No, the Houston area is having gorgeous weather, cool but not, to me, cold enough for heat.

Our high was 50 yesterday & 38 at night. I was a little chilly.

I have no furnace, all electric and a wood burning fire place insert. I did turn on the kitchen heat for about an hour yesterday to take the chill off.

Sue in Central Indiana

still warms up to the 80's in Oklahoma, a couple of days ago it was 100 near the panhandle... no heat on yet for me, and no ac on anymore either.

On, on demand!!!

Had to turn it on last night. It got down to 56 in the house. To chilly for my early mornings!

Relented and very BRIEFLY put heat on last Sunday... was rainy and raw and darn chilly inside when I woke up. Heat only ran a short time to take the chill off. During this week, several days that were summer like.

Not yet.

Yes off and on during the last two weeks or so.

I turned it on yesterday for a while for the first time this season. We had our first frost here Saturday morning.

Yes, I've had heat on mornings and evenings most of this month. We did have very light frost two mornings, but mostly a chilly rain, days in the 50's.

Yes, we had to turn the heat on and this is Georgia! We've been down into the low 40's....39 last night. We old folks can't stand being cold.

I turned on the heat in our living room just now. My husband is always cold. I sure am not. If a person is active I don't think they get as cold. He only sits when he is home. The sun is out and it is very nice outside today.

Sue

It was 96 a few days ago- mid 80s this week. Nights are in the 60s. We don't usually need the heat until January snd usually only at night.

No not in the house or rv. We did have the rv tech in to replace the defective air conditioning system in the living room and he replaced the board in the heater so he did have to turn it on to test it. Everything is working fine now in the rv. We have not tried the house heater yet, we had just bought a brand new one last winter however we had also brought a brand new air conditioning unit and in the flood storm the house was hit by lightning and between the 2 events it killed our new Ac. I hope the heater is going to be OK. They did have to change all the control board and electrical components that work both units. The heater is gas and the ac is electric. I always hate turning on the heat for the first time because it stinks so much. And sets off my asthma. I will make them do that when I am not in the house!

It hhas been a little chilly at times this week.

The insanity of it all is on Friday we had the central AC on until the afternoon and by evening we had to switch on the furnace. All last week we were in the mid 80's every day at almost Halloween. It was a full 20/25 degrees above with warm nights as well. Yesterday it was 30 degrees cooler with a ferocious wind. Loving the cold. Could do without the wind.

I am in the process of having a brand new furnace and air conditioning with all new duct work installed, which began last Tuesday. Friday I had heat for the first time from it. So far so good, there were some glitches which required two emergency phone calls after hours to an on-call service person but he took care of them asap.

It will take some getting used to, I had an ancient behemoth of a furnace from the 1960s. I've been using it for last 38yrs. myself. I'm still playing with the new digital thermostat, trying to figure out how to get the temp just right. Change is hard for me when it comes to stuff like this but I'm learning.

We have had an unusually warm week, and used the AC.

The pilot light on my furnace is always on but last week I was so chilled from the dampness still in the house from the flood and the inside temp was 54 degrees I had to put the thermostat up. haha I am happy when I smell that burnt dust smell because I know the pilot light didn't get extinguished during the flood and my old 48 year old furnace was working. Once the house temp went up to 65 I put the thermostat down. I put it up again briefly yesterday to take the chill out and it is not on today.

i lit the pilot light on Oct. 1, and turned it up off and on over a dozen times since.

Yep.

An alarm went off in my head hearing the mention of pilot lights in a furnace.

Pilotless furnaces (with some form of electrical ignition) have been prevalent for 25 years or more, so that one with a pilot may be too old and beyond it's useful life for safe operation. I hope those with such old equipment have them inspected every year, mindful that the most typical danger concern is a cracked heat exchanger that will allow carbon monoxide into the house.

Because an external visual inspection can't be conclusive, the safest approach is to replace old furnaces before problems can develop. At 30 years, anyone has gotten more than their money's worth. An added bonus is that new furnaces are substantially more efficient than old ones and can pay for themselves over a reasonable number of years with the operating cost savings.

It came on first about a couple of weeks ago, I think, has been on for a while, off for a while, during the mild weather.

ole joyful

Not yet, usually don't need any heat until well into December. Last week we had 3 digit temps in the afternoons, but the last couple of days have been gorgeous! Highs of high 80's, it was 56 outside when I got up this morning. It's 85 out there now, but the humidity is low, only 44%, so it doesn't feel bad at all! This thread has reminded me I need to turn the heat on while I can open doors and windows to air out that awful smell it always has the first time it is used each season.

Rusty

I have had nothing but A/C running since late March (central west coast of Florida). However, a front came through and it was 47 when I got up. I had it on for about one hour. It is back to being on A/C, but I don't think that will happen until Monday afternoon when it should be back into the mid-80s.

