:: Frugal Fodder no. 31- Tips for Heating the House

In just a few short days Spring will be here-- we've had signs of here for sure. Plenty of rain most recently. So much so that the nearby lake has come back up to NEAR NORMAL LEVELS. Though no drought restrictions have been lifted yet. Well, anyway-- I wrote this post a few back and thought I better get it posted before I forget about it--
Plus, I wanted to show more of the snow we've had!

We finally had a bit of winter weather here, this winter. (the end of February first of March)  It’s nothing like the rest of the U.S.of A. is getting—but it was enough to close the schools and cause late openings some days.

Out the front door—you can barely see the car park!

We’ve stayed home-I don’t think we got out once during that week.  It’s fine—thank goodness we haven’t needed anything.

We’re out of wood.  For the first time in about 5 years; we’re relying on gas to heat the house.  We keep some of the un-used rooms closed off. The heaters are keeping the house comfortable.  We don’t have the temperatures that some have… nothing below zero, for sure!  We did have some temps in the low 20s and upper teens. But that quickly passed. 

We use our heaters and we use the ceiling fans.  We have 9 foot ceilings…so of course any heat that is in the room goes straight up to the ceiling.  My daughter and her husband gave us some fans a few weeks ago--  they had taken down out of their house to be replaced.

 

We installed these on Friday (Feb.27)  and believe it or not they do light up much better!  Must we revisit my poor photography skills…again? 

We took them for a couple of reasons: The first and obvious reason—FREE! We’ve had a couple of fans go out;  two of the fans she offered matched one I had in the kitchen already—at the time our fans didn’t match and the one nearest the sink (pictured above) need some new parts.  I was able to take two fans off their hands—and have two matching ones!  A win-win! wouldn’t you say?  

In the process… I learned something about ceiling fans-- I’ve always thought the REVERSE about the REVERSE SETTING!  I had it all wrong. Maybe you don’t know this… but LEMME ‘SPLAIN.

So in the WINTER, you want your fan to force heat down into the room—it needs to be set on FORWARD, when you stand under your fan and look up at the turning blades; it should be turning CLOCK-WISE. 

In the SUMMER,  the opposite.  You want your fan to turn so that it circulates the cooler air near the floor into the room to help cool. So, your fan is then set to REVERSE. Again standing under the fan looking up, the blades should be turning COUNTER CLOCK-WISE.

Of course, keep in mind—that if you’re minding your pennies and electricity usage.  It’s always best to turn off any fans where people aren’t benefitting from the usage.  After all – a ROOM doesn’t NEED to be COOLED or HEATED.  Only people need that comfort.  :)

Here is an example:  If I am  in the kitchen, using the oven and it is helping to heat the house; I turn the ceiling fan on FORWARD, low setting.  It will circulate the warm air at the ceiling and help to make the room comfortable.  Once I’m through cooking the oven is left cracked open and the fan on for about 20-30 minutes.  After that I turn it off.  It is no longer benefiting us. 

Another example:  The heater in the middle bedroom/ craft room has a thermostat and a fan on it. I set it to a low setting with the fan plugged in.  The ceiling fan in that room is left on to help move the air out of the room and into the kitchen—it helps to keep the house comfortable.  When we go to bed at night.  I turn all that off; and only heat the living room and kitchen.  I don’t even run the fan in the living room, because no one is in that room needing heat. 

My thought on that is—any heated air will rise to the ceiling and fall gradually as it cools and is replaced by more warm air from the heater.  The house is a little cool in the morning but not as hard to heat up as it would be if we turned off that heater completely.

There are other things we do to stay warm—keeping doors closed. Wearing clothes. Ha-Ha! We’re not the type to sit around in shorts and no socks… if it’s cold put on some jeans, sweats, or a sweater! That’s common sense.  Getting up and doing something is sure fire way to get warmed up too… it’s not good sitting around thinking about how cold it’s getting…

Anyway—I hope you’re staying warm where ever you are right now.  I know the snow for some of you is unbearable.  For some… You just take it in stride.  For me?  I kind of like to have snow.  We don’t get it often enough to dislike it. That’s ok!

‘Til next time, Be Blessed~ and stay warm!

Patricia

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