Miscalculation

[BridgeRunner]

I patted myself on the back for saving money by not turning on the gas furnace that heats the basement.  Sure, the basement is frigid, but I'm saving $50 or so on the gas bill.

Right.

Just got this month's electric bill, the first real winter electric bill (electric heat upstairs).  Went up by $118 over last year.  And we're only using--and heating--one of the three bedrooms regularly. 

[AZRedhawk44]

D'oh!

[mtnbkr]

I patted myself on the back for saving money by not turning on the gas furnace that heats the basement.  Sure, the basement is frigid, but I'm saving $50 or so on the gas bill.

Right.

Just got this month's electric bill, the first real winter electric bill (electric heat upstairs).  Went up by $118 over last year.  And we're only using--and heating--one of the three bedrooms regularly. 

Heat rises.  The heat you thought you were wasting in the basement was warming the entire house.

But I think you figured that out.

Chris

[drewtam]

And in Illinois, nat gas is ~1/3 to 1/2 the cost of electricity per joule. So there is no winning with electricity unless you have a high efficiency heat pump coupled to a geothermal system.

Illinois electric rate ~$0.12/kwhr (including all taxes, fees, service charges, waste disposal fund, etc).

[MechAg94]

Same down here.  My natural gas heat on my central air is much much cheaper than my last place with an electric heater.

[drewtam]

Since electric bills come in kw*hr measurements,
gas bills come in Btu measurements,
and scientists/engineers use joules (megajoule MJ is 1,000,000 joules),

I made a little chart for you to help calculate the exchange ratio of each unit type.

kWhr  10
btu     9.5
MJ      36

kWhr  10.6
btu     10
MJ      38

kWhr  2.8
btu     2.6
MJ      10

[BridgeRunner]

I know that gas is cheaper, I didn't realize how much the basement heat was impacting the upstairs heat. 

[roo_ster]

Is the basement decent?  Maybe move the bedroom down there?

My grandfolks, after they sold the farm and moved into the "big city," would sleep in the basement during the hottest days of summer before they got central A/C.  Heck, most things seemed to happen in the basement, even had a second kitchen kinda rigged around the perimeter, near the washer & dryer.