I keep the heat at ~65 to save money. Because of this, my wife sits in front of the space heater for 4 hours a night. I also will warm up with a hair dryer from time to time (I know, odd, but it works well!). So, am I saving money, or should I just keep the heat at 70?
I’ve always heard that heating by electricity is far more expensive than any other means.
Of course, you should be able to figure the cost effectiveness of using a space heater when you get your electric bill.
depends. What is the KWH charge in your state? how many KWH is your space heater? what fuel do you use for your regular household heater? Plus there are factors that may affect you such as electric efficiency in your appliances.
I think i tried figuring this out a while ago (i live in indiana, the rates for propane, electricity and kerosene are probably different) it all came out to basically the same price.
Kerosene is a good method of heating. A 10,000 BTU small heater uses about 1/10 a gallon an hour, and a gallon of kerosene is about $1.50. If you can find a 5000 BTU kerosene heater (assuming they make those) your wife could sit in front of that for about $0.08 cents an hour.
Kerosene is also one of the most dangerous methods of heating, and if totally contained inside, have an odor, leave residue and can cause a build-up of carbon monoxide if not properly ventilated.
Space heaters are probably more expensive than kicking up your heat to 68 or 70, depending on your heating system, what kind of fuel you use, the size of the space, and quality of insulation. If your house is constantly leaking heat or letting cold air in (through windows, doors, air conditioners, etc.) you’re going to have a gigantic heating bill no matter what you do.
Your primary heating (or cooling) cost derives from bringing the house to the desired temperature. The system works a hell of a lot harder to get to a desired temperature (making heat) than to maintain the temperature (circulating heat). Keeping your home at 68 is not going to cost you much more than keeping it at 65 if the heat is kept in and the cold kept out.
Space heaters are expensive to run, in most application more so than a well designed heater in a well insulated home. However, the real world has other factors.
First: Space heaters cause home fires a whole lot more than home heaters. I put this first because wearing sweaters is better than dying.
Space heaters don’t have to be as efficient, if you are only using them for a short time, in a small portion of the house. It may actually be cheaper to let your wife turn on the space heater for a few hours in the TV room, or bedroom than it would to heat your whole house enough that she won’t want to do it.
Space heaters respond much faster, and it may be true (you should check) that your wife is able to turn it off and be comfortable with a brief use. House heat takes a long time to go up, but it won’t go back down as quickly. (Well, it might, but if it does you have other problems.)
Space heaters seldom have humidifiers included, and will dry out your home air even more than your furnace, much more if you have a good modern furnace with humidification built in.
Try a hot plate with a tea kettle. It will produce heat as effectively as a space heater of the same wattage, and it will also add water to the air. Then fix her some tea. Warmth inside her will be even more directly effective.
Tris
“You can’t always get what you want.” ~ M. Jagger/K. Richards
It is a difficult question for anyone to answer, because there are so many unknowns.
But it is certainly possible, in some situations I’ve been asked to evaluate, for having portable or single-room heating be much more efficienct than changing the temperature of the entire house.
I would say a fireplace or using a stove/oven might be more dangerous method. I have 2 kero heaters, one a 23000 btu convection model that I use to heat the garage and for emergency heat. The other a 10,000 btu radiant heat model which I sometimes use for space heating. I also have 2 el-cheapo electric space heaters.
I have never gotten any CO from either using a nighthalk CO dectector - this is the brand and model which marketed the sensitivity of their unit. Basicaly saying that other digital CO det. did not start reading until CO got to 20-30 ppm, while theirs started at 1. Also I’ve seen it read 1 to 8 on occation in the summer due to car/lawnmower.
I feel far safer using the kero heaters then the electric. The 10,000 BTU model heats fast and burns about 10-14 hrs on a gallon, and can heat a small room no prob (too hot), given some time can heat a big living area. Also it has electric start so you turn the dial and press & hold the button till it lights.
I was also considering getting a gas fired room heater, but lack of portability has steared me to kero. If you have gas (natural or LP) in your home and the space heater is in one place (not moved from room to room) a small gas heater could work very well. Again there are convection models (blue flame) and radiant models (infra-rad). Since they are permentally mounted, I would say they have to be safer then Kero and would even say they might be safer then electric space heaters.
As for costs, power conversion/ transmission is maybe 30% efficient, so just using this, what will cost you 1 gal using kero will cost you 3 gal using electric - a very rough estimate though.
Another thing to consider is what is the fuel you use to heat your house now, and how big an area do you heat with the space heater. This is further complicated with zoned heating and ajustable vents.
Bob55, what do you do when you or your wife go into another room? Those rooms must be pretty cold? There was a previous topic on how its more efficient to keep the room warm rather than heat it again & again.
Cheapest heating is to wear a sweater(s). Or a wetsuit cause they are made to keep you warm.
An energy services comp. comes out for free to tell us what to do for heating & stuff. maybe they have that where you are?I keep the heat at 65 and wear a nice heavy sweater, and am quite comfortable. Are you wearing enough clothing?
I turn my heat down even lower at night, and sleep under a nice down comforter. Snug as a bug.