Here electricity is relatively expensive and given that it is
generated from Brown Coal (think peaty material) has a carbon
footprint you could fall into and never be seen again. Going from oil
to electricity would be seen as following one tragedy with another.
It is, however, nicely portable for small devices and also reverse
cycle air con. heating with a 'heat pump' device is quite efficient.
Wood - the most efficient wood burner complete with reburn technology
and in perfect operating condition emits more pollution in one night
than a family car in one year (I think I heard that here - sounds
about right). I understand that they had to ban them in Chicago for
that reason.
The favoured heating for us is natural gas as we have ample supply
from the local oilfield - anywhere near an oilfield should have it.
This is normally used with a ducted heating system running from (in
our case) a relatively small furnace which was elderly when we moved
in 20 years ago and with a couple of services, hasn't missed a beat..
When I looked at heating my studio, I had to consider the occasional
heating of a large space. I did look at an LPG (propane or butane)
blower, one of things that look like a jet engine and is great for
workshops and greenhouses. However they were too much and needed too
much ventilation so I got an industrial grade electric fan heater -
but that's only for use a half a day two or three times a week.
The key idea is to forget about heating the whole house up to 'walk
around naked' temperature - some people think that it's their right
to do that. Heat the room that you're in and buy a dressing gown
(remember those?) O a track suit - which I'm now wearing.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 09/07/2008, at 10:08 PM, Bob Whitmire wrote:
>
> Again, wildly off topic as far as photography is concerned, but I
> post questions here because I know there are folks on the list who
> have the kind of knowledge I'm looking for.
>
> So those of you who heat with oil know this coming winter is likely
> to be a nightmare for your bank account. We just got our EasyCap
> payment statement from the oil company, and we're going to be
> shelling out $489 a month for 10 months to keep our furnace fed this
> winter. (Unless, as some say, oil prices are on a bubble that's ripe
> for bursting. I'm not holding my breath.)
>
> A huge number of folk are turning to wood pellet stoves, so many in
> fact, that the stoves are backordered and there's no guarantee enough
> pellets will be available during the winter. I'm intrigued, but I'm
> not particularly in favor of encouraging the burning of even more
> fuels that directly dump assorted undesirable gasses into the
> atmosphere.
>
> Cord wood is going for about $262 a cord for green wood, and if you
> don't already have dried wood, forget it. Not going to get any.
>
> So I've been looking at electric heaters, space and otherwise. One I
> find intriguing is the quartz infrared heater. It retails for about
> $250-$300, claims to run on about $1 a day, and, if the claims are
> anywhere near true, would be able to take the edge off in, say, my
> upstairs work area, so that I could keep the thermostat at about 55F
> and run the heater while I'm working.
>
> Esteemed wife is looking at Vornado electric space heaters for her
> fitness studio. She has elderly clients, and needs to have the studio
> heated to about 68F. But she doesn't have that many clients in the
> winter, and these Vornados appear to be the type that would heat up
> the space quickly then turn off, at minimal cost in electricity.
> Again, the thermostat could be left at 55F, or even lower.
>
> Of course I know nothing about electric heater technology these days,
> but I do know there are all kinds of claims starting to circulate
> about how to beat the high cost of oil heat. And I know a few people
> who have ceramic space heaters who tote them from room to room in
> winter and claim to save a considerable amount of money off their
> fuel bills. If anyone on the list has already done the research, or
> is familiar with such things as quartz infrared heat, please advise.
> Off list, if you don't want to clog up the photo stuff, though my
> guess is there are more than just me who might be interested.
>
> Thanx in advance,
>
> --Bob Whitmire
> www.bwp33.com
>
>
>
>
>
> ==============================================
> List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
> List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
> ==============================================
>
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|