What's everyone use as supplemental or main heat?

[DKCDKC]

I have a Water Furnace but it only came with a 10 year warranty. What brand of furnace do you have?

I too have a Water Furnace. The stuff I got from the dealer indicates different warranty times for different components. The computer stuff and diverters and such are warranted for up to 10 years. The compressor seems to be warranted for 20 years. And the underground loop is warranted for 50 years. So you are right in that much of the unit is already out of warranty. I'll have to remember that. But I am pleased with the performance.

One thing the experts didn't speak about was weak performance the first year or so while the ground settled around the underground piping. Mine was laid in the midst of a severe, multi-year drought, so it actually took almost 18 months before the dry soil compacted close to the pipe and you saw proper efficiency. Of course, the nice level ground I saw over the pipes when they were laid ended up with an 18 inch ditch that traced the entire route of the pipe. Took me months to haul enough dirt to fill it in and level it again.

 

[GeneD14]

We use an EPA rated fireplace as our main heat for a 3600 sqft home. We are well insulated with six inch walls. We use about 4-5 pickup truck loads of firewood per year. It is free, but requires my labor to cut and stack it. Our backup source is a 95% efficient propane forced air system. We haven't had to use it in the last 3 years.

 

[55woodie]

Vermont Castings wood stove and NG boiler for baseboard heat. A lot of dead ASH trees and all my neighbors appreciate my free offer to remove the dead ones for them.

 

[71bronco]

We had the pipes for ours put in with a line boring machine. Put them in at about 20' deep and the only mess was a 12' trench for the manifold to hook all the pipes together. Then they line bored right to the house where they dug a 3'x3' hole to put the pipe through the basement wall. Our whole backyard is a septic field and they bored right under it. Works great.

Jeff

 

[Ted Summey]

I heat 90+% of the time with a wood fired waterstove with heat exchanger in the heat pump. The heat pump is our backup and AC. We burn wood year round for heat and domestic hot water. The system is supplemented with 3 4'x10' solar panels.

 

[Oldtink]

I heat with anthracite coal in an AHS130 boiler with baseboard heat. It also heats our domestic hot water. Oil is a back up but heaven forbid it ever come on. Like keeping my heating $$$ in PA.

 

[Natureboy]

The methane from your cows is depleting the ozone layer and no doubt that the animal police are coming after you for inhumane overworking of the poor squirrel. :laughing:

What happens when the squirrel gets tired?:shocked:

 

[whistlepig]

Do you have any possibility of creosote build up in the chimney with a pellet stove? Burning wood pellets or corn make a difference? Ken Sweet

Pellet stoves are pretty clean burning. The only thing bad about corn is that stored corn will absorb moisture over a long length of time and wood pellets don't.

 

[MWRR]

We had a Water Furnace horizonal gound loop GEO Thermal installed when I built the house in 1995. Our heating and air conditioning bills for the whole year run around $360; less than a dollar a day.:thumbsup: The screens for all the windows are in the attic in their orginal boxes...we never open the windows. If the tempature is 20 degrees outside and the sun is shining my air condition will kick on because of the heat gain from all of my south facing windows. I heat and cool 3286 sq ft. year round.
I keep a dual burner propane heater and a couple of 30lb tanks around in case of a power failure. So far have never needed to use it.

 

[mehig]

We had a Water Furnace horizonal gound loop GEO Thermal installed when I built the house in 1995. Our heating and air conditioning bills for the whole year run around $360; less than a dollar a day.:thumbsup: The screens for all the windows are in the attic in their orginal boxes...we never open the windows. If the tempature is 20 degrees outside and the sun is shining my air condition will kick on because of the heat gain from all of my south facing windows. I heat and cool 3286 sq ft. year round.
I keep a dual burner propane heater and a couple of 30lb tanks around in case of a power failure. So far have never needed to use it.

That's one efficient home you must have. It's difficult for me to get an exact measurement of the electrical useage account of a hot tub and stock tank heaters. I estimate my yearly heating/AC cost at $520 and my house is 1500 sq ft. This spring I'm going to rewire my furnace to a sub panel with an in line meter