not to us

Our house has some issues.  :)  Thankfully, it has far less issues than when we bought it.  :)

Currently, the issue that causes the most discomfort is our heating (and cooling) system.  We have one room in the house that stays nice and warm.  It also happens to be the room in which the thermostat is located.  The rest of the house is uncomfortably chilly.  The upstairs is downright unbearable.  Every night, we plug in a space heater in each bedroom.  Then, we all hunker down under our blankets and try to go to sleep as quickly as possible.

It's also causing discomfort in our pockets!  This past month, our gas bill was $170 and our electric bill was $160.  Yikes!  I wouldn't mind paying that much if I was toasty warm.  However, I don't want to be paying that much when I'm still uncomfortably cold!

We had an HVAC specialist come out to the house today, and it was a pleasant experience.  Thank you, Ryan, from JL Anderson Heating and Cooling.  Ruby was quite the gracious hostess, and Burke couldn't stop laughing, everytime Ryan looked at him.  With absolutely no exagerration, I'm telling you that Burke cracked. up. everytime Ryan looked at him or talked to him.  It was really cute.  (It even had Ryan cracking up.)

Aside from the entertainment he provided for my children, Ryan had some good information for me:

1.  He's never seen an HVAC setup like ours.  In fact, he asked me if some other people from the company could come out and look at it, simply because it was so "unique."  (I don't think he meant this in a flattering way.)  LOL

2.  Our thermostat is in a bad position.  It's in the warmest house of the room (because this room has three windows that get *a lot* of sunlight.)  Not only that, but we've placed the television right in front of the thermostat.  The t.v. is putting off heat, tricking the thermostat into believing the house is quite a bit warmer than it happens to be in reality.

3.  Our HVAC system has two sets of duct work with two individual blowers.  Each blower has it's own power switch.  Unbeknownst to us, the air conditioner blower was on and running twenty four hours a day.  So, when the furnace was on, the hot air was being mixed with cold air to create lukewarm air.  In addition to that, when the furnace was off, the AC blower was blowing cool air into the house!!

4.  Our furnace is at least 30 years old.  It is most likely more like 40 years old...perhaps even original to the house.  (Which was built in 1960!!!!)  It's approximately 60% efficient.  Niiiice.  (We already knew this, but it sucked to hear it officially.)

5.  The heating ducts for the upstairs run up into the attic and then enter the rooms through the ceiling.  So, since our attic has inadequate insulation, the ducts are getting really cold (like 20-30 degrees).  When the air travels through those exposed ducts, it gets cooled down and our upstairs ends up being (basically) air-conditioned.  (It's seriously like an ice box up there.  It physically hurts to get out of bed in the morning, since Mike and I's space heater doesn't work very well.  Thankfully, the kids' space heaters warm up their rooms perfectly.  They usually wake up sweating.  LOL!)

6.  Ryan's suggestion was to replace our furnace and AC coils as soon as possible. 

Wonderful.  :)  One more thing on the to-do list.  It doesn't really bother me, surprisingly.  I'm thankful that we've got a furnace that works, and he thinks it will work much better now that we've turned off the AC blower.  We shall see...

Meanwhile...anyone out there know how to replace a furnace and install insulation in an attic?  And, if so, are you willing to do it for free?  ;)