DH and I live in a 1940's craftsmen style bungalow. We bought it as a fixer upper and only plan on being here short term (want to build on our farm).

The house has a newer heat pump but we think is just too small for the home's square footage. Last year we put a wood stove in the living room fire place and used that to supplement so our power bill wouldn't be outrageous. But this is just not reliable enough for our new baby (fire is out by the morning and the house is cool).

I was curious if anyone used an infrared heater. We are considering purchasing one to help supplement the heat pump (not heat the entire house). The house is around 1400-1500 sq feet and it is not an open floor plan.

What brand do you use? How big is your house and what type of floor plan? What impact does it have on your power bill?

10/11/2011 7:38:31 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellet_stove

10/11/2011 8:04:48 PM

Many people that use wood stoves get up in the middle of the night to add wood to the fire. This isn't normally as big a problem as it seems, because many people also have to pee in the middle of the night.

10/11/2011 8:41:48 PM

new baby, huh? you'll be up enough to keep some wood on that fire.

10/11/2011 8:46:07 PM

^exactly.....after feeding the 1am bottle it won't take any time to stoke the fire.

10/11/2011 8:49:02 PM

one thought: the heat pump may be fine for the home's square footage; it's just doing what heat pumps do. you won't feel hot air coming out of the registers with a heat pump like you do w/ a furnace. it'll just be kinda warm.

i've had tons of problems with my aging gas pack (which is being replaced tomorrow with another gas pack) so i've used several different space heaters. none were infrared though. one was a traditional oil-filled one, which worked well & held heat for a longgggg time but it's not something you plug in & get immediate results from. it takes an hour or so to warm up. it's something you turn on & leave on in my experience. i had another that looked kinda like a flat screen tv & was very directional. it was just okay. the last was long & low to the floor, meant to be used next to a baseboard or something maybe. it had a thermostat & timer. it heated a room the best & would hold a steady temp. i used that one more often bc i wasn't going to leave it running all day or was moving it from the living room to the bedroom (knowing the heat would be fixed in a day or so).

so that doesn't really answer your question but maybe some of that helps, somehow.

oh, my house is 1609 SF, ranch style, built in 1964, not an open floor plan.

10/11/2011 8:54:08 PM

You're right on the being up to do the feedings but the wood fire just isn't clean. Not to mention hauling the wood in the house, when you open up the stove, no matter how careful you are, some of the smoke gets in the room. I would just rather not deal with this with such a young baby.

The person that owned the house before us tried to 'flip it' and did a lot of cheap, quick fixes. We figure that's the issue with the heat pump. We've had the opposite problem in the summer with the AC just not being able to keep the entire house cool (our kitchen and laundry are sweltering in the sumer and freezing in the winter). We ended up putting in a window unit just for the kitchen and it cut our electric bill almost in half (during the hottest months).

Last winter the heat pump would run and run but the house would only heat up to around 65. Certain rooms would be fine but others were not. We also did the oil heater in our bedroom but want something that we don't necessarily have to cut on and off.

10/11/2011 9:40:35 PM

The house I'm in now was like yours, where the heater wouldn't heat efficiently and the air conditioner couldn't cool the house, despite both running constantly. It ended up the heater needed to be fixed because it was just running on emergency heat constantly, and the a/c needed to be serviced in general (Freon leak or something).

Aside from that-

We got a generic infrared space heater from Wal-Mart for the bedroom and it worked great. Cost like $40 or so. We didn't try to heat the whole house, just moved it from room to room and bundled up otherwise.

10/11/2011 9:50:57 PM

god, we've gotten old

10/11/2011 9:50:57 PM

I've been harassing my husband about getting the unit serviced. He unfortunately is a handy man and feels like his territory is being invaded when I ask to bring in an expert. His dad also works maintenance for the county school system and focus on the heating/air stuff.

And yes, I feel so old asking about this on tww.

10/11/2011 10:20:44 PM

Quote :

"He unfortunately is a handy man"

Do you know what HVAC guys charge per hour? You could run a space heater all winter for what they'll charge you to service that unit, and it still probably won't keep you toasty. Give the man some credit, he'll ask for help when he needs it.

Also, I love electric blankets, but I hear they give you the cancer. Then again so does smoke.

[Edited on October 11, 2011 at 10:27 PM. Reason : .]

10/11/2011 10:26:10 PM

how old exactly is the unit? split system or package unit? What size in tons or BTU/hr? It is always possible that the unit was not installed correctly. What all was done when the unit was installed? No warranty at all on parts and/or labor even though it is a newer system?

