Utilities Question
 

My gas bill was outrageous this month. So I have a question. If I close the heating exchanges in the rooms I don't use very much, will that make my furnace work harder...thus make my bill higher?

I need some advice.

Thanks in advance.

no should have to work less, if it has less rooms to heat

It should help Jenny. A lot of it depends where your thermostat is located. Just be careful not to close off areas with water pipes if it gets really cold or your house could look like a bass pond.

Not good, it wasn't even cold last month. It's kind of rare, but some homes have dampers in the ducts. If your basement isn't finished, look for small handles on the bottom of the ducts where they split off to the rooms. That's a more effective way to shut off a room if you're lucky enough to have them.

Go ahead and close the the vents i nthe rooms you don't use. That should get more warm air to the rooms you do use, which in turn should alllow you to turn the thermostat down.

Consider doing some things to winterize your home. Make sure your storm windows are closed, and then put plastic over the windows. It may not be the most attractive, but it's a cheap way to improve the efficiency of bad windows.

All I know is if you own one, it's 4 times the roll, and if you own both, it's 10 times the roll

The key is to keep the room with the thermostat warm. Furnaces tend to be pretty singleminded about that sort of thing.

4321

I just got done snowblowing my driveway, and the pictures in the three day forecast have igloos in them.

I hope you get a heat stroke!

No. It will not. By closing the vents (and the doors, of course), you are reducing the volume of air that the furnace must heat. Make sure that the rooms that you close off don't have any water pipes running near them.

I'd also recommend a programmable thermostat, one that you can set four time zones per day (overnight, morning, day, evening). They are about $60, and it will pay for itself this year.

Also, remember that for every degree you increase or decrease your temperature setpoint, you increase or decrease your heating $$$ by about 6% What is your present setpoint?

Yes, and it's over 100 degrees from May to September there. I'll take the snow.

That should make up for some of those days when your mail box was so hot you couldn't touch it.

You already need to work on your deck?

That's what you get when you employ the retarted.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I know what you say makes sense, I just didn't know for sure. The thermostat is in the downstairs hallway, so it's easy to keep it regulated. I was just shocked to open my bill today. The bill was >200% higher than last month, and it looked like the gas portion was to blame. Yikes. Maybe I'll build me a fire in the fireplace this winter.

Oh, and Endelt...I hate you.