2 posts tagged “heat”
But that's a good thing :) It was only down to about 58 in the house, not that bad. I couldn't even tell while I was still under the covers.
Every April, I begin turning my oil burner off at night and then back on in the morning. It would work the same with a water heater, but the savings wouldn't be as great. As a matter of fact, you can get a timer for your hot water heater to turn it on at a certain time in the morning and back off again, and then back on at a certain time in the evening, like when you get home from work.
From April to September, I use less than 50 gallons of oil. So this year, with prices the way they are, I should save around $700. It saves a lot in electricity too, and the savings would be a lot greater for those with electric hot water heaters.
My oil burner heats the house and heats our water, which means it cycles on and off while it's on. I turn it off after doing the dishes at night or after the last shower. In the morning, I turn the oil burner on and turn up the thermostat to 65 to take the chill off the house. It was a bit of a shock this morning when I washed my hands in ice cold water, but it was only about 10 minutes before the water heated up. Once the weather hits 80 degrees and higher, I don't bother to turn it on at all.
It's a little thing to do with a big payoff.
Good news is that I got the house up to 60F so far. Sure takes the chill off. But, as many of you who live in cold climates know, that's very cold when it's -6F outside. Too bad the kids aren't little anymore. I could teach them a new game... Go Push the Button (see previous post about furnace reset button).
This post is about more than being cold and my furnace not working. I thought I'd take this time while it's too cold in here to do anything else and let everyone in blog land know what it's like going on welfare after living a comfortable middle-class life.
Take today, for instance, and my furnace malfunctioning. A few years ago, if my furnace stopped working, no problem. I had the presidential plan through my local oil dealer. For $175 a year, they clean your furnace and cover all repairs. Sounds good, huh? Yes, it was while it lasted.
But then I became disabled and had to declare bankruptcy. Oh dear, oil companies don't look too kindly on low-income people who went through bankruptcy. No more presidential plan. No more furnace cleanings. No more 24-hour service. Because those things are reserved for people who have been approved for automatic delivery, which actually means "no credit, no service." Only cash up front, thankyouverymuch. Which is a bit funny considering an emergency repair call costs close to $250 just for them to come to your house, not including the repairs. I'd like to meet one person on welfare who actually has $250 in the bank.
On one hand, I can understand where businesses are coming from as far as not offering credit to people with bad credit or low income. BUT... what I can't understand is why they don't take it on a case-by-case basis, especially when it comes to something as important as home heating. In fact, I was a credit customer of this heating company for years before my financial problems. I'm not a deadbeat, and I never have been one. Maybe you're getting me confused with my ex-husband. (Oh, wait a minute, that's a story for another time). The only reason I would need credit would be so that I could wait until my check came in to pay the bill. When it's below zero, you can't wait a week for heat.
