Any tips for electric heaters and electric/heating bills?
Any tips for electric heaters and electric/heating bills?
Any tips for electric heaters and electric/heating bills?
My house is poorly insulated so the house heat or gas heat doesn’t work very efficiently. It does warm things up but sometimes I need to crank it up to like 74-75 degrees to get warm. We also live in Wisconsin where it gets to -10 easy. And with that, our bill skyrocket’s during winter.
Would using an electric heater occasionally and keeping the house heat off be more cost effective? Or would it only raise heating and electricity bills?
New windows might help cut heating costs. DO NOT RESORT TO SPACE HEATERS. I am a volunteer firefighter and have seen disasters with these.
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May 6th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
New windows might help cut heating costs. DO NOT RESORT TO SPACE HEATERS. I am a volunteer firefighter and have seen disasters with these.
May 6th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
electric heat costs big time here in CT,
I’ve had my house for 22 years and used it one winter
Bills ran $350 – $425 / month.. just for heat.
I’ve burned wood ever since.
On a real cold day I might snap the heat on in the bathroom for 10 minutes just to take the bite off. Just my $0.2
May 6th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
It’s a trade-off, to be sure.
What you don’t pay in heat will be paid in electric.
Last winter, my friend lived in a very, very small one level house. He wanted to save money on utilities and such, so he invested in some very warm clothing and some very warm blankets.
I was astonished that after wrapping a thick blanket around myself, I found out that the temperature in the room wasn’t even at 70.
We as Northern Americans have forgotten to wear genuinely warmer clothing when it’s frigid due to our dependence on heat from furnaces.
I would look into some different clothing/blankets and running your heat as minimally as possible. I should also say that it is possible to mitigate "cold spots" with the use of a space heater on an intermittent basis.
May 6th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
The most economical thing to do would be to insulate if you could, cover windows with plastic, caulk gaps, do what you can to keep the cold winds out. That will help keep the house warmer inside. Keep windows covered at night, open south and west curtains during the day to let in the sun’s warmth.
Many utility companies offer evaluations of your home, offering suggestions on how to heat your home, keep costs lower and make your home more comfortable.
Good luck.
May 6th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
I live in Central Alberta, Canada where the temperatures get down to -40′C some nights (-56′F). It’s pretty darn cold and I hear you about the cost of heating! I live in a very old house that had poor insulation the first winter I lived here. UGH! It was expensive and cold! The next year I changed a number of windows (prefabricated windows are way cheaper than custom made – just make sure they have two panes), insulated the front sunroom (that has no heat vent), the back entrance and sections in the kitchen. It was a chore to do because I had to learn to cut the insulation (R40 I think I used… for the most part), put on a vapour barrier, put up drywall and tape and mud. I did it though (with the help of a friend who had some know-how and the help of the renovation store (home depot)). Oh, I also installed a new back door and did a bunch of caulking and sprayable foam insulation behind the baseboards. The cost of the renovations were saved the next winter (last winter in fact). I also installed a programmable thermostat. I program it to be 19′C in the evening when we are all home, 15′C at night when we are all cozy in bed, 20′C when we get up in the morning, and 15′C during the day while we are at work. That probably saves us so much.
I should add that I agree with one of the respondents – about our reliance on furnaces rather than dressing warmly. My partner had been living in Hong Kong for a number of years before moving here and wasn’t used to the cold. He quickly learned that he had to wear sweaters in the house, warm cushy slippers and I bought him the good old flannel pjs for bedtime. It’s a big of a change in thinking but it’ll save you money! Also, if you don’t have the money to change the windows and stuff right now, you can buy that plastic window covering. You use two-sided sticky tape and put up the plastic. It helps so much with keeping the heat in, especially if your windows are only single pane. We use it in our sunroom, which we don’t use as livable space in the winter. I also made some bean-bag door things that go the length of the bottom of the door. It helps to reduce drafts coming in from under the door.
Hope that helps!
Oh, I forgot to add that we have a space heater for the sunroom to extend the use of it in the fall and spring seasons. We only turn it on when we plan on using the room, we don’t keep it on all the time though. It’s pretty expensive to use!