High Gas Bills in winter?

Our last gas bill was $384... and we keep the temp at 65 when we are home and 57 when we are not. We are colder than we'd like to be. My room and bathroom, over the garage, were freezing. A week ago, we had Ardently Green do some insulation -- mainly on the garage ceiling and in the attic -- and notice a slight difference. We were hoping for more of a difference, but I don't think we'll get that unless we do something about the windows.

I agree that the windows seem cheap and drafty. We can't replace them for cost reasons. However, we are interested in caulking/ weatherstripping around them. Has anyone done this? If so, please share your experience. Thanks! Brrr...

 

If you can't upgrade your windows, purchase insulated draperies and extend them beyond the side and bottom of the window - you'll notice a difference. Window quilts (not quilt like at all, but have batting like a quilt) have been around for years if you prefer more of a contemporary look.

And by using window coverings you should be able to turn up the heat higher than 65 and retain the heat as it is not escaping and probably see lower bills as your unit will not be running so often.

 

new to you or new new? you would think the builder would be responsible for fixin

 

This hasn't even been a really cold winter........

 

as far as weatherstripping... I have not done it yet but plan to do it this spring. There are a couple of basic types of weatherstipping available from Home Depot or Lowes and the most common types are the adhesive foam strips that you cut to fit and insert into the various channels on the windows (assuming that you have double-hung). For doors there are options as well. My front door lost its insulating gasket on the bottom so now I think I will be getting a flap that goes over the edge to block the wind.

Try searching google for "weatherstripping video" and you will actually find quite a few do it yourself video clips on weatherstripping a window... very helpful as well.

 

You can also buy gaskets to put behind your electrical wall outlets for energy savings. Just buy the appropriate type (any hardware or home center sells these gaskets) and remove your outlet plate and put the gasket behind the outlet plate and rescrew the outlet to its original place. Use the gaskets also for your light face plates also. Different types of gaskets to choose from for various wall plates and/or outlet plates.

We did this in our farm house when we built it years ago. It may not sound like much; but it does help seal the air that may be lost through the outlets. Sorta like weatherstripping the doors--the gaskets will keep the heat in and help you save money and energy.

Foodie

 

5BR: I keep our home fairly cool, probably 67-70 (varies) with the heat down to low 60s at night downstairs and also that low many days during the day downstairs (when kids are in school) - i.e. try to drop the downstairs zone as low as I can and as often as I can. My wife works nights so upstairs tends to be warm all day/night (almost always someone is upstairs, crazy schedules). I telecommute most days but use an electric heater in the basement room for my office if needed.

I'm more an environmentalist taking some of the extra steps (trying to heat only the room I'm in). However given how much I do I'm QUITE shocked how high the bills are though.

What we aren't discussing however is the price of natural gas peaked this summer and the rates we pay I believe are DRAMATICALLY higher than last year. I didn't check my bills to confirm that, but I followed the commodity price of natural gas the past year or so for another reason - It's dropped dramatically since summer but we won't pay lower rates this year. Perhaps next winter rates will be more reasonable (half or less). Unfortunately the price drops of natural gas are going to hurt poor rural areas that were starting to see a MAJOR inflow of capital for gas exploration (WV saw many millions of dollars until this summer, that pretty well stopped since then given the drop in prices).

As to my bills:

Dec: $210
Jan: $357
Feb: $473

The houses don't seem insulated very well. A few things I'd point out, I own some older rental properties out of town and have had a guy who does maint for that business… He does some of these things:
* Check your doors are closing well (our front door doesn't pull shut very good). You can get insulation for the doors, it's not as easy to do yourself WELL as some of the other things.
* Already mentioned: The gaskets for outlets, these are great and about as easy as replacing your outlet cover or one of the good child locks on outlets - it's not involving electrical work.
* Insulated Window Blinds - I had some of these at a farm in WV, they made a *HUGE* difference - I didn't expect them to be any better but they were.
* Rent an insulation blowing machine at Lowes / Home Depot, it's easy to use (but messy). The blow in stuff you can just get in the attic and blow around, assuming no fire hazard it's easy to do. Some other types of insulation truly need a professional but the blow in stuff can be a DIY project if you want to do it. There's not much you can do wrong, too much insulation isn't going to hurt.
* Check the caulking on windows - This shouldn't be very bad given the age of homes here, but it can be a HUGE difference. You can do this yourself easily but it will likely look bad, you're supposed to avoid getting the caulk on your skin (few people avoid it though). You probably want to hire a pro, especially given you’ll be on a ladder, etc.
Given that it's Feb already it's really too late to get any ROI (return on investment) of doing much this winter, but once spring hits if you're going to do any of it yourself it's decent weather (for the attic and outside) and worth spending a few dollars on these minor improvements.

I haven't really looked at the windows much, I'm gambling housing drops more and have been renting, so I can't control the windows any until I buy. I would at a minimum check the windows, there are a LOT of types of windows available, the decent ones are Low-E I believe - I'd have to dig up some notes on what we put in a multi-family rental last year (we pay the heat on the place :-( ). The cost DIFFERENCE on the windows was trivial, most of the installers however did a "Teaser" rate to get you interested, then made a HUGE profit on the better windows knowing nobody who UNDERSTOOD the difference would buy the cheaper ones. Unfortunately even if you KNOW the windows are not much more if you can't find an installer that charges only a little more it's not going to matter. You can't do the windows yourself, I think Anderson ran a commercial a few years back about someone who hired a non-experienced window installer - It's not horribly hard (I watched about 20 be done so we could better bid out future window work), but if something goes "wrong" a "bad" installer will hide it, a good one will know how to "fix" whatever it is (not lining up, siding issues, etc.). I did watch one guy do a window replacement (single broken one) in about 15 minutes, he left saying done but didn't put back up the trim inside (looked horrible).

Do keep in mind : natural gas, like gasoline, was significantly higher than usual during the summer - this whole conversation may be about saving < $1000/year next year if gas prices drop ANYWAY and most people aren't going to do a lot of improvements to save < $85/month - especially if you have to find a contractor, pay them, etc. The trivial things to do (yourself or paying someone) I think are just being a good stewart of the earth and all of us should spend a few dollars on those.

 

It's often the simple answer: we're being charged more this year for gas.

Last year's Jan bill charged $1.09 / therm
This year's Jan bill charged $1.54 / therm

We used an alternative supplier to Wash Gas when it was first offered but switched back to Wash Gas a couple years ago. Looks like the rate went up in the summer (when everyone thought energy prices would always rise); but, we didn't really notice it until the winter bills when we started using more gas.