November 11, 2004

• I would try hanging cloth or large curtains in a sort of moveable baffle-type thing. Maybe construct a jury-rigged frame with curtains or large cloth hanging on them, try to guide the warm air into the other rooms. Heavy curtains across doorways and drafty areas will trap the heat somewhat. With vaulted ceilings it is always a problem. I can't think of an easy solution. I have a similar situation in my place with the gas heater in the lounge; the back rooms tend to get cold. I have to use an electric radiator to keep the other rooms warm, I put it in the hallway. The fans may actually be self defeating as the air will cool a bit. Throw-rugs & mats are good to put on the floor, they help trap warmth. Basically, insulate as best you can the places where heat will escape. I think in the mean time you'll be stuck wearing socks & jumpers. Best of luck!
• Any particular reason for the bias against space heaters? Almost any of them over the $25 range have thermostats now, so you're not stuck with a binary roast/freeze situation anymore. For a big room, especially with wood floors, I like the baseboard-style heaters so that the warm air is blown across the floor and then rises. But even in my 12x12 bedroom one of those tiny ceramic fan heaters can warm the room up. If you absolutely don't want to go there, though, maybe turn off the ceiling fan and try a table fan pointing from the living room towards the bedroom. You might also improvise a canopy in the bedroom to lower the ceiling and keep the warmer air down where it's needed.
• We don't even have a furnace, it's all baseboard heaters, no venting system as our house (an old schoolhouse) was built in 1897. We use space heaters and are having a gas fireplace put in (instead of our current wood fireplace). I agree ith Lyn though, space heaters are very useful and much better then they used to be. We use space heaters more then the baseboard heaters as they are more effective. The baseboard heaters are mostly under windows, for whatever stupid reason so they are generally rendered useless anyway. So, I guess I also vote for good use of space heaters and definitely leave your fans on, just low, it makes a HUGE difference in the heat moving about. We have 14 foot ceilings and without the fans it is only warm beside the space heaters.
• Not sure what you meant about a "reversed" ceiling fan, you also didn't say which room it was in... You also didn't say where you were located, might make a difference. Give us more details, otherwise we're shooting in the dark here! Also, you might want to get in touch with a heating contractor to give you ideas and a bid on fixing it. And, unless you're using the bedroom for activities other than sleeping (no off color remarks here! I meant for something like office space, etc...sheesh), you might want to consider an electric bed heater or blanket.......
• Do you have storm windows? If not clear plastic over all windows and caulking or weather stripping around windows and doors helps. Fans in front of doors blowing warm air into the rooms that need heat helps, suggest using low setting. Small ceramic heaters with thermostats are great. For high ceilings, ceiling fans help. I would lower those ceilings if it were my house.
• i have problems keeping my place warm due to 12-foot ceilings and a huge, noninsulated bay window. gorgeous but chilly. i use a portable radiator like this one. they're not the old kind of space heaters, but are radiators you wheel around and plug in wherever. they don't cost very much to run, either.
• insulation is your friend. It is sort of like the best offence is a good defence. Make sure all windos and doors are well sealed off. Close off any room that you aren't using, have heavy curtains on the windows and be sure to close them at night and have lots of blankets!
• Just have Nostril open his mouth, plenty of hot air to spare. (I keed, I keed...)
• Old gas furnace? Beware of carbon monoxide!
• I'm working on a lot of work related to conservation. Ask someone at and read rmi.org (rocky mountain institure).
• OK, thanks for all of the comments so far. The reason I am opposed to space heaters is that they're typically pretty energy inefficient and I'm trying to minimize as much as possible my utility bills for the winter. The insulation ideas are all in the works. What I meant by reversed the fans is that I reversed the direction of the fans, which I read you're supposed to do in the winter to keep the hot air away from the ceilings. As far as CO goes, I refused to turn the furnace on until the landlord put a CO monitor in. Thanks!
• I bought a handful of 5-1/4" 110v computer case fans and mounted them in door openings, and a larger room fan put in the room with the heater pointed up from the floor to the ceiling along an inside wall to circulate the air in the room. But the main issue is to move the hot air through the house. Remember if your attic is uninsulated you're moving the hot air along a cold surface and most of the heat is being transferred by the wallboard/plaster up into the attic and out. First thing to do is caulk cracks along top of room and insulate the attic. The pink *non-itchy* variety of fiberglass stuff is pretty easy to manage. Next look for cold air coming IN -- a warm leaky house is just a slightly less efficient chimney *and by the way your fireplace if not closed off is leaking heat like mad to the ouside*. An ordinary old house has lots of little tiny openings that add up to two or three square feet total. Might as well leave the window wide open. Once you've got the air staying in the house, if you have a way to push air in a circle, push it from the top of the room with the heater into the room you want kept warm, and from there back around the circle to the origin. If you have a linear layout, same thing but your return path is along the floor, so the case fans up high and a few regular table fans on the floor pointing in opposite directions will keep the air circulating. You can substitute an air filter, or put filters on the box/case/table fans, the cheapest kind will still collect a huge amount of house dust when you're keeping the air moving this way.
• or, sleep in front of the antique gas furnace naked on a biiiiig furry rug.
• If the furnace is really antique, it's probably pretty inefficient and will wind up costing more to feed than buying a new one. I have one of those oil-filled radiator looking things (like Side's) and it works very well in small rooms...heats objects, not air, and its a nice even heat. Of course it only works with electricity....