I (heart) my heater!

This week is going to be a good test of our new heater. Record lows, down to perhaps 2 degrees Fahrenheit, are forecast. Our new house has a heat pump. As I understand it, a heat pump takes heat out of the outdoor air and puts the heat into the air that then blows into our house. It doesn't create heat on its own, just redistributes it. In the summer, of course, it does the opposite, blowing cooler air into the house. There is also a small backup heater, which the home inspector called a "strip heater." This is just an old fashioned electric heater, producing heat through resistance, which helps out when the air is too cold for the heat pump to find any heat to pump. The electric heater, of course, uses lots more electricity than the heat pump. And it will be working hard this week.

The backup heater also kicks in when you turn the temperature up a lot, because the heat pump can only gradually raise the temperature in the house. Therefore, the HVAC guy who came to check on why our office was so darn cold, suggested that we NOT turn the heat way down at night or when we were at work, because the strip heater would be used to heat up the house when we got home, and it would use way more electricity than the heat pump would have used to keep the house at a constant temperature. He also said our house is new and well insulated, so the heat pump wouldn't have to work very hard to maintain the temperature. He also said something I didn't totally follow about how hard it is to raise the temperature in the whole room by heating the air when the objects in the room, like the floor, walls, and furniture, are cold. Yeah, I guess couches are denser than air?

Although his advice sounds counterintuitive, we are giving it a try, and are keeping the thermostat at a constant 68 degrees. We have been a lot more comfortable, and the house seems warmer all the time (is that something to do with the cold furniture?) The HVAC guy also "balanced our vents." He closed some of the vents closer to the heater all the way or part of the way and this seems to have left more warm air to blow all the way to the far reaches of the house, in the master bedroom and the office. It is hard for me to imagine that closing a vent in one part of the house doesn't force the heater and the blower to work extra hard, but it does seem to have warmed up the colder areas.

Our house is all electric, there is not even a gas line into the Highlands. I feel this is probably safer, since I know someone whose parents were killed by a gas explosion in their home, and you often read about people harmed by carbon monoxide poisoning. (Yes, we have three CO detectors, thanks.) Some people in Indiana use heating oil, which is much more expensive this year than in the past, because of the rise in oil prices (not the same oil, but related.) Our electric bill for November was $115. This is higher than it was for our apartment, which was about half the square feet, all electric, with 8 foot ceilings. This house has 9 foot ceilings, plus a cathedral ceiling. And we now have a washer and dryer. So I think that the higher bill is appropriate. In the apartment, our bill was usually about $80 a month, but the drafts were wicked. You may have heard of using a candle to look for drafts? When the candle flame flickers or bends you have a draft. When we tried that in our apartment, the candle blew out. And it was not exactly a charming older building, either.

Tell me: How do you save electricity? At what temperature do you set your thermostat?

Derek is the king of turning off lights, often when I am doing something like putting up laundry (very annoying, when I go back into the closet with my hands full and the light is off.) I do things like unplug small appliances, look for energy star appliances, use fans a lot, and fill the dishwasher to the max. We are even using our ceiling fans in winter. Hot air rises, right? Well, especially in a house with high ceilings, the warm air will accumulate near the ceiling. This is even more true if you have a well-insulated attic. But if you use the ceiling fan to blow the warm air down, you will feel a breeze on your skin and feel colder (and actually lose body heat.) If you set the ceiling fan to blow UP the warm air will eventually circulate throughout the room, equalizing air temperature without chilling your bare skin. (I will refrain from ranting about people who wear short sleeves in winter but turn up the heater to 78. Get a sweater!)

Onto an only slightly related topic: Today we talked about the evolution of man in my world history class. We discussed why humans don't have more fur. Or, as one student with long hair put it, why we have long hair on our heads and not all over our bodies. He suggested that the hair was to keep our heads warm or cool, since the hot sun beats down mostly on your head (if you are bipedal) and shoulders. In the winter, we have all heard how you can lose half of your lost heat through a bare head, so hair should help with that problem. I think he may have a point. The day we chose the lot for our house we spent over an hour in the hot sun. I always wear sunblock, but this day I was very sweaty and didn't use a high SPF. I got a sunburn on my ears and face, but not on the back of my neck, because my long hair completely protected my neck. I don't have unusually thick hair, but it was enough to protect my skin. This isn't a perfect system: I once got a blistering sunburn in the part of my hair. We were in Florida and I wasn't used to the direct sun. I wore a sun visor to protect my face (hey, it was the 80's) but didn't cover my head. The sunburn was quite painful. For days I couldn't sleep or comb my hair without wincing.

My students were rather distressed to learn (if they even believed me) that everyone has the genes for dark skin. Only white people have a disfunctional form of the genes. So, white people are the mutants. And everyone is descended from dark skinned ancestors. Actually, I hate teaching evolution, it is so frustrating to argue with people about it, it makes many students very hostile, and, above all, IT'S NOT HISTORY! I don't know why evolution is supposed to be covered in world history and not in, say, biology. Oh well, it is over and we are moving on to one of my favorite topics: the agricultural revolution. No, not the one involving artificial fertilizer, or even the one with horse collars and a moldboard plow. The FIRST agricultural revolution, the domestication of plants and animals. Perhaps the most important development in the history of mankind. But I might be biased. I am, after all, a food historian.