Read and weep with me. I just received my bill dated 12/01 from Washington Gas. My bill for October was $32.56. For November, I used 56 cubic feet of gas equalling 57.5 therms for a grand total of $103.31 meaning that with the supply and distribution charges, I am paying $1.84 per cubic foot of gas. You would think at that price the stuff would smell like roses, but it does not. The main part of the house is heated by an efficient gas condensing furnace and the glass block room is heated with a hot water baseboard system that will work without electricity, if that is necessary. I am comfortably warm with the thermostat at 68. I could not get by without the little electric heater in the bathroom. It is so nice in the morning to be warm while showering and drying off.
Pete, Do you have any carpeted floors with your baseboard hydronic system? If so, check to make sure that there is space between the carpet pile and the bottom of the baseboard hydronic units. If air can't flow through, heat does not come out. And for your rooms with the cathedral ceilings, you do not have to worry about getting a ceiling fan up to distribute the heat that rises to the ceiling. All you need is a Vornado fan on the floor in each room angled up so that it blows from the floor to the ceiling as the air crosses the room. The fan will mix the air perfectly.
About your basement: Do you realize that your boiler is taking the warmest air in your house for combustion and then sending it up the flue? If there are extended periods of time when you are not down there and have a manifold system with distribution valves for the hot water, you might want to turn off the heat downstairs when you are not down there to enjoy it so that the colder air near the floor on the next level will fall downstairs and be used for the boiler's air supply. If the heat down there is just waste heat escaping from the boiler, you might not be able to do anything about it.
