Flourescent Heat

[flintstone mop]

I made a pleasent discovery over the Thankgiving time!!!!
I have been leaving the flourescent lights on in the shack and Flintstone Studio closing the doors to both rooms. The temperature has been a nice 72 degrees. There are two 4-tube, 4 foot fixtures in each room. I hope this is much cheaper than running those ceramic unsafe heaters just to get the temp up from 50 to 65. That operation takes about 2 hrs of the electric meter spinning its arse off.
Any other discoveries out there that can save some dineros??
Fred

[Jim, W5JO]

Fred, if you have the wall space, consider a through the wall heat pump.  They are very efficient and can warm a room quickly.  They also will cool one as cheap as you want given the time they are used.  From 50 to 65 degrees is easy provided you aren't heating a "lot of space". 

We had one in an oversized garage room before and it would heat a space of 24 X 38 in about 15 minutes along the temp. lines you mention.  If the space is well insulated it won't run much at all. 

I am building a 12 X 14 shack and purchased a left over Frederich that was about to be stored for the winter for just over $250.  It will drive me out of the place.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Any other discoveries out there that can save some dineros??
Fred

Wear a sweater.

[W4EWH]

Fred, if you have the wall space, consider a through the wall heat pump.  They are very efficient and can warm a room quickly.  They also will cool one as cheap as you want given the time they are used.  From 50 to 65 degrees is easy provided you aren't heating a "lot of space". 

Jim,

Are heat pumps practical in the Northeast? I've only heard of them being used in southern latitudes, so I wonder if our average temperature is too low for them to be efficient.

TIA.

73, Bill W1AC

[Art]

Hi Bill,
My air source heat pump is effective above about 40F and I use the 94% efficient gas furnace below that temp here in CO. I would very much like to have an earth source heat pump and be able to use it all the time. The down side is the hole deep enough to reach the constant 57F so the pump can be used all winter. That's what I will be doing on my next house.
As for shack heating, the flourescents are really good at producing steady low level heat output. This is particularly effective if you have good insulation. Maybe improving the heat retention capability would be another resource worth considering.
All the best,
Art   W0BA

[Jim, W5JO]

Yes Bill, the one I have uses electric strips to warm the air while the compressor defrosts than switches back to it when through.  At our house last winter which was colder than normal, we did great.  However in the NE it would be a different story, but Fred is in NC. 

The lowest average mean low temp is 38 degrees, Highs 48.  Janruary is the worst month for Winston Salem.

Jim,

Are heat pumps practical in the Northeast? I've only heard of them being used in southern latitudes, so I wonder if our average temperature is too low for them to be efficient.

TIA.

73, Bill W1AC
[/quote]

[WA1GFZ]

The other bulbs throw off more heat and don't make radio noise. 2 100 watt bulbs in series make a nice soft light and make nice heat.
Heat pumps in this area need a deep well to pull heat off the 55 degree water.
I have a friend with a heat pump and it isn't very effective when you get in the 30s.

[K7NCR]

I also built a small shack in my garage here in NW MT. I insulated very well, used plywood for sheeting inside and CDX outside. I use a small electric heater for initial warm-up. Then the main heat takes over: Heathkit Apache/Mohawk, HO-10, SB-10, Swan Cygnet 270, Kenwood TS-700A, Computer, monitor, and accessories. Knight kit test bench, (4 tube and 4 solid state devices) 2 double tube flourescent and 1 sigle tube lights, and a 60 watt desk lamp. Then the electric comes on only occasionaly. The worst part is the cold concrete floor, need some carpet over padding, or may consider a plywood floor over a layer of styrofoam. Or maybe just some more hollow state gear! 
Norm K7NCR

[W1ATR]

Consider one of those little radiant panel gas fired heaters to knock off the chill. unvented only if the room is big enough and your not sleeping in there.  A window banger heat pump/ac would probably run you around 500 bux and add more $$$ to the electric bill. In NC, your probably OK with a heat pump. Here in the cold country, heat pumps take a nose dive at around 35 degrees and switch to emergency heat while the condenser is in defrost. Those heat strips usually range from 5kW to 20kW and can send the elect. bill into orbit. I prefer gas fireplace's for extra heat personally.

SK
Jared
Conn. HVAC contractor, 15yrs in the biz

[k4kyv]

Propane right now is almost $3 a gallon.  We are considering changing to a wood burning stove, something on the order of Vermont Castings, since we have enough wooded land to provide all the fuel we would need.  The  down side is the work required to cut and stack wood, plus keeping the chimney cleaned.  But at the rate we use propane here to heat this large draughty old house every winter, it has about become unaffordable.  We had to stop using kerosene, which delivers considerably more BTU's per gallon and per $, because it was becoming more and more difficult to get home delivery, and our $750-when-new heater crapped out after 15 years, due to an essential $5.00 part that had been "discontinued" and could no longer be obtained anywhere, new or used, at any price, on the face of the earth.

It really pisses me off when replacement parts are "discontinued" just about the time the product is getting old enough for some of the parts to actually start needing to be replaced.

