How can you prepare for winter and save money on heating costs?

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The discussion centers around winter preparation, with participants sharing their experiences and strategies for coping with the cold. One user details their winterizing activities, including draining garden hoses and building a rustic wood box for firewood. There is a notable concern about the rising costs and availability of alternative heating fuels like corn and wood pellets, leading some to prefer traditional wood stoves. Participants compare climates, with some expressing envy over milder conditions while others recount the harshness of their winters. The conversation also touches on practical winter tasks such as changing tires for snow and preparing gardens for winter planting. Personal anecdotes about past winters and the physical toll of cold weather are shared, highlighting the community's collective readiness for the season ahead.
turbo
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The cold blasts of Arctic air we've gotten recently have got me winterizing. Yesterday, I drained and stored all my garden hoses and drained the pipes to the sill-cocks. Friday, I built a new wood-box that will hold at least 2 days' wood, kindling and other fire-starting materials. My wife wanted it to look rustic (we live in a log house), so I built it out of rough-sawn pine boards. We'll use it as-is over the winter and maybe paint it next summer.

woodbox.jpg


Lots of people have opted to buy stoves that burn either dry corn or wood pellets, and that is turning out to be problematic. The upward pressure on grain prices caused by burning corn means that corn is more expensive (now) than wood pellets, and the local stores are rationing wood pellets because they can't get enough to satisfy demand. Pellet stoves are convenient, but the price of the fuel can be manipulated, costing more money in the long run. I'm sticking with my conventional wood stove. If the economy continues to tank (especially locally), I know dozens of guys with chain saws and trucks who will gladly cut firewood to earn some cash.
 
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Turbo, we are lucky? in England the temp only varies a few degrees between summer and winter, my little 1200 watt halogen heater is enough to keep me warm in most cases, other wise i just wear more clothes, the only draw back is taking a bath in the un heated bathroom,
i dry real quick.

Nice wood box, but rustic aint nails.
 
wolram said:
Turbo, we are lucky? in England the temp only varies a few degrees between summer and winter, my little 1200 watt halogen heater is enough to keep me warm in most cases, other wise i just wear more clothes, the only draw back is taking a bath in the un heated bathroom,
i dry real quick.

Nice wood box, but rustic aint nails.
They're square-headed nails. (Screws visible in the cleats inside, but I will putty those before painting.) I don't have the patience for joinery (dovetailing, etc).

And yeah, you are pretty lucky to have such a moderate climate. Here, it generally ranges from 90 to 95 deg F (summer highs) to -20 deg F or colder (winter lows). When the first settlers came to New England, they were in for some nasty surprises.
 
And of course as a last resort you can always burn the box.
 
mgb_phys said:
And of course as a last resort you can always burn the box.

Cruel :biggrin:
 
mgb_phys said:
And of course as a last resort you can always burn the box.
:smile::smile: It would have to be a REALLY bad winter to make me do that. Here is my out-door wood-pile. I have twice as much firewood inside the woodshed.

woodpile.jpg
 
I washed the dog, put fresh litter in the cats box. Yes, I am now ready for winter.
 
hypatia said:
I washed the dog, put fresh litter in the cats box. Yes, I am now ready for winter.
I don't want to visit you when spring comes around. :devil:
 
Changed some cars to winter tyres the other weekend and checked if the central heater still worked. Anything I forgot?
 
  • #10
Andre said:
Changed some cars to winter tyres the other weekend and checked if the central heater still worked. Anything I forgot?
I don't know. If your climate is as mild as Woolie's, you only need to check that you have an extra sweatshirt or two and maybe a fleece vest to wear on the REALLY cold days.
 
  • #11
I knit my dog a sweater. She developed a thyroid problem and has gotten too fat for her old one. I also found her little booties. Her poor feet freeze in the snow, and I've seen her standing with one paw held in the air with a pained look on her face. I pulled out the horses blankets, but theyre not ready to wear them yet. We have turned the heat on here a couple times at night, but my apartment is in the basement so its colder indoors than out sometimes. My long johns are ready for me, but southern Ontario has yet to get cold
 
  • #12
turbo-1 said:
I don't know. If your climate is as mild as Woolie's, you only need to check that you have an extra sweatshirt or two and maybe a fleece vest to wear on the REALLY cold days.

Well, the severity range of the winters here is large. It could be equal to a cold summer but occasionally we may see snow and ice here. In that case The Netherlands gets the Elfstedentocht fever. I can proudly announce that the nephew of my grandfather won this prestigeous skating race in 1929.:-p

But with both the sun and the Pacafic Decadal Oscilation in the cold phase, I'm checking if I still have mittens. Somewhere there must be a parka too.
 
  • #13
I grew up in Northern Utah and Nevada where we got tons of snow every winter, but without a doubt the coldest I've ever been is down here in Phoenix, AZ. I know it doesn't get nearly as cold here as it does up north, but I have frozen my butt off here. I don't know if it is because I've grown used to the daytime heat, or if I just don't bundle up as much or what. We have a pretty brutal temperature difference between night and day and even though our temperatures are shifted towards the top of the thermometer I have spent some miserable times late at night where I just couldn't stop shivering.
 
