Saving on heat? Heat Surge?

[HikeMama]

I am looking into buying a "heat surge" and am wondering if they are my best option. I have an 1100 square foot ranch and am wondering if I can just buy one, keep my thermostat on 60 something, and wheel my heat surge around as we move from the living space to the bedroom at night. I have read that they are really big energy savers and don't suck as much power as a regular space heater.

Also, we are getting new windows next year, but this will be our first winter in our house, and the windows are OLD and DRAFTY. Would you put plastic over them? I am hoping to avoid doing that. Is there another way?

What else do you do to save on heating costs?

[JamieCatheryn]

What temperature do you like it inside? Much higher than the 55 to 60 you'd keep the space you aren't in? Is the house electrically heated now, or oil, or natural gas? If it's oil then that space heater sounds better for sure, more efficient and cheaper. Otherwise I couldn't justify buying the unit, myself. But we don't like it more than a few degrees above 60 degrees in the house.

To save on heating we use:
Curtains, closed at night, heavy enough to insulate.
Wool blend socks
Leggings or long pants
Sometimes sweaters
Cosleeping with the baby
2 blankets on each bed
Hot breakfasts
Shower in the morning so not to sleep with wet hair

[bobandjess99]

Of course you should plastic the windows. Why would you not? Are you opposed to using plastic? You could probably use some sort of cloth material if that is the case, although I don't know that it will help as much, since any cloth is going to let some amoutn of air through.......
Depending on what you mean by "drafty", caulking around them might also be a good option. We just did both to our windows and OMG..we've already seen a HUGE difference.

[gentlemango]

You're gonna have to plastic your windows. There's no other way with the drafty ones. Some are so drafty you need to staple heavy duty plastic to the outside and then shrink wrap from the inside.

As far as I know there's no 'energy saving' space heater. 1500 watts uses 1500 watts. There are space heaters you can turn down, space heaters w/ thermostats, but any 1500-watt-max space heater on full blast is going to use the same amount of electricity.

[cristina47454]

My inlaws bought us a heat surge last winter. We live in a small (1200 sq ft) house. Granted, the layout is cutup...open, vaulted living dining with a loft above (our bdrm is off of the loft, the kids bdrms are downstairs behind the kithcen) There is no way for us to centrally locate/heat our home.

So, last winter, thinking we had a "cheap" heating source, we had the thermostat set at 58 (we are in the northeast), had a woodburning stove going in the living room and the heat surge in the loft area upstairs. Granted, we ran that sucker 24 hrs a day, but there wasn't much "cheap" about it. Our electric bill went from $75/mo to $250/mo.!!!!!!!

We're going to use it more judiciously this winter. And I really have no other space heaters to compare it to, so can't comment on whether we "saved" money, but that seems like $$$$$$. Especially since we were still burning wood AND oil, and I never really felt toasty warm unless I was sitting in the close vicinity of it.

[HikeMama]

Thanks. Every single reply was helpful. We heat our house with gas and it seems our system is really efficient. (It's a new to us house, so we're still learning about it.) I'm gonna skip the space heater I think and just use the system we have and do my best to keep the heat in. Even if it means putting plastic on the windows- though, that will be the last thing I do. We're getting new windows in the spring so I only have to worry about it for one winter. Thanks again-

Jamie

[SleeplessMommy]

Increased attic insulation will have a better payback than new windows ... an easy weekend job for many houses. With older windows (especially if single pane) you should put up plastic - the cost will be more than paid for with the savings.

If you are low income, look into weatherization and LIHEAP:

http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/weather...l.cfm/state=PA