MarkG

We have one, but it won't make much difference. For a few weeks a year when the temperature outside is 10-20 degrees you might find that you save a fair percentage by dropping the temperature from 20 to 16 during the day, but when it's -40 outside the difference between maintaining the house at 60 degrees above the outside temperature or 56 degrees above the outside temperature is hardly noticeable.

BristolUK

Well lucky for me that the size of rooms and numbers of rooms was regularly mentioned on MLS and other real estate sites when I was looking then.

Extra lucky that the four realtors I was dealing with before actually travelling to look were describing properties similarly too.

So just to clarify, if one is interested in two houses and the only way they are described is in terms of x,000 sq foot, which is the one with the kitchen of the size desired?

Greenhill

So far I've had two houses here and both had the simple "set temperature and forget" cyberpunk-looking dial-a-temperature-device (when I moved in).

First thing I did when I moved into this place was remove the "simpleton" thermostat and wire in one of those new fangled things you refer to. It might have taken all of 5 minutes to do. I just can`t see the point of having the furnace blast away when we`re out or tucked up under a duvet..

It is possible Canadians know something we don't, so I wouldn't rule that out e.g. does it cost more to get the house back up to the desired temperature from a cold one, when compared to leaving it at the desired temperature constantly? Or does ignorance actually equate to bliss...?

Alan2005

actually, that does make sense. The main reason I wanted one isn't cost so much, more that I can set the overnight temp to 13 or 14 (when it gets above 17/18 and I have trouble sleeping) and have the heat come on at 6 so it's toasty in the morning without having to get up and turn it on.

Mike Gas

BC 5700 sq ft well insulated two mid efficiency gas furnaces and two gas hot water tanks
Gas is $135 a month on equal payments
Electricity about $75 air con and hot tub

Steve_P

This post doesn't tell you everything.

Here is my original post with all the relevant info re house size, age, temps set and such.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...0&postcount=10

One other thing not mentioned in my original post, the furnace is a high efficiency rated a 94% efficient and also has a DC motor to run the fan.

Alan2005

In the rental we were in there was actually a timer on the wall next to the thermostat. We assumed that this controlled the heating, but when we complained it didn't work the property manager looked at us as if we were crazy and explained it was for the bathroom fan. Bathroom fan!! ... why the f**k would I want that to come on at timed intervals?

Novocastrian

Actually, I agree with BristolUK on this. I've lived where I live for 18 years now and I don't really know what the square footage is (even in metric).

I could bullshit you and say it's too big to measure but it's really not.

It was fine for us then and still is now, although the yard work is getting to be a bit of a pain since we're not here when the yard is at it best.

As it happens I do remember the size of the yard in relative terms. It's 11x bigger than the one we had in Germany.

CanadaJimmy

Example of a Winter Electric Bill from me:

I live in a one bedroom apartment though and I rarely have to put on the electric heaters. That bill still impressed me though

Novocastrian

Me too. The printing is flawless.

Mike Gas

Programmable thermostat has the quickest pay back of any of the improvements you can make.

MarkG

No the heat you have to put in to warm up is heat you didn't have to put in when the house was cooling down; but you still need to maintain the house at the lower temperature. The heat required is roughly proportional to the temperature difference between inside and outside, so at -40C you save about 2% on your gas usage when you cut the daytime temperature from 20C to 16C (5% less heat loss for about a third of the day).

So that's about $4 a month in the worst of the winter. You might be able to go lower if you really want to, but I believe our furnace manual says not to set the thermostat lower than 16C.

I guess that if you have big windows so that the sun can keep the house at that lower temperature during the day you might see more benefit; certainly on a sunny day at -10C we don't need any extra heating because the sun coming through the kitchen windows keeps the place warm.

MarkG

Of course I keep forgetting that some parts of the country don't have arctic temperatures for six months a year .

Steve_P

I don't know about Saskatoon but Calgary hasn't seen -40°C for many, many years.

Even Saskatoon doesn't go down to -40°C more than a few times a winter.

You're talking in extremes not averages.

mandymoochops

1200sqft unfinshed basement 2 bedrooms central Alberta. Gas summer roughly $35pcm, all supply charges, winter roughly $150pcm. Electricity $90 roughly.

Having a wood burner installed in the basement so that should reduce some of the cost.