Has your husband checked the refrigerant charge? Leaks in the ductwork? I wouldn't give him any credit unless he has at least somewhat of an idea of what he is doing. Otherwise it's just called being stubborn (I really hope that unit isn't under warranty either if he is not wanting anyone to look at it). If he knows what he is doing then that is one thing as I definitely appreciate DIY. And basically, if he didn't check/clean the coils and check the refrigerant pressure already, he doesn't know what he is doing.

Also a good HVAC technician is not very expensive to have come out and simply look at your unit to help diagnose what is wrong unless you let them take advantage of you. You'll easily spend that cost over a couple months of your unit running nonstop trying to keep up because it is not running efficiently/properly.

Unless something got installed wrong (in which case the company who installed it needs to be brought in), there are only so many things that can go wrong with an HVAC system that aren't pretty obvious. If he hasn't figured out what is wrong with it by now, he probably won't. (And if you have been having this problem since last year you have already spent more money on inefficient energy bills than it would have cost to fix)

[Edited on October 11, 2011 at 10:38 PM. Reason : ]

10/11/2011 10:32:43 PM

same situation here, 69' 1600sf but my issue was insulation. House would only cool to 75 with AC running 24/7, oil furnace/ wood stove ran all the time to keep it 67. Added r-19 fiberglass in the attic, cost a little over 400 and the AC would cool to 73 easily and heat is running far less often. Also had it blown in the walls and a few windows replaced.

10/11/2011 10:54:16 PM

you guys should also check your outlets. you would be amazed at how much air can come through those. use the lighter or candle trick

10/11/2011 11:04:01 PM

i have a desktop computer that if u open the case it will seriously heat a room if u just leave it running...

10/11/2011 11:53:50 PM

^ha, yeah my computer room has 3 computers running 24x7 - its always a few ° warmer than the rest of the house

10/12/2011 8:02:29 AM

^^^^ yes, if the insulation, windows, weatherstripping have not been updated in that old of a house it can be a huge problem. For some reason I was thinking that was done. Not sure why I made that assumption. A Manual J calculation should have taken that into account with the type of insulation and infiltration but still, definitely something to consider.

[Edited on October 12, 2011 at 8:34 AM. Reason : ]

10/12/2011 8:33:24 AM

Ashley - What have you guys decided on?

We're pricing out heaters right now. The house we're renting in NY has an inefficient furnace (my cousin looked at it yesterday (he's an expert) and said it's meant for a house a 1/3 this size).
Our house is barely 1000 sq ft, all one level.
Looking at the Edenpure gen4. I can get it for $100 off retail through work. 5 year warranty. People that I've talked to that have one love it. I looked at some negative reviews online but the positive reviews still out number them. It is a little pricey but may be worth it.

Any recommendations?

http://www.edenpurestore.com/inc/sdetail/428046?gclid=CNmJvpOM_qwCFQPe4AodyQrLTw

12/12/2011 10:47:24 PM

if i only had 1000 sq ft to heat i'd have me a corn stove

12/12/2011 11:00:41 PM

anyone use the dyson hot fan?

12/13/2011 10:00:52 AM

I usually just go about jammin' on the hot.

12/13/2011 10:10:11 AM

We are installing 4 at the bike co-op. Unfortunately I don't know what brand we're buying, but we have one up
now and it's pretty adequate. We installed it above a workstand for safety reasons off of an I-beam, and it radiates an area roughly 16 square feet. It is absorbed into the concrete below, so you get a feeling of warmth, but not blasted dry air. I think we paid ~$200 for one. It was the quietest, most economical option for our situation.

I was told with 4 in the place, it will get the air temp in the shop up to ~65 degrees (1600 sq. ft., uninsulated except for the ground around it). It would probably do a much better job in a smaller, insulated area.

[Edited on December 13, 2011 at 1:31 PM. Reason : aosd]

12/13/2011 1:30:46 PM

im really thinking about buying one

here is a nice blog post about it http://lifehacker.com/5857605/dyson-hot-bladeless-fan-heater

12/13/2011 10:14:49 PM

Don't think this has been mentioned yet, but depending on where the HVAC ducts are located, they may be letting too much heat loose in your basement or under the house (whatever the case is for your home). When I moved into my 1950-built bungalow, the ductwork was in the basement and we were having issues when the snow would fall keeping the house warm. Went out and bought some duct insulation and that one job fixed our problem.

12/14/2011 10:54:19 AM

you could look into non-vented propane as a cheap alternative.

12/14/2011 11:03:18 AM

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2007/04/26/almost-free-garage-heat-just-drink-a-lot-of-soda/

12/14/2011 12:14:23 PM

Didn't read the thread, but my friend in NY just got a pellet stove and loves it.

12/14/2011 7:03:45 PM

Quote :

"DH and I"

ugh

12/14/2011 7:17:48 PM

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 7:18 PM. Reason : double poast]

12/14/2011 7:18:17 PM