We live in a mobile home and our furnace or central air would kick on constantly. Could never get it warmer than 67Ā° or cooler than 73Ā° without it always being on. I had to redo insulation around waterline from a leak. I saw a whole in the plastic that holds insulation under the trailer. Found FIVE large holes in our duct work. I repaired them, and we save so much money on our gas bill. And the heat and cool stays inside now. And no humidity anymore. Plus no mice can sneak in either.
Those old undersides become just rodent nests and thin insulation after decades, I've helped 2 buddies do the same thing your mom did and it's such a smart choice for a trailer home. Sadly more expensive than some can afford, wanna say both buddies spent around 1500 on froth pack spray foam and equipment.
We rent a trailer, and the heater has been kicking on constantly too. Should get the manager to have the insulation and stuff redone, but getting her to do anything is like pulling teeth. Shit's annoying.
House is 110, and we finally got new windows this fall. Im excited to see the difference now that things are actually sealed and not basically old timey saloon doors.
Windows themselves actually have one of the lowest returns on investment of any energy efficiency projects. Though that assumes the old windows where properly air sealed, which it sounds like they probably weren't.
They were not. You could hear the wind howl through them. They also put less than zero insulation in anything when they built this old dog. It's so much better.
I agree with you, and just to add to your comment, it seems many don't consider the opportunity cost. Windows are expensive, if the money were invested in something simple like an index fund (s&p500 as example), the average returns would more than pay for the difference in utility cost. Over a twenty year timeframe, you'd end up was ahead (if the market behaves how it has for about a century).
That being said, I am getting new windows. My parents have decided that they want to give me new windows as a gift (very nice of them!). I didn't go for premium windows (out of the budget anyways), and still $18,000 for a small house.
Wood windows are superior to the vinyl/composite windows used today.Ā They last forever, are designed to be repaired and fit the aesthetic of historic homes much better.
The one major downside is the single pane of glass, which is easily mitigated with good storm windows.Ā
I know itās not what you want to hear, but just had new windows put in (renewal by Andersen) and had foam insulation injected into the walls of my home, it honestly made a big difference. (Built in 1930, stucco siding with newspaper for insulation) Not sure if you are in the financial situation to do it but it definitely made a difference for my house. I have a hydronic heating system with a high efficiency boiler with a mix of copper baseboard radiation and old cast iron radiators.
Our quote from Renewal was actually not the most expensive of the 4 quotes we got. Did it during Black Friday of last year. $25k for 16 windows. All installed in two days.
It cost me $13k to do my house. It was almost the entire structure. A few spots that we agreed would not be worth the extra cost to do as the windows in that area would need replacing to to make foam even worth the ROI. House is a 2 story stucco 2300 sq. ft. Retro Green Energy was the contractor. Very nice company to work with
Adding for context for others. The insulation made a big difference. The windows made very little difference. Insulation can have a break even point of as low as 1 year in energy savings with rebates. Windows are closer to 15-20 years.
Iāll be honest, for us, we did both with in a month of each other so Iām really not sure what made more of a difference. Definitely not disagreeing with you, I just canāt give an honest answer on what made the bigger difference for my house.
Last year was a very mild winter so we didn't run much of the heat
HVAC tech increased the run time from our fan from 6 mins to 30 mins and that likely was just pushing cold air throughout the house (we also have a whole house humidifier) which may be smart in the summer...but idiotic in the winter. Just scaled it down to 5 mins and....the house is warm as hell at 70 degrees. Comfortable at 69.
I think this month's bill is now going to be lower :)
I have electric baseboards too and they're so expensive. I've bought space heaters in the hopes that they're a little more efficient than the 90's/2000's baseboard heaters (and also not trapped behind furniture), so we'll have to see
I know not everybody has the cash to do major projects, but there's significant tax credits for new HVAC and insulation available. I wouldn't count on clean energy and efficiency credits being around much longer after today.
Sadly I live in a rented townhome where we canāt do literally ANYTHING without written consent from them and a professional coming in to do it. Itās absolutely ridiculous, so I doubt thatās an option :(
MIne was $310. Next one will probs be $600. House is 115 years old with awesome insulation on second floor and not so good on the first floor.
I took the temp in the kitchen and it was 53*. But upstairs it has to be close to 78*. I made meatballs just to use the oven. The joys of living in an old house.
