Space Heaters?

[2 in August]

Are any of you getting a space heater for this winter?

We recently cleaned up and repainted our basement and made it into a big playroom. But it is cold down there. I keep the mainfloor at 66 (68 when it gets really cold in the winter). Downstairs is always 5 degrees or more cooler. It's just too cold for the kids and they love it down there.

I was thinking if we got a heater for down there it would maybe even make it easier to heat the mainfloor since the heat would rise.

I know nothing about space heaters though. It has to be kid safe and energy efficient other than that I don't know what to look for.

[baileyandmikey]

we have one we use all winter up stairs, it stands up ... don't really know how to describe it. but if you let it heat the room and then turn it off, it usually stays warm.

[*violet*]

We've used these in the mornings in winter. We set our thermostat at 55 at night and since we have radiator heat in our house, it takes a looong time time get up to 62 degrees. We turn on one of these in the living room or kitchen to keep us a little bit warmer.

[Jessie D]

Electric space heaters cost a fortune to run. Do you have natural gas or propane by chance? YOu could look into a vent free fireplace. A full sized one costs about $700 at Lowes, I believe there are even cheaper versions. YOu would need to find a professional to install the gas line though. They are 99% efficeint. Great value for your money if you can choke down the initial cost.

[2 in August]

We do have a gas fireplace on our main level so we probably could hook into that. I never though of that. I just saw the heaters for under $100 and thought they might be a good idea. I didn't realize they'd cost a ton to run though.

[ShaggyDaddy]

electric space heaters cost about 15-30 cents per hour to run, depending on electricity rates.

My electricity rate is $.14/kwh, my space heater is rated at 1500 watts (1.5kw), therefore it costs 21 cents per hour to run.

700 dollars for a gas fireplace + install, lets say $200 so $900

lets say you got a 90 dollar electric space heater (very high end).

Assuming running the gas fireplace was free (which it is not) it would take 3,857 hours of running the electric heater before you got to the cost of the fireplace. 642 days at 6 hours per day. If you factor in gas price, it would be even more lopsided.

Although gas is a much cheaper way to heat, I think the install of a new gas appliance would be cost prohibitive.

[Hazel]

I love how you break everything down Shaggydaddy. Makes me have to think less!

[SeekingJoy]

Originally Posted by ShaggyDaddy

electric space heaters cost about 15-30 cents per hour to run, depending on electricity rates.

My electricity rate is $.14/kwh, my space heater is rated at 1500 watts (1.5kw), therefore it costs 21 cents per hour to run.

700 dollars for a gas fireplace + install, lets say $200 so $900

lets say you got a 90 dollar electric space heater (very high end).

Assuming running the gas fireplace was free (which it is not) it would take 3,857 hours of running the electric heater before you got to the cost of the fireplace. 642 days at 6 hours per day. If you factor in gas price, it would be even more lopsided.

Although gas is a much cheaper way to heat, I think the install of a new gas appliance would be cost prohibitive.

Another plus for the electric space heater is that it is mobile. You can take it with you if you move, as opposed to a gas fireplace, which you wouldn't be able to recoup the cost of if you sold your house. Also, the cost of natural gas is trending upward at higher than the rate of electricity, for us at least.

[UptownZoo]

We use these. We have a converted garage and a sunroom that aren't heated by the house furnace. I love these heaters. They get hot to the touch, but not dangerously so, so they're nice if you have littles in the house. They shut off automatically if they get knocked over, too, so that's a good safety feature. They have thermostats and timers. At night I run the one in our garage on low, just to keep the worst of the chill off, then turn it up when we use the room. I run the one in the sunroom 24/7 because the dogs sleep out there.

They're VERY cheap to run - much cheaper than heaters I've owned that had fans in them. They're also almost silent.

Weird to be thinking about this! The fan is blowing on me, the back door is open, and the dogs are out there basking in the sun. We have a ways to go before winter comes to us here in the desert Southwest!

[Jessie D]

Originally Posted by ShaggyDaddy

electric space heaters cost about 15-30 cents per hour to run, depending on electricity rates.

My electricity rate is $.14/kwh, my space heater is rated at 1500 watts (1.5kw), therefore it costs 21 cents per hour to run.

700 dollars for a gas fireplace + install, lets say $200 so $900

lets say you got a 90 dollar electric space heater (very high end).

Assuming running the gas fireplace was free (which it is not) it would take 3,857 hours of running the electric heater before you got to the cost of the fireplace. 642 days at 6 hours per day. If you factor in gas price, it would be even more lopsided.

Although gas is a much cheaper way to heat, I think the install of a new gas appliance would be cost prohibitive.

