FYI Nest Energy Report :cool:

MapleySyrup said:
Well, yes, with the HVAC, but is that true of a furnace as well? Remember, here in the frozen north we have to heat our houses for a big chunk of the year too.
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That would totally depend on the type of the furnace I would think, forced hot air furnace vs forced hot water boiler.

Mine is forced hot water, and the unit has very thick insulation so the water temp stays pretty high without the unit running constantly, uses very little oil compared to a traditional boiler.
 
My house growing up used oil. That seems bizarre being a repatriated southerner for so long. No houses use oil down here.
 
Yeah, primarily a northeast thing these days I think.

If I lived in PA or WV, I'd totally do coal, the transport costs to get it here kill it.

Around here, people are all afraid of burning pine in wood stoves and fireplaces because "it builds more creosote" :lol:

What do they think people in the pacific northwest do? It's amusing to me how regional heating systems can be.
 
Syrup Beaver said:
Yeah, primarily a northeast thing these days I think.

If I lived in PA or WV, I'd totally do coal, the transport costs to get it here kill it.

Around here, people are all afraid of burning pine in wood stoves and fireplaces because "it builds more creosote" :lol:

What do they think people in the pacific northwest do? It's amusing to me how regional heating systems can be.
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It also has a low btu for its mass, really low, thats the main reason its not burnable. Also, it doesnt dry for shit. it builds more creosote because the saps is like glue rather than an easily evaporatable watery liquid like hardwoods.
 
fly said:
You can hide behind it all you want, but the costliest comparison of reducing "on" times is that its a huge energy spike in starting the HVAC system. Less starting = less energy. And at least here in Florida, as the house gets warmer during the summer, the heat transfer slows as it nears the external temperature reducing costs further.
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Nope, thats not the argument at all.

The argument is thermal mass. It takes more energy to heat a large static thermal mass that has cooled than it does to maintain it.

Think about it like a pot of boiling water. It takes 5-6 minutes on high to make the water boil in the first place, but to keep it boiling, you can turn the heat down to low and just maintain with much less energy.
 
Syrup Beaver said:
That would totally depend on the type of the furnace I would think, forced hot air furnace vs forced hot water boiler.

Mine is forced hot water, and the unit has very thick insulation so the water temp stays pretty high without the unit running constantly, uses very little oil compared to a traditional boiler.
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old house? Radiators arent very common up your way. Mostly wood stoves or oil.
 
Domon said:
Nope, thats not the argument at all.

The argument is thermal mass. It takes more energy to heat a large static thermal mass that has cooled than it does to maintain it.

Think about it like a pot of boiling water. It takes 5-6 minutes on high to make the water boil in the first place, but to keep it boiling, you can turn the heat down to low and just maintain with much less energy.
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You can boil water on low too. And you would probably expend a similar amount of energy as using high for 5-6 minutes.
 
Domon said:
It also has a low btu for its mass, really low, thats the main reason its not burnable. Also, it doesnt dry for shit. it builds more creosote because the saps is like glue rather than an easily evaporatable watery liquid like hardwoods.
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Pine actually dries faster than hardwood, you're correct on the low btu output though.

The sap is a non issue once properly dried.

This is assuming a properly functioning EPA stove run at an optimal temperature, if you're letting wood smoulder in an outside chimney you're going to have creosote issues no matter what.

The only build up I get is on the stupid screen on the cap, where it's subject to the most heating/cooling cycles.
 
Softwood burns fine, it's just less dense so you feed the stove more often, and you have to clean your chimney more often.

I grew up in Newfoundland, the forests there are 90% fir/spruce and most people burn softwood in their stoves. If you have birch or some other hardwood, you save it to put in the stove before you go to bed.

Here in NS there's much more hardwood, and you can't even give softwood away because everyone's so hardwood snobby.
 
"Hello?"
"Hi Thermostat, it's June, how's it going?"
"The current temperature is 64 degrees Fahrenheit with a relative humidity of 32 percent."
"Oh, ok, anyway, I was just calling to ask if you could, you know, turn up the heat to 72 or so since we were on the way home."
"I'm sorry June, but I can't do that."
"Uh, of course you can, you're the thermostat, turn up the temperature."
"The information I'm being sent tells me that you did not pay your carbon offset tax bill this month, in fact I need to lower the temperature to 52 degrees if the bill is not paid by tonight. Have a pleasant day."
"....."
 
Syrup Beaver said:
"Hello?"
"Hi Thermostat, it's June, how's it going?"
"The current temperature is 64 degrees Fahrenheit with a relative humidity of 32 percent."
"Oh, ok, anyway, I was just calling to ask if you could, you know, turn up the heat to 72 or so since we were on the way home."
"I'm sorry June, but I can't do that."
"Uh, of course you can, you're the thermostat, turn up the temperature."
"The information I'm being sent tells me that you did not pay your carbon offset tax bill this month, in fact I need to lower the temperature to 52 degrees if the bill is not paid by tonight. Have a pleasant day."
"....."
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True and my thermostat already hates me because of my use of disposable diapers. Soooo I guess I'm screwed. Time to burn some tires.
 
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