Electric heater for a bedroom in an apartment, suggestions?

[reallyscrued]

Hey all,

Winter's coming in full force and AEP are a bunch of crooks down here. Wonder what the best way to lower my heating bill would be.

All my windows are sealed and I keep the thermostat at 70 which keeps me comfortable, but of course this heats the whole apartment.

I'd like to lower the thermostat for the whole place and only heat my bedroom for most hours of the day. My room itself is 13"8' by 9'3", so about 120 square feet.

Would a simple heater do for a 20 or 30 dollars or should I invest in a $100+ electric/amish fireplace? Would this pay for itself or save me any money during the remainder of my lease? (Which is up in June.)

Specifics:

Used 369 KWh during October (over a period of 19 days)
Fuel Factor @ 0.02953 per KWH
Cost per day calculated to: $2.49/day

My previous bill was for $47.37, but I barely used the heat during Oct.


Is it at all worth buying a space heater or some sort? Or should I just overclock the hell out of my computer?

 

[LTC8K6]

The Amish fireplace is no better than any other 5,000BTU heater out there. Same for the Edenpure heater. 5K btu's is about all you can get out of a standard 120 volt outlet.

Any decent small 5K btu heater for under $50 should do what you want.

Whether it will save you money, I can't say.

 

[CA19100]

In a previous apartment, I had good luck with one of those electric sealed oil-filled radiator units. They take a while to heat up, but do a great job once they do.

I still wouldn't leave any plug-in space heater operating while I was out of the house, though. But while you're home, heating just one room (even with a less-efficient space heater) will likely save you some money.

 

[Vdubchaos]

In general ,anything electric heat = money

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Just start a fire. What's the worst that could happen?

 

[SheHateMe]

You're going to die in a fire. Watch.

Space heaters + living rooms, bedrooms, etc = bad news bears

 

[LTC8K6]

Just make sure it's a good brand with overheat and tip-over protection. And yeah, do not leave it plugged in unattended.

 

[sdifox]

I don't see you coming out ahead for an apartment. In a house you might be able to save a few bucks by lowering house heat and just do localised heat, I don't see this happening in an apartment though.

 

[reallyscrued]

Thanks for the input to everyone so far.

I wasn't planning on leaving it unattended, that's for sure.

sdifox's reply is my main concern, will I come out ahead or not? If not, it's really not worth the hassle and risk of keeping a high powered electric appliance plugged in at all times.

 

[Agent11]

I would just get an electric blanket.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Just save your poop all summer and burn it all winter.

 

[Fritzo]

Those electric fireplaces come in a lot of sizes, look nice, and some of them are pretty efficient. Might be a non-tacky option.

 

[sixone]

Get a thermostat with timers, and set your temp for 65 when you're at work, 70 when you're home and awake, and 65 when you're sleeping. An extra blanket on the bed, and you'll never notice.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Get one of those oil filled ones, they're probably the safest. Apparently the Dyson heaters produce more heat than the watts they use, but I have a hard time believing that, so it's probably some marketing BS.

As far as I know, any heater produces the same amount of watts of heat than it pulls from the wall, with the exception of heat pumps since they are actually using external energy.

You could install an air conditioner backwards, and it would be a basic heat pump. I have a 550w heater just under my desk. When I'm at the computer I turn it on if I'm cold instead of heating the whole house. The heater will keep the room at 20 when it's only half way, so it's not always drawing 550w but because it's an oil filled heater the heat is fairly constant. It's also quiet. All I hear is the relay go on or off once in a while.

A programmable thermostat also works if you just want better control of the heat for different times of the day. Mine is fully custom and more advanced than any on the market in the consumer range, but in a nutshell I set it to 10-13C when I'm sleeping or at work, around 20-23 for when I have to get up (I'm always super cold when I'm tired, so I tend to overdo it) and I have it set to around 18-20 for when I'm at home. I'm often tweaking it though. First year with this system so I can't wait to see how much I save.

 

[marvdmartian]

Just get a small ceramic heater with a blower fan, adjustable heat setting, and tip over switch. No problems with those, and I've owned various models over the years. 1500w is the max output, but you probably won't need it that high.

Oh yeah, and layering blankets on your bed will keep you warmer than blasting a heater. I usually go with a lightweight acrylic blanket, followed by a cotton thermal (traps air between the blankets), and a heavier blanket on top. Doesn't matter how cold it might be in the house, I'm toasty warm with just the top of my head showing above the blankets.