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how to cut 90% off your electric heat bill in 2025 - with microheaters

 
gardener
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denise ra wrote:Rebecca Norman, if you can find something that is reflective like a silver emergency blanket and put that under the heating pad also the maybe won't lose so much heat. Of course it might sound a little crinkly at first.



Good idea! I actually have one of those silver emergency blankets, that somebody gave me and I've never used. Gotta try that!
 
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It may not be possible for many situations, but if you can drop your ceiling, it'll be warmer. Like putting on storm windows every fall, install a dropped ceiling of insulation panels in key rooms. On the boat we line the walls / hull with foil-backed insulation. Of course, that's easy to accomplish if you live in a small space. Be a bit pricy in a large home. But foil strategically placed should help with the microheating.

And the box around the bed idea is not dissimilar to the medieval technique of installing drapery around the bed and closing it once inside. Worked for them.
 
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You would love box beds!

Trace Oswald wrote:One experiment I want to try is building an insulated box around my bed with just enough room to sit up in.  I think body heat alone would keep it comfortable.




By Loïc CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=311597

Notice the vent openings in the front wall and doors?  There are other examples in wikimedia commons:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box-bed
 
pollinator
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Antigone Gordon wrote:You would love box beds!


Excellent! This is not something new; it has been done by practical people since forever. Thanks for the pics!
 
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Winter is supposed to arrive here next week.   Getting the house and humans ready today.  

I wonder if cloaks would help make a little human microclimate inside.
 
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r ranson wrote:Winter is supposed to arrive here next week.   Getting the house and humans ready today.  

I wonder if cloaks would help make a little human microclimate inside.



Definitely!  I pretty much wear a bathrobe all winter long for the same reason.  Part of the year I just wear a blankie wrapped around my waist and legs, like a sari, which I call a "blanket sari".  And big ol'muckluk style wool slipper-boots are wonderful.

Lots of great suggestions in this thread.  My ways of dealing with cold are fairly primitive, in a good way.  Pets are great at keeping one warm.  I am the dishwasher, and I do dishes throughout the day when I'm home to warm my hands up. Wear a lot of nice cozy clothing and wearable blanket saris.  We use an IR heating pad before going to bed - that is super cozy!  And we practice dancing in the winter, like salsa.

I think the biggest thing in the end is to make a mindset switch from needing a whole house to feel the same temp everywhere, to focusing on making your body comfortable in other ways.  I noticed this while selling real estate, as it was the first time I was exposed to whole house heat and came to realize that many people expected that type of indoor environment.  I noticed that people with this environment wore a lot fewer clothes in the winter than I was accustomed to, and in particular - their bedrooms were warm!  haha!

My family had wood heat and it was only warm near the woodstove in the living room, or the bathroom heater. You had to dress warmly the moment you got up, so I think it creates a different expectation and more adaptability.  Adaptability is a wonderful thing in life, I now realize.  

Hmmm... I think I need to go apologize to my parents for the times I complained about "being cold".  I didn't appreciate their responses at the time... "Move around a bit - or I can give you something to do!"
 
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I saw an idea earlier today, to put a tent inside the house and sleep there (if energy gets extremely expensive and/or all heating is cut off). I thought it could be quite fun (especially for kids) to use a hammock tent with a frame (one of those that people use in gardens when they don't have proper trees). I guess it works similarly to the box beds.

I also knit or crochet woolen blankets or large shawls, or ponchos, to wear indoors and outdoors. However, my lungs don't like cold and moist air indoors and I have annoying cough when it gets too bad.
 
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and this whole thread led me to amazon to price electric blankets,  where I found this bed tent item lol..  

I did order the blanket.  I did not order the tent.    I do not sit down hardly at all even in winter, but I do sleep so bed space heating makes sense and turning house heat down.   I close off the 2nd bedroom and only have about 500sqft of indoor space.   My gas heat is about $50/ month,  but I'm still looking for good/better insulation ideas for doors and windows as well.  Have been researching all sorts of good ideas.    Trying to think where microheaters make the most sense for me,  probably the kitchen.   Then it's called baking.



bedtent.png
A bed tent to keep you warm in your bed
 
r ranson
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It's like how beds used to have curtains to keep the warmth in, crossed with livingroom camping because the family vacation got rained out this year.  
 
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K Rawlings wrote:... the box around the bed idea is not dissimilar to the medieval technique of installing drapery around the bed and closing it once inside. Worked for them.


I love the idea of drapery around the bed, but I don't like the idea of blocking the light.  Actually, that's true for bed boxes and tents to one degree or another.  My solution is just piling on the quilts!
 
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I find putting an extra quilt between me and the mattress increase the warmth about the same as three more quilts on top.  
 
Douglas Alpenstock
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r ranson wrote:Winter is supposed to arrive here next week.   Getting the house and humans ready today.  

I wonder if cloaks would help make a little human microclimate inside.