Elmer, I do get my furnace inspected by a reputable company every year and my furnace passes. One part has only ever had to replaced and the blower was removed and cleaned a few years ago. I have actually been advised by the heating and cooling company to hang onto this furnace as long as I can. It seems fairly efficient, don't notice much difference in my electrical bill, my house heats up fast and my gas bill is fairly low compared to others who have the same size house I have. I do have a carbon monoxide detector as well. I am sure though in the near future the furnace will have to be replaced because it won't work forever.

A furnace as old as yours might have a usage efficiency in the 60-70% range because that's all that was made. The lowest on the market today are 80% and the efficiency numbers go up to the mid-90s.

Another big improvement to be made with a furnace replacement is to have some duct work done. Old ducts typically leak and after a few decades, the accessible joints and fittings need be sealed and bad or too-small sections replaced. That's another way your fuel spending isn't resulting in warmth in the house. And, it's likely that ducts of that vintage (and spaces around the furnace) have dangerous asbestos on them- the most common kind looks like a white or by now browning/yellowing thick tape material, often at duct and chimney stack junctions.

I'm not sure what would motivate a service company to tell you to hold on to a 50 year old furnace as long as possible. I don't believe such an old heat exchanger would be trustworthy and I wouldn't personally want to take a chance. New furnaces aren't all that expensive. Good luck.

Yes, we have radiant floor heat you you are supposed to just set the thermostat and forget it. The boiler also heats our domestic hot water, so it runs winter and summer. Our house finally got cool enough yesterday that the 1st floor started calling for heat.

schoolhouse I will have the same done next week. My house stinks, with the old unit, with the old (1950's) heat and vents and ducts. It will be all new. Meanwhile, I have been doing without heat and air, and am glad, it hasn't been "really" cold yet. I did however bake some muffins Friday morning, just to get the chill out.

Moni

I had the heat on last night for the first time and I was still freezing under my electric blanket! I put on a fluffy comforter today.

Re: old furnaces

Any furnace older than 1992 is using twice the amount of fuel to produce heat equivalent to a 98.5% efficient furnace installed today.

As for pollution, it's estimated that a pre-1992 furnace creates up to 4 tons of carbon dioxide every heating season.

Yeah I know the stats, but my old furnace was a work horse. Finally the repairman couldn't even find parts for it anymore and had to improvise when it came to belts and such. Plus it was getting even more noisier with booms and bangs when it came on. It was time. I was sad when they loaded it on the trailer to haul away for scrap!

OkalMoni, I opted for new duct work because mine was the big round kind with the paper taped seams and had a couple of holes here and there and with the new air conditioning (never had AC before) I decided to go with new duct work. But to me, this new shiny duct work doesn't look as substantial as the old stuff, and the installer hasn't done the neatest seam work in some places. I'm going to speak to him tomorrow about it when he comes back to finish up. Then there is the 5" white PVC pipes they use on the furnace and also to run the vent outside. It looks weird - well different I guess. ha.

I'm debating whether to sign a maintenance contract, if they offer one, to have them come a couple times a year to check the furnace out and do any service needed. A friend says she pays $130 a year for that. I already pay $160 a year for maint. on my stand-by generator and I think that's too high. But I don't have to worry about oil levels and dead batteries.

We have still been using our AC during the day. I would love to open the windows, but my son's allergies are too bad to do that. We have been having fantastic weather and it looks to continue all week with mid 70's to low 80's. I'm loving my walks in the park!

JoAnn, I don't have my electric blanket out yet. Probably next week.

My furnace doesn't have a pilot light either. It has a glow plug. It comes on for about 10 seconds until it's glowing orange then these 2 get fuel things start blowing. Looks like a jet engine to me.

Only 2 days? Mine has been on and off since the beginning of September. :) Yes, I'm in Canada. Yes it gets cold. ;)

Oh yeah. A luxury for me, as I grew up in a very poor family in northern Iowa. I was always cold.

Now I set my thermostat at 72 in the fall and the furnace comes on when it needs to. Bliss!!

Schoolhouse, I have really old ducts, even return ducts under the house... and it did get wet under there (which didn't show during inspection cause there hadn't been rain for sooooo long) but there was way to much moisture just 1 day after I took possession. I have channeled the water from the down spouts all along the sides of the house to the front yard now, but of course, it hasn't rained, and I won't know how successful this was till then. Anyhow, the house smelled musty, and with my allergies I can't have that... and I am having a new furnace, and all new ducts installed next week.

Meanwhile I open the windows in the afternoon to warm up the house, since I taped the air-ducts shut, and I shut the bedroom window when it gets dark. Then I turn the air purifier on high, and turn it down later when I go to bed. I need pollen free area daily to make it through this lovely ragweed season.

I am holding off on the new AC unit till spring. My money is running out...

Its furnace time at my house. Daytime average high is 58F with night time low of 38F. The heat was activated full time around 2nd wk of October. I have had only one light frost. Parts west of here has had heavier frosts. I spied a fully antlered buck in my back yard a few night ago. This one had a trophy rack, about twice the size of what we normally see. I thought that Santa Claus had lost a reindeer.