Hi all,
I am renting a mid-century ranch home with an unfinished basement/attached garage. Both the basement and the first floor have vents that I can open or close. Last winter, I closed off the vents in the basement, figuring it's more efficient to just heat the first floor (unless I am working downstairs on a car or in my workshop, in which case I would just open up a vent or two). It turns out the floor was always very cold and, even with warm slippers, it was uncomfortable to walk around, so I opened a few vents in the basement. It got me thinking about heat rising.
Since heat rises, is heating the basement not as inefficient as I think? To some degree, the heat coming up from the basement and through the floor does act as primitive radiant floor heating. My basement is concrete and does have a few small windows.
Anyway, I'd like to hear what others do. Do you heat your lower floors in the winter? Heat is a huge expense of mine ($2500/year), as this place has oil heat.
I am also trying to figure out how to use electric space heaters to save money (i.e. keep house at 60, space heater in the office/bedroom, etc.). Any information on this is appreciated.