  • #14
I have stepped outside and had my breath taken away from the dead cold in the air. When we were little my brother and I would go sledding for hours, and we would come inside and our fingers would be blue and the skin on our cheeks would be raw (peeling within a few days) and there would be icicles hanging from our noses. We didnt care then, but you wouldn't catch me out there now
 
  • #15
In the '60's, I worked ski patrol for a ski area on a mountain near the Canadian border. It was often colder than 30 below when we got there in the morning, and we weren't allowed to ride the lift and pre-ski and inspect the trails until the temp got up to 20 below.

Times have changed. In the '60's, my cousins and neighbors and I skated on Thanksgiving holiday, and we shoveled after school and on weekends to keep our ponds and bogs clear of snow so we could skate all through the Christmas break. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to find sound ice before the new year.
 
  • #16
My birthday is on thanksgiving and I always remember snow being involved. Now its sweater weather
 
  • #17
Wood is ready and I am already burning a log or two each day, but I have not changed tyres yet. To warm for that.
 
  • #18
I have to get my wife's tires changed over tomorrow. Possibility of snow Wednesday.

I should start hoeing up my garlic beds for the winter planting, too, but we'll have to see how my arthritic knees are holding out tomorrow. They got a pretty good workout today, raking and tilling the manure into the garden, and they're kinda swell (not in a good way) tonight.
 
  • #20
Greg Bernhardt said:
I wish I had a fireplace :cry:
Fireplaces are energy-wasters, Greg, because they are so hard to control. With a good little wood stove, you generally have control over draft, primary air, secondary air, etc. My wife and I had a fireplace in our last house, but it was built with a huge mass of masonry and the firebox was surrounded by a heat-o-later (air circulation around the hot firebox) so it was marginally efficient, but still nothing to compare to a nice wood-stove. (Unless you count lounging on the carpet with your loved one with a bottle of wine, a few snacks, and some good music on the stereo.) It was pretty good for that.
 
  • #21
turbo-1 said:
I have to get my wife's tires changed over tomorrow. Possibility of snow Wednesday.

I should start hoeing up my garlic beds for the winter planting, too, but we'll have to see how my arthritic knees are holding out tomorrow. They got a pretty good workout today, raking and tilling the manure into the garden, and they're kinda swell (not in a good way) tonight.

Ouch ,Turbo, i sure feel sorry for your knees.
 
  • #22
turbo-1 said:
I have to get my wife's tires changed over tomorrow. Possibility of snow Wednesday.
I have noticed that wives handle poorly in cold conditions unless you fit them with the correct tires!
 
  • #23
wolram said:
Ouch ,Turbo, i sure feel sorry for your knees.
Thanks, Woolie. After decades working in industrial settings on concrete floors, 'dem fellas is pretty worn out. I'll get by.

We all wear out, eventually. I started wearing myself out as a kid. I ran everywhere, barefoot or in cheap sneakers, and I ran X-country all through high school, practiced with double miles every night and then ran home (~3 miles) after practice, and pushed myself to the limit on snow skis, racing on some pretty pretty snarly terrain back when the best skis were still made of metal-wood laminates that transferred every little shock all the way up to your teeth.
 
  • #24
mgb_phys said:
I have noticed that wives handle poorly in cold conditions unless you fit them with the correct tires!
I got mine studded. Game over.
 
  • #25
I got new winter tires for the Jeep and might even get them studded, and I bought a snowboard, I am set for winter.
 
  • #26
scorpa said:
I got new winter tires for the Jeep and might even get them studded, and I bought a snowboard, I am set for winter.
Oh, you studded the TIRES. I'll have to look into that. :smile:
 
  • #27
turbo-1 said:
I got mine studded. Game over.
I hear chains are sometimes useful if it's really icy.
 
  • #28
mgb_phys said:
I hear chains are sometimes useful if it's really icy.
I met my wife at a bar and asked her over to my place. She said "Do you have cable?" and I said "No, but the ropes should hold you."












I'm sorry Emo! Call it borrowing, not stealing.
 
  • #29
turbo-1 said:
Oh, you studded the TIRES. I'll have to look into that. :smile:

Ha I never even noticed what you had written above :-p
 
  • #30
scorpa said:
Ha I never even noticed what you had written above :-p
Diamond studs are too pricey for tires, but might be justifiable for women. Somehow, studding women with carbide seems a bit uber-industrial.

I hope you have a good riding winter, scorpa.
 
  • #31
Oh man am I ready for winter. It has been in the eighties and nineties for the last few weeks. Even though that is a lot better than the hundreds, it is still a bit warm. I can't wait for January when it will be a nice cool sixty or seventy degrees.
 
  • #32
Winter's coming ... and I am happy.
I love cold winters!

Spring and Fall bring flu
Summer is just disgusting!
 

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