I'm in Central Florida.
My house was built in 1964. Is Concrete Block and has little or no insulation in the walls and single pane awning windows. In the winter the electric bill is huge. I cannot afford to replace the windows or do vinyl insulation on the outside. What can I do inside that would help? Thank you for your advice.
If you have an attic or crawl space that is not currently insulated, or has little insulation, you might think about taking care of that. It can help you with keeping your home warmed up overall. For the windows, you could seal them up on the interior with plastic. While it may not be the best looking thing to do, it will help out on keeping the warm air inside. You can make the plastic look ...»
KM I have medallion heat (wires in the ceiling lathe).
The greenhouse plastic should work, though I have never used that myself. You should try to use a thicker/heavier plastic (like 2 or 3 mil thick) and see if you can get some as clear/transparent as possible to still allow good sunlight through for added warmth.
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The first thing you need to do is get some insulation up above, window plastic may help but if your heat starts high and then gets lost you might as well be living outside.
The next thing you need to do is get the heat source closer to where you are living, Electric base boards would be better than the over head system but better would be a pellet stove like I mentioned or a new gas wall unit or two. Having the heat down low is the best...that is why radiant floors are so popular as the heat moves up you get to enjoy it.
Dan - I now think a good part of the problem is coming from the connection of the duct work between the air handler and two possibly three of the air ducts coming loose. Some of what you said lite a light bulb in my head and now all I have to do is get someone up there to look at it. This would certainly be any easy fix. Of course, even so, doing all the other things would definitely be an improvement as well.
Sorry for the delayed reply. Checking the duct work is a great idea. If they are not done already, you might also think about having the duct work itself insulated. They make special insulation just for this purpose. This will help with both heating as well as cooling in the summer. It is estimated that as much as 60% of the heating/cooling energy is lost via passing into/through the metal ...»
They have insulation programs - I chose blown in since it's the cheapest - he gave me a price and a list of authorized contractors who will do the work at the price they "Progress Energy" ...»
They also have a duct work test program - Progress Energy schedules the contractor to come out and do the test - the cost is $60 - I pay half and they pay the other half. If the work needs to be done Progress Energy pays the 1st $150.00 of repairs. And again they chose the contractor so they backup the work.
There's other programs from Progress Energy for window replacements, window tinting, A/C replacement etc plus there's the governments tax credits for energy efficient upgrades too - although they aren't as large this year.
Not sure which power company you have in your area but most offer similar programs and they are well worth and hour of time to find out the savings and get the work done instead of paying it out in utility bills.
I had the same problem. I bought a window unit AC for my living room. I would set the house AC at 80 degrees. When I was home I would turn on the window unit to cool the room I was in. The thermostat was in the same room. The window unit would confuse the thermostat. The rest of the house was a little warm. However, the room I was occupying the most was cool. The window units use ...»
Unfortunately no, I don't do this type of work myself. I know enough to "be dangerous" but not enough to call myself a professional AC person (which is what I suggest you get). I'll see if I can come up with somebody to help you. Where about is Lake Panasoffkee in relation to Clermont and/or Orlando? ...»
In the mean time, I second Ramona's suggestion on having Progress Energy come out and take a look at things for you.
I definitely can relate to knowing enough to be dangerous. I fit that description as well in a different field and am quite creative with repair work. I have Seco and they do not do duct inspection, at least not as of yesterday. Wish I wasn't claustrophobic - I'd go into the attic, take duct tape with me and check the duct connections to make sure they were securely attached. I am NW of Clermont. Think I-75. Have a great day.
Just an update - haven't yet been able to find somebody for you. Have spoken with two of my contacts and they both have said that you are too far away to make it worth the time/money. Sorry, will continue to track somebody down if i can.
@ Bruce, ...»
Yes, feel free to create a contractor profile. Doing that and posting your contact info in response to a posting is fine as I understand things. That's part of the point of the website here. Welcome!