I recall that early European mountain climbers used a weather resistant garment called a cagoule (sp?) as an emergency shelter to survive storms. They could cover themselves fully and even light a candle at their feet and the cagoule would act as a chimney, drying their clothing and preventing hypothermia. Sounds like a pretty hardcore cloak to me.
 
r ranson
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I love that idea!  Cloak + tent = perfect.  
 
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Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

r ranson wrote:Winter is supposed to arrive here next week.   Getting the house and humans ready today.  

I wonder if cloaks would help make a little human microclimate inside.


I recall that early European mountain climbers used a weather resistant garment called a cagoule (sp?) as an emergency shelter to survive storms. They could cover themselves fully and even light a candle at their feet and the cagoule would act as a chimney, drying their clothing and preventing hypothermia. Sounds like a pretty hardcore cloak to me.


I am not an alpinist myself (not even a hiker, sadly), but today there is a thing called "Biwak-Sack". A Biwak is a provisional shelter, and the Biwak-Sack is today a high-tech insulating foil which you can use to make a shelter in ice and snow like this:

Talking about German bureaucracy, you are only allowed to biwak in a real emergency (extreme change of weather, an alpine hut you intended to use is shut off etc.).

In former times alpinists used woollen Loden cloth as "cotton kills".
But Douglas with his telltale name should be an expert on everything alpine ;-) (Alpenstock - I can't even find a translation as it is apparently used in other languages as well).
 
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I opened Firefox today and one of the suggested articles was about heating the person, not the space. The idea is spreading!

How to be Warm when you Work at Home
 
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I would like to dress in furs, or havr some sort of fur blanket, when cold indoors, but where to get fur nowadays? I dont want any from caged animals, and sure, wool is great, but nothing compared to fur. Racoon fur coats used to be popular in the US (in the 20/30s?). Even sheepskins jackets are hard to find, only second hand if you're lucky.
 
Jeremy VanGelder
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Lana, one of my brothers-in-law used to work at USA Foxx and Fur in Duluth Minnesota. They would receive furs from trappers around North America and turn them into beautiful items.

Here in Washington, there is Dinsmoor Sheepskins, which buys sheepskins from farmers who raise sheep for meat and then tans them.
 
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I once poured sand into a crock pot and heated it on high for 3 hours when expecting to lose power in a storm. After power went out I brought the unplugged crock pot to my sofa and draped a wool blanket over it and me. It was a good way to transfer the heat where I wanted it and it kept me very warm.

Could also make it a candle sand battery by looping a copper strip into the sand and having a candle heat the copper directly, transferring the heat into the sand which could store the heat.

A oil lamp powered flower pot heater placed under the desk by your feet + thick wool blanket draped like a tablecloth over your desk would work well, just tuck your lower body in under the blanket, toes near the heater. The gap under your chair would provide air for the flame.  
 
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Rebecca Norman wrote:

denise ra wrote:Rebecca Norman, if you can find something that is reflective like a silver emergency blanket and put that under the heating pad also the maybe won't lose so much heat. Of course it might sound a little crinkly at first.



Good idea! I actually have one of those silver emergency blankets, that somebody gave me and I've never used. Gotta try that!



ok, I know I am late to the party again -

that works well - I -  (with my "prepper" mentality) keep a couple in every vehicle I drive or ride in/on - I found, back in the late 80's - when I was backpacking - that putting one under my sleeping bag, with the "space blanket" on top of something for even the tiniest amount of insulation or break from the ground - made quite a noticeable difference in my warmth. in direct contact with the ground they just transfer the temp, apparently.
I still tent camp, and this last year a lot in the high desert of eastern Oregon - but not backpacking anymore - I have a heavy small winter tent, which I can stand for one or two nights, and I have a lightweight cabin tent for longer duration camp-outs. I always put a tarp down for the tent - but now I fold a 6x6 silver tarp in half, put it down where I plan to sleep, then put a moving blanket on that, followed by the space blanket, then my sleeping pad, then my sleeping bag.
I have been down to -25F in this setup and slept warm. as I have gotten a little more grown up since I started this - I try to not go that cold. it's a lot harder to make coffee in the morning when everything is frozen that hard.  This last year (starting last February) I was in 11 - 34 F nights, and still slept quite comfortably with this setup. I will admit, getting out of bed is still chilly.
I have had no luck keeping one of those space blankets on top of my sleeping bag. I believe it might be too warm for me anyway.
when I am home, and too lazy to light the firewood hog - I have been known to put a space blanket on my chair, cover it with a blanket and sit on that. and be much warmer, and actually heating myself of - no other energy brought in.
 
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A hot water bottle under my feet at the desk keeps my toes toasty when I'm working!

Like Rebecca Norman, I find if I have cold feet I can't get to sleep. Eventually with warm socks they warm up, but then the socks irritate my feet and I have to slip them off before going to sleep. A hot water bottle in the right place in the bed 20 minutes before bedtime is a game changer
 
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A rocket mass heater is the most sustainable way to heat a conventional home
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