no frost here in the valley ,yet, but up on the ridge they have had some cold nights and frozen birdbaths... Actually our frost is late this year... it almost hit 80 today...usually have the heat on already...
I started mine up on October 5th just to warm the house up from 60 degrees (F). Then I turned it back off until last night. Just couldn't stand the thought of a 62 degree shower, but I caught the heat in the bathroom and shut the furnace back off when I was done.
I hate to have the furnace running between April 15 and November 15, but DH sees no reason to 'freeze' when he's worked so hard for retirement; me, I'd prefer warmer clothes and cooler temperatures in the house most of the day.
At $4.00 a gallon for oil, this year I've told DH we're burning the fireplace a lot more. I can heat the living part of the house with just the one fire when the power is out, but with the furnace fan running, the fireplace will keep the whole house relatively comfortable.
We finally turned ours on last night. The smell of the burning dust when the furnace first turns on is very nostalgic....reminds me of standing over the floor furnace when I was 8 years old, with the warm air blowing up my pajama legs. But this morning I remembered why I hate forced air gas heat--woke up all dried out already! It's gonna be a long winter.....whine...whine...whine.
We bought a gas fireplace about 10 years ago. It's one of those no-vent fireplaces. It's beautiful, but we have never been able to utilize it due to the horrible fumes we get. Within a few minutes of burning it, my DH and I both get a headache and heavy feeling in the chest. NOT carbon monoxide; we have a tester. It has been narrowed down to an additive the gas company puts in the natural gas. At least that's what the experts told us. I guess if it was a choice of using the fireplace or freezing to death, we would take the fireplace, but till then, no.
Both my heating pads crawled into bed with me last night. Unless there is a sudden cold or snowy spell that gets my uncovered firewood, still plan on keeping the propane heat off until mid november...or later if i can stand it.