But you're not taking into consideration that her gas bill would drop, or that you still have to pay $100 for the electric space heater. If you're keeping the thermostat down in the rest of the house and only zone heating, your gas bill drops, then because she's heating the basement, heat will rise and keep the rest of the house at a moderate temp, also reducing heating bills because a vent free fireplace is 99.9 % efficent, and most furnaces at around75-80% efficient unless they are newer, then you might get 90%, still not 99.9% She wouldn't be ADDING to her gas ussage, she'd be reducing it. Making the recoup time even shorter.

If it cost you $126 dollar a year to run your space heater at 21 cents per hour, 6 hours a day, 100 days a year. But you SAVE $100 a year running a vent free fireplace, which is the better value? Everyone I have talked to who has installed one said that their gas bill dropped dramatically with a vent free.

[raingyrl]

I second the electric radiator option. I live in an old rock house, and use these to heat the house instead of central heat because they are more efficient. You can usually find them for $40 or less.

[oneKnight]

I have the electirc oil filled radiator. It has 6 or 7 settings, I set it at 3 most of the time, never warmer, and it warms up a single room fast plus it's cool-enough to touch without burning you. I prop my feet up on it sometimes. You can also warm your towels on it while you shower (although I'm sure the directions say not to, lol)

[ShaggyDaddy]

Originally Posted by Jessie D

But you're not taking into consideration that her gas bill would drop, or that you still have to pay $100 for the electric space heater. If you're keeping the thermostat down in the rest of the house and only zone heating, your gas bill drops, then because she's heating the basement, heat will rise and keep the rest of the house at a moderate temp, also reducing heating bills because a vent free fireplace is 99.9 % efficent, and most furnaces at around75-80% efficient unless they are newer, then you might get 90%, still not 99.9% She wouldn't be ADDING to her gas ussage, she'd be reducing it. Making the recoup time even shorter.

If it cost you $126 dollar a year to run your space heater at 21 cents per hour, 6 hours a day, 100 days a year. But you SAVE $100 a year running a vent free fireplace, which is the better value? Everyone I have talked to who has installed one said that their gas bill dropped dramatically with a vent free.

The electric heat doesn't dissappear either. Electric heat costs almost 2x as much per btu as gas heat (assuming 99.9% efficiency on both) in some areas, this is true. The heat rises just the same as the gas heat would, and would cause the same drop in furnace demand (which may or may not be much, since you are adding heated cubic footage, since the basement used to be unheated).

So say it costs you 126 dollars per year to run the electric, and you get the same heat output from 63 dollars worth of gas... 63 dollars per year savings for the gas solution, which pays for itself in 12.7 years... assuming you paid 100 dollars for the space heater.

[2 in August]

Interesting how you broke that down Shaggy Daddy. It makes a lot of sense that way.

In all reality, we really can't afford to get another fireplace for downstairs. Everything I've been hearing is saying that gas prices are going to be high this winter. I live in MI a couple miles from the lake where we get more severe weather due to lake effect.

Also the room we are thinking of heating is huge. It's the same size as our living room, dining room and kitchen combined upstairs. It does have heat vents from the furnace but there are only 4 and it really doesn't get warm enough, so we just shut them so we didn't waste energy trying to heat up that room.

[Poddi]

Ooh, those oil-filled radiator look interesting. Are they more efficient than a regular space heater blowing warm hair? I'd love to have a silent one in a bedroom or bathroom.

[oneKnight]

Poddi: They seem more efficient because oil holds heat better than air does (so it would take less energy to re-warm the still-warm oil than it would to heat up new air) but I really have no idea. I like them because you can't sufficate them, so you can put your towel over it temporarily (of course you can't leave it there, but ya know)

Like I said mine has 6 settings plus a "frost preventative" lowest setting, and it will burn you out of a bedroom if you sleep with it on the number 2 setting. It also has a low energy & higher energy setting, I'm not sure how much difference it makes.

[ShaggyDaddy]

Originally Posted by Poddi

Ooh, those oil-filled radiator look interesting. Are they more efficient than a regular space heater blowing warm hair? I'd love to have a silent one in a bedroom or bathroom.

They are more efficient, but less effective.

What I mean is, an oil filled will turn something like 99% of the electricity it uses into heat, slowly. After you turn it off it will still be hot for a while, but you already "paid" for that heat.

The fan blown ones turn some of the energy into heat, and some of it into fan movement, so you don't get as much heat per dollar from your electricity.

The trade-off is that a fan blown one will get the whole room warm quick, the oil filled one just a warm object in the room... sure it will heat it up, but not fast, and the temperature difference in the opposite corner from the heater will be drastic.