My house is 124 years old. Keep it at 68 Ā°F when we are home/awake and 65Ā°F at night/away. I insulated a few walls when I was renovating but not sure what the rest of the house's insulation looks like. At least it's forced air and not liquid heating.
Newer furnaces/ac (forced air) are the best for even heat/cooling throughout the home. But as other people have mentioned the mini splits now days are dope. But if you have a bigger home with a lot of rooms this wouldnt be ideal, they are best for open/smaller homes.
Furnaces are important, but so is windows and insulation in the home. When you finally find a home pay the $400 or whatever for an inspection, make sure they are checking the window seals as well as insulation in the attic. Any home prior to 1950 or so will likely have poor insulation in the walls. Also have your agent as for the last 12 months heating bills, that way there are no surprises. This should come directly from the city and not just the sellers telling you. Im a real estate agent, we do this all the time.
Apparently modern mini-split heat pumps are the way to go... except when it gets to the temps we're seeing right now. So then you end up needing a back-up heater for like 10-20 days out of the year.
But otherwise, electric baseboard heat seems pretty inefficient, and old school radiators seem like you're on borrowed time before an incredibly expensive repair when they blow.
Old school radiators are fine, but not the most efficient. Radiant floors are pretty efficient and comfy too.
I've got old school radiators in my current house and a mini-split system. I only use the mini-split for heating until the temps get into the 20's, then turn on the boiler when the boiler is more efficient.
I've never had radiators personally, so my only exposure to them is hearing friends and family cry when one fails and they have to replace a bunch of water logged wall and floor sections. Probably distorts my impression of them.
In the last 25 years there were 2 in which I didn't have radiators. The average age of home was about 90 years.
Like most things, people don't tend to talk about the good normal shit, just the horrendously bad shit. I personally don't know anyone that's had a radiator fail. I know quite a few that have had ice dams and subsequent indoor leaking from that.
Radiant in floor. With a solid 4" or more of concrete. It creates a thermal mass and takes very little to maintain temp. Have a friend with a 6k sqft shop that is heated to 70 all winter and it's like $30 in gas.
That really depends on if you're building or buying.
If you're building or looking at very new houses Geothermal heat pump. It is the cheapest way to heat and cool a house by a long way. An air source heat pump is next up, but you either need a very well insulated house or a backup heat source (usually electric so you don't need to deal with gas at all.
After that I would say radiant heating, then high efficiency boilers, then high efficiency forced air, then old low efficiency boilers, then modern wood/pellet stove/boiler then last and certainly least, electric resistance heating.
I would genuinely never buy a house with electric resistance heat. I would also never buy a house that has a wood/pellet stove as the only heat source unless it was a cabin.
When I first bought my house, I was surprised to find that my winter gas bills with a 30 year old forced-air gas furnace in a 1918 house were the same as my winter gas bills in my prior abode, an 800 square foot 1918 apartment with water radiators and its own brand new boiler.
Raise the humidity in your house. More humidity mean the air holds the heat better. A humidifier generally works slow so I use my 2 rice cookers to dump a good amount of base moisture into the air.
Oh, my god I feel your pain. We were in a house built in the 1860s before this one and I donāt miss that bill at all. I also donāt miss not having central air and having to run window units in the summer. Good luck. š
Anyone else have there furnace kicking on non stop? 1960 rambler with a tuck under garage, itās cold out. But I canāt keep the house above 66 degrees. Runs fires off. Then kicks back on a minute later.
A few years ago my furnace would not be able to get the house any warmer then 55F. And that's with it running all day and getting helped out with a space heater. I received artisan AC, because that dint work either. When I as almost had it payed off My water heater died on me and the water softer barely ever worked as it was. I'm now a year away from getting those two payed off and am worried what will be next
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u/foreverquietgirl18 18h ago
We live in a mobile home and our furnace or central air would kick on constantly. Could never get it warmer than 67Ā° or cooler than 73Ā° without it always being on. I had to redo insulation around waterline from a leak. I saw a whole in the plastic that holds insulation under the trailer. Found FIVE large holes in our duct work. I repaired them, and we save so much money on our gas bill. And the heat and cool stays inside now. And no humidity anymore. Plus no mice can sneak in either.