Does Anyone Else Have This Problem?

I can't figure out why its so cold in the kitchen!

During the summertime when it was warmer it didn't matter because when its warm outside then its warm inside - including the kitchen.

But earlier this afternoon as I was in the kitchen eating dinner it occurred to me just how cold the kitchen was. The temperature outside was in the 40's plus its a very windy day today.

The kitchen it seems is the coldest room in the house and I really can't figure out why. I thought it may have had something to do with the insultaion around the back door and window but it just seems that there's not enough open airspaces in the kitchen that would warrant it being so cold.

Now if I'm cooking in the kitchen it gets quite warm and I'm wondering if that has anything to do with why it would be cold otherwise.

I mean are kitchens meant to be so cold?

I have seen pictures of kitchens with fireplaces in them and I'm thinking about adding one to mine. The only problem is where would the fireplace go? The only place where I could fit a fireplace in the kitchen is where the refridgerator is standing right now and I need a refridgerator - LOL!

But I would be interested in knowing if others have this same problem or is this the way that it is meant to be - and if it is - why?

Ambience Versus The Heating Bill?

I managed to get an energy audit for my home from my local utility company. The woman on the phone said that it appeared that my gas usage was "a little bit high". I found out where this "a little bit high" came from.

You see my stove is a gas stove and I do use it a lot! I like to slowly boil water in my tea kettle for things like when I want some tea (and now that the weather is getting colder - hot chocolate) or when I'm making a stew. So it seems that that is where the "a little high" gas usage is coming from. The man that came and did the energy audit mentioned to me that he uses things like a crock pot which is plugged in to the electric as opposed to using the stove when he makes something like stew.

So now it seems I have this little dilemna about ambience versus the heating bill. I like the way that the house smells when food is slowly cooking and I also like knowing that I have hot water boiling for my tea or hot chocolate. It just doesn't seem the same having a crock pot versus having the food/stew slowly cooking on the stove. So heating bill be damned!

There's always something that needs to be repaired.....

I mentioned before in some previous posts about how I was having trouble with my heating system now that the weather is turning colder.

It was working perfectly fine last year around this time and I thought that as the weather got colder the heat would automatically "click" on. When it didn't the first thing I thought was wrong was that I didn't "bleed" the radiators - so that's what I did. Still no heat!

So the next thing I did was call the people that installed it. They said that it was probably something simple like the pilot light being out. So I checked that! The pilot light was on.

Since they charge $69 for a service call I decided that since I got the heating system with a grant maybe they wouldn't charge me anything for looking at it to see why the heating system wasn't working.

I had to wait a few weeks in order to get in touch with them since their program didn't start again for the year yet but then it was relatively warm outside and my need wasn't immediate.

Well the weather got colder and so did the house and subsequently so did I! I finally got in touch with them and explained the situation and they sent someone out to look at it. He came to the conclusion that the problem with the heating system was the thermostat - because the heater itself was only two years old. So he noted the problem and told me that a contractor would be doing the work.

Well the contractor came out and guess what the problem was?

It seems the chimney is collapsing and it was collapsing into the chute resulting in a lot of dust gathering thus clogging up the chute meaning that the heater was working overtime and it just overworked itself!

How about that!????? I mean I know that I have a chimney but you know it never occurred to me that the chimney would collapse. I mean the house is over 50 years old and I don't remember any repairs being done to the chimney for at least 20 years so I'm sure that its not in the best of conditions!

But it never occurred to me once that the problem had to do with the chimney!