| Subject: Gas prices & Heating prices |
Author:
Betty
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Date Posted: 21:17:48 10/18/05 Tue
In reply to:
Bethany-Louise
's message, "Gas prices" on 03:28:45 10/10/05 Mon
For a decade up until mid-summer, 3/4 of all the vehicles parked or driving on thr chipp-strip, Buffalo's party district, are very large SUVs. What a waste! Most of these people are driving alone & are hauling no cargo other than golf clubs!
Our vehicle is an older ruby red Ford escort wagon. My vehicle gets laughed at on the strip even though it's in perfect sharp, rearly breaks, is cheap to fix, & is great on gas.
With all the money I saved on the purchase price, insurance, maintenance & gas, I own the largest, brightest, sharpest hi-def widescreens in western NY state. They're so big they can't be set up inside most clubs & theaters. I run them outdoors. They don't laugh at my little Bet-mobile when they show up for my outdoor shows & movie nights... they just drop their jaws in shock & awe!
My other vehicles... A cute black electric scooter. Top speed 35mph. Range - about 40 miles on 1 charge... about 5 cents of electricity. It has several small cargo compartments. I put an extra set of batteries in 1 of them, doubling my milage & getting it up to 40mph. These things run for under $300 & require no insurance. Not very good in the rain or winter though.
Our 5-6 warmer months of the year I use a 15-speed mountain bicycle more than the car. I also walk a lot. It keeps you fit & healthy. I'm currently using our car only twice a week. I live close to everything, & work at home a lot more recently. When I need a big truck for construction materials
or equipment, I just rent one cheap for the day.
They're talking heating fuel doubling this winter. In our extreme winter conditions I seriously expect many of the locals to freeze to death this winter.
In the past heating up here has increased 30-50% every year for several years. But I've been reducing my heating bills by 30% every year & staying warmer than ever.
In traditional heaters & furnaces it's cheaper to heat with natuaral gas, oil, kerosene, or coal than electricity. But if you use electric radiant heaters you'll save a lot. If you stand in front of a sunny window on a cold winter day you feel the heat of the sun. That's radiant energy... a beam of heat.
Traditional heating heats all the air in the room, all the corners, under the furniture, & at the ceiling. Much of it is wasted. Radiant energy, much like a spotlight, or flashlight directes the infrared energy to where you need it.
Typically the parabolic radiant heaters are the most efficient diffecting most of the heat to a small area, but heating the rest of the room gradually to a bearable level. These where quite common in the 50s & 60s, but modern heating designers forgotten why they where so popular. But the are some new versions of these in the stores.
Other types of radiant heaters direct their energy into a wider area, like a floodlight, compaired to a spot light. Still effcient because it's directing the heat more to where you need it.
It's also faster heating. Within a minute of turning on a radiant heater in a cold room you'll feel real toasty in the direction it's pointed at... running 400-800 watts compared to 750-1600 watts used by traditional space heater & still feeling cold.
I shut off my furnace 3 years ago, saved a lot of money, & have never been warmer in the winter. I have mini ceramic heaters with digital thermostats in most rooms. I have them set at low power (750 watts) at 55F, or I leave them shut off if other rooms are being heated when I'm not using the room. But I have the radiant heaters on full at 400-800 watts where I'll be spending most of my time.
I was getting $150-200 a month gas bills keeping the thermostat low & chilly before I shut down the furnace a few years ago. By today's prices it would be $400-$500 a month. Last year my electric bill was averaging $70-$90 a month in the winter, keeping warm & toasty!
Beware you don't overload your electrical circuits. If the circuit is on a 15 amp breaker or fuse, at 110 volts, amps x volts=1650 watts. That means you can't us more than 1650 watts on the circuit. If it's a 20 amp breaker that's 2200 watts. You should only plug 1 high powered heater into each circuit. Test to see which outlets are on what breaker.
Lower powered 400-800 watt radiant heaters have the advantage of 2 being able to be pluged into the same circuit, or 1 sharing the breaker with your TV, computer, or microwave in most cases. But beware, not all radiant heaters are low powered. Check the rating before you buy. If it doesn't have a rating it's POS.
Plug all heaters & appliances over 1,000 watts directly into the wall & NEVER use an extension cord. They or the connectors will eventually overheat, causing a shock or fire hazard. They may be fine at first but after hours, days, or months, they will eventually go bad & place your life in danger!
That's the nice thing about lower powered radiant heaters. If they are under 1,000 watts or have a low setting you'll use all the time, high quality extension cords are OK. Don't use a walmart or home depot "special sale" cord. Use the best heavy duty contactor's cord you can find.
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