So last year our furnace kept breaking down, but despite the plumber’s bills our gas bill once went over $450 one month in an effort not to have our eyeballs freeze over. We had several plumbers over here and NONE of them could fix the furnace, and finally we got a referral for another guy who came over and found out the problem and actually fixed it just before the part he installed blew out (which would have cost an additional $400 to replace). The guy was fantastic and only charged us parts despite the fact he was in our gross basement for over three hours trying to fix it.
So today we got our latest PSE&G bill, and as we do every month we played “How much is it?” Denis took his guess: $472. I took my guess: $436. Imagine our surprise when it was under $400. Denis was thrilled (I know, ironic that we’d be HAPPY about a $383 gas bill). We credit the lower bill to the fine man who fixed our furnace last January. Bless him!
I’m still planning on having a full cord of wood delivered in a couple weeks – we may not use it this year, but next year we’ll be heating our house by fire, not by gas. $200 for wood that lasts two months is much better than $800 for two months. What I’d REALLY love is one of those cast iron woodstoves that actually fits in the fireplace. My parents had that in an old house and that mother kept the entire house toastey in the winter. It was amazing how that thing could heat the room on the farthest side of the house.
crap! a $383 gasbill?!? i’d have a heart attack if my gas bill ever came out to that much. but then again i live in sunny southern california. 😀 hehe the most my gas bill ever reached was $80 or so. on average it’s about $15-20.
Pete, you have the luxury of living in a rather temperate environment. Here we have harsh winters (case in pont: it was 3 degrees two mornings ago) and thus have a need to run the heat all day just to have it maintain 68 degrees in the house! Summer isn’t much better though – since we have really high humidity there’s a need to keep windows closed and run AC which can also get expensive, but not nearly as expensive as our winters are.
Our PSE&G bills average about $175-200 but shoot up to be really high December – March.
Mmmm, our gas bills are on a budget payment plan and are $128 a month… You might want to consider a new furnace. Wood heat is good but VERY dirty. Our dust was black rather than grey.
Mom, I know wood is dirtier but buying a new furnace is way too expensive for us. I’d rather pay $200 for wood and dust more often than fork out many $000s for a new furnace.
It’s actually gas and electric and I don’t think it’s the furnace that costing us all the money, it’s the old leaky house. And the guy who repaired it last year spend a total of eight hours fixing it, not just three. God bless him!
yeah we used to live out in NJ, but my parents moved us out to SoCal when I was about 4 years old. i’m glad they did…hehe. nothing against NJ or anything. 😉
Just remember when you put in that new fireplace insert to have the chimney carefully inspected and maybe even put in a new stainless steel liner. The chimney will get really exercised with consistant use. It will need frequent sweeping (we did it twice a year).
Pop – unfortunately we won’t be getting an insert – that is mere a pipedream.
Talk to your power company about balanced payments like Mom and Dad do. Most offer that alternative these days.