What and how do you heat your home and possibly shop during the cold winter months??

[MAX-24-Dean]

I'm planning to install some homemade panels on my shop/barn to heat it by solar gain, similiar to the link below.

Building a Simple Solar Air Heating Collector

 

[5030]

Might help so long as it's sunny. No sun, cloudy day, little gain.

 

[Skagit]

My previous house was heated with elec baseboard. Very comfortable with a thermostat in each room. Very cost effective to run.

You might as well burn $100 bills in the middle of the floor to stay warm.

 

[ovrszd]

You might as well burn $100 bills in the middle of the floor to stay warm.

What a silly thing to say. House was all electric. Highest monthly bill we ever had was $425 in 2,000 sqft house. No drafty fan running. No noise except a rare "tink".

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Might help so long as it's sunny. No sun, cloudy day, little gain.

I appreciate your posts, in a climate with fog or overcast the solar gain would not work so well.
Where I live the documented days of sunshine each year is above 300 days.

 

[Cycledude]

Might help so long as it's sunny. No sun, cloudy day, little gain.

Interesting comment but on the coldest days where I live the sun is usually the brightest, with just solar heat it’s been 60 degrees inside my shop many times when it was -20 outside

 

[5030]

What a silly thing to say. House was all electric. Highest monthly bill we ever had was $425 in 2,000 sqft house. No drafty fan running. No noise except a rare "tink".

Per KWH cost varies from locality to locality and with zoned resistance heating it can be quite economical to operate. I would never have an electric central furnace however simply because you cannot control the heat to the degree you can with zoned baseboard heat.

Been having a slightly cold spell lately and the biomass stove is keeping the house at a nice 72 degrees and so far I've consumed less than 50 pounds of fuel. of course that will change as the weather gets colder.

 

[5030]

Interesting comment but on the coldest days where I live the sun is usually the brightest, with just solar heat it’s been 60 degrees inside my shop many times when it was -20 outside

Don't get that many sunny days here as a rule.

 

[ovrszd]

Per KWH cost varies from locality to locality and with zoned resistance heating it can be quite economical to operate. I would never have an electric central furnace however simply because you cannot control the heat to the degree you can with zoned baseboard heat.

Been having a slightly cold spell lately and the biomass stove is keeping the house at a nice 72 degrees and so fat I've consumed less than 50 pounds of fuel. of course that will change as the weather gets colder.

Yesterday I flipped the HVAC from "cool" to "heat". In mild temps it uses air to air exchanger. We'll use it until we see ice start forming on the pond. Then we'll crank up the propane fired floor heat.

When we built our house the HVAC guy said "I can heat your house cheaper with this propane furnace system than you can heat it with Hydronic Floor heat, but I can't make your floors warm".

We are very happy with our HVAC system for mild heating and AC. It's very efficient. Very quiet.

We are also very happy with our floor heat system. Not quite as efficient. Absolutely quiet with no air movement. Very, very comfortable. Radiant heat comfortable.

 

[5030]

Very, very comfortable. Radiant heat comfortable.

Why I like it in the shop. Hard to beat warm floors.