed after two weeks was a fairly cheap one; I decided I had no choice but to increase my budget in order to get a reliable heater. I bought a new one- it's much bigger and fancier than my original space heater and I couldn't be happier (or warmer, literally).
In other heat related news, back in late December, we had an HVAC technician (/salesman) out to the house and he strongly recommended replacing our furnace and air conditioner. He acknowledged that while replacing both would be expensive ($12,000 to $20,000 depending on the size and bells & whistles), that expense would be somewhat ameliorated by a decrease in energy bills since the new systems are way more energy efficient than what we have now. While the prospect of lower energy bills was appealing, the high price tag of replacing our existing heating and cooling devices when they didn't need to be replaced outweighed savings in our energy bill.
Our energy company sends a bill to us each month (of course...) but it also sends a paper report that tells us what our energy usage is for the month. That paper shows a graph of how our energy usage compares to an energy efficient home. It goes on to provide information/tips about reducing energy consumption (all of which is common knowledge- turning lights off when no one is in a room, etc.). Anyway, for the month of January, our house used less energy than an efficient home (not sure what the standard is for an "efficient home"). I don't ever remember our energy consumption being lower than an efficient home's. I was pleased with that, especially with our ancient, inefficient HVAC system 😄.
I'm boring myself with heater/ HVAC talk so I'll end this soon. Just one more quick bit of rambling. Among my favorite authors of all time, many wrote in the 19th century in the Victorian Era. Charles Dickens, all of the Bronte sisters, Thomas Hardy and most recently discovered by me, Wilkie Collins, all wrote novels that I enjoy for their excellent prose and insight into human nature wrapped up in neat bows of compelling plots and story lines. I just finished Armadale by Wilkie Collins. It wasn't as good as the first two of his that I've read, The Moonstone and The Woman in White, and at close to 800 pages, it was a long one but I still enjoyed it. I read most of the book in "my spot" on the couch curled up with Donnie's Chelsea blanket resting on my lap and new heater blasting hot air on me. Occasionally popping M&M's in my mouth as sustenance while reading, a more comfy tableau I can't imagine.
I guess because I read this book in the winter with recent personal space heater related issues requiring my attention, I couldn't help but think, as I read the book, that I would have fared most uncomfortably in the 19th century bereft of the modern conveniences of central heat and space heaters. I would certainly have felt cold an inordinate amount of time in any season except for summer. It reminds me to be content with life in the 21st century because it enables me to be warm most of the time (plus, with my luck, if I'd lived in the 19th century, I would have likely been a scullery maid or something equally unappealing).
915 kWHs of victory!
My old heater- I don't know how long I had this. Years- could have been anywhere from 5-8. When Alyssa was in elementary, she had to write a poem about things that she liked/ loved. She also had to include things that her family members loved. When it was time for her to poetically describe what I loved, this heater was mentioned...
My new heater!! I purchased the same brand as my original one.
It has a digital display- love seeing 95 degrees!! It also has a remote. If there was ever a device for which I didn't need a remote, it would probably be this. I'm always within arm's reach of it. But I think it's neat that it has it.
I'm an equal opportunity heat source lover- love blankets as much as my electrical heating sources. This blanket is technically Donnie's as his secretary gifted it to him. But when the cat's away, it helps keep this mouse warm 😉
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