# Letter from National Grid.



## TvSteve (Oct 16, 2015)

last winter I burnt 24X7. The only gas I used was in February to keep the pipes from freezing. Lows of -15 here. I built a timer that allows the boiler to run for 10 minutes every 4 hours. It's only used when temps get below 10F. Good savings over my neighbors.


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## billb3 (Oct 17, 2015)

Why do you need a timer/limiter if 1.) you have a thermostat on the furnace, 2.) you (successfully) burned 24/7 ?


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## jatoxico (Oct 17, 2015)

Nice. You're dragging down the avg. Neighbors are gonna be wondering WTH?


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## TheRambler (Oct 17, 2015)

billb3 said:


> Why do you need a timer/limiter if 1.) you have a thermostat on the furnace, 2.) you (successfully) burned 24/7 ?



If it's anything like my scenario, most of my pipes are in ny lower level/basement/crawl space area. Wood stove is on the main level and also heats the upper level, but does little to heat the floor below it.

I have a pellet stove in the lower level i use, but if i didn't i would definitely be running the heat occasionally. 

I run my propane furnace once every week or two for a few minutes just to exercise it.


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## begreen (Oct 17, 2015)

That's a nice savings. Is the boiler for hot water heat ing only and there is a separate domestic hot water heater?


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## Brian26 (Oct 18, 2015)

I have been striving to be more efficient than my neighbors. Finally reached 1%. And according to Eversource thats good. Not great.  lol.


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## Brian26 (Oct 18, 2015)

TvSteve said:


> last winter I burnt 24X7. The only gas I used was in February to keep the pipes from freezing. Lows of -15 here. I built a timer that allows the boiler to run for 10 minutes every 4 hours. It's only used when temps get below 10F. Good savings over my neighbors.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You could have just installed a Venstar 8500 t-stat. It has that feature built in. Its wifi compatible as well and there is an app for it. I have mine setup with a remote sensor in the basement that can kick the heat on to my desired setpoint based of that sensor. This is from the summer but the top right is my basement sensor. In the winter I set it to kick on at 45 based off the remote sensor in the basement to keep the pipes from freezing.



It also tracks your furnace run times.


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## jatoxico (Oct 18, 2015)

Brian26 said:


> I have been striving to be more efficient than my neighbors. Finally reached 1%. And according to Eversource thats good. Not great.  lol.



If only you hadn't spent that 10 min trying see if the refrigerator light was going off when you shut the door!


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## TvSteve (Oct 25, 2015)

billb3 said:


> Why do you need a timer/limiter if 1.) you have a thermostat on the furnace, 2.) you (successfully) burned 24/7 ?


It's just to keep the pipes from freezing, (hot water baseboard heat). As far as replacing it with a smart thermostat I heat with wood 24x7 and some areas of the house can get pretty cold, what I made was free, junkbox parts, and being retired I have time on my hands.


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## semipro (Oct 26, 2015)

jatoxico said:


> If only you hadn't spent that 10 min trying see if the refrigerator light was going off when you shut the door!


Our new fridge has an LED interior light so it hardly matters.  
Funny thing is that pretty blue light and the fact that it ramps up gradually when you open the door really sold my my on the fridge.


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## jatoxico (Oct 26, 2015)

semipro said:


> Our new fridge has an LED interior light so it hardly matters


Alright, then what's _your_ explanation for the "high" usage!?


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## semipro (Oct 26, 2015)

jatoxico said:


> Alright, then what's _your_ explanation for the "high" usage!?


Pet hair clogged condenser.  
Actually, while my wife was admiring the pretty blue light I was checking under the fridge to see whether I could install a filter to keep the condenser clear of dog and cat hair.


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