I heat the shack to only about 60º with propane, and use a 1100 watt portable electric radiant heater, one of those with the coils of fine wire wound inside quartz tubes, for comfort while operating the radio.  With the increase in the price of propane and heating oil, electricity is actually becoming cost-effective.  No natural gas line this far out of town.

[WD8BIL]

I just leave the Viking 2 and the Super Pro receiver on 24/7. With the heater registers closed the shack stays nice n' toasty !! The plus side is; the shack is ready to use upon entering. The down side; the shack is ready to use upon entering. (ie.. nothing else gets done)

[Bill, KD0HG]

The worst part is the cold concrete floor, need some carpet over padding, or may consider a plywood floor over a layer of styrofoam. Or maybe just some more hollow state gear! 
Norm K7NCR

When we built this place we poured the 1st floor concrete slab over 4" of blueboard Styrofoam to thermally decouple it from the ground.

The 1st floor *never* gets cold, except for about a foot around the perimeter where the edges of the slab do contact the ground.

I don't know why this isn't a standard construction practice. What an inexpensive energy saver.

Don, propane is about 50 cents/gallon cheaper here than there right now. I've got two 500-gallon tanks that I fill in the summer when it's considerably less expensive than in the winter. Filled up on June 26 and  just switched to the second tank. That would be 400 gallons used over ~6 months for heat, cooking and hot water for a family of four. The next 400 gallons will be good into March, depending on WX. If you can find a good used propane tank at a good price, it's well worth it.

[WQ9E]

Our propane supplier lets us buy a contract during the summer and this year 1,000 gallons was at $1.76 per gallon which is exactly $1 higher than when I bought the house in 1990. I guess central IL is a good place for cheap propane still!

The main part of our house is a two story 3100 sq. foot farm house built in 1901 with an additional 1600 sq. foot master suite and basement (the new ham shack) added last year.  I upgraded the main house furnace to a 94% efficiency unit in '95 and the master suite has its own separate high efficiency system.  Before I bought the house, the walls were re-insulated and some insulation was put in the attic.  The new addition is built with 2X6 walls like the main house and is heavily insulated.  Last year I added an additional 18 inches of blown-in insulation in the main house attic, replaced the basement walkout door with an insulated unit, and generally sealed around exterior areas, particularly where the sill plate meets the basement walls.  New siding and an additional 1/2 inch of insulation were added to the existing house walls last year when the new addition was sided.  With all of this done, the main house furnace sets back from 70 to 62 at night and then wakes up to 68 at 6:30 in the morning before we get up.  Last night was pretty typical with a low of 20 and a fair amount of wind; under these conditions the heat had run for a total of 17 minutes for the main unit (since midnight) and 14 minutes for the new addition unit  by the time I left for work at 9:00 this morning which is what it took to bring the temperature up to 68.  Generally the temperature doesn't fall below 65 during the sleep period.  Typically the 115,000 BTU main house furnace runs between 1 to 2  hours per 24 hours during normal cold periods and we have used 85 gallons of propane since the Oct. 1 fill which includes heating, cooking, and two water heaters.

Without doubt, the biggest difference was the added blown-in insulation in the attic.  The first night after I installed it (when my wife and I were still using one of the upstairs bedrooms) we both woke up too hot at 2:00 A.M. because of the greatly reduced heat loss-obviously I should have done this years ago as it cost a few hundred dollars and only took about 2 hours to blow in the insulation.  Another big heat loser was our recirculating heat fireplace; even with the damper closed there was a tremendous draft given the strong winds typical at my QTH (very commonly 30-40 mph here in the country).  I made a nice wood cover with sealing gaskets that attaches to prevent heat loss when it is not in use.

Although I don't like the increasing energy prices, it is some feeling of victory to feel that I am combating the increases.  Unfortunately there is probably not much left to do since the insulation is done, the windows are high efficiency, and the air leaks are under control.  A nice, big windbreak would be nice but they take awhile to grow.  Wind is the biggest enemy now and during one particularly nasty day last year with a high of about 5 and sustained winds of 30 mph with gusts in the 40's the heater ran just over 8 hours out of a 24 hour period.

 I really have to think about using the wind to generate heat energy; a wind generator powering a couple of old electric water heaters with a couple of radiators to transfer heat might be just the ticket.  Since the heating elements wouldn't have to be at full voltage to generate heat and frequency wouldn't matter this is a project that is going to be on the drawing board soon.

Rodger WQ9E

[flintstone mop]

I'm located in Western Pa. and it's getting pretty cold out thar. We heat with pellets upstairs and bedrooms. We are very comfy @ 72 degrees no matter what it's doing outside. If it is 50 degrees in the shack or studio, I'm not going down there. In the past I tried to think ahead and turn on the space heater, but by the time it gets almost warm (65) I might have something else to do or the opportunity to join in a QSO is gone.
I think the lights are a cheaper steady way to go. Heat pumps are working fine in Western Pa and you can really feel the heat!!!
fred