Space Heaters...

stuman19

Senior member
Jul 13, 2002
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I live in Wisconsin (UW Eau Claire) and we are poor college students, so we don't have the heat very high. On average the heat is set to 55. A few of my roomates have gotten space heaters for their little rooms and they closed the doors to keep the heat in. On the box of one of them it says that they take just pennies to operate. How accurate do you think that is? At one time we'd have around 4 space heaters in our little rooms running on low for a little period of time. We are rarely home (at class) and it does make a difference.

I'm freezing, so should I jump on the bandwagon? Is our energy bill going to be sky high or are these things true to their word?

Thanks for reading from a cold kid in Wisconsin.
 

wfbberzerker

Lifer
Apr 12, 2001
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not sure about your question, but if you want to save energy, get some plastic wrap for your windows (i take it you live in a college type house thats pretty old and has crappy insulation). pretty sure you can get kits to insulate your window at like a home depot or something (dont use regular plastic wrap).
 
Aug 16, 2001
22,529
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I have a 2kW space heater for my 8 x 10 workshop (insulated tool shed) and I've got it set to 75F. I'll let you know how much it runs when it gets colder.
 

Rock Hydra

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2004
6,466
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Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
not sure about your question, but if you want to save energy, get some plastic wrap for your windows (i take it you live in a college type house thats pretty old and has crappy insulation). pretty sure you can get kits to insulate your window at like a home depot or something (dont use regular plastic wrap).

I agree here. A kit by 3M is probably less than 5 dollars. They'll probably pay for themselves in a couple months. Also, keep a heavy curtain over your windows as well.
 

stuman19

Senior member
Jul 13, 2002
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Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
55F.... WTF. You can't be that poor.


I swear my roomates keep this shitbox at a low temp.....no sense fighting. No lie. Last year three times the pipes downstairs were frozen and they had to use space heaters for a few hours to get the showers working.
 

stuman19

Senior member
Jul 13, 2002
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Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
not sure about your question, but if you want to save energy, get some plastic wrap for your windows (i take it you live in a college type house thats pretty old and has crappy insulation). pretty sure you can get kits to insulate your window at like a home depot or something (dont use regular plastic wrap).


That is a good call. I'll make a trip over to the Home Despot tomorrow and get that done. But that doesn't really do anything if the heat is kept at 55 in this shitshack.
 

pennylane

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2002
6,077
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Heat from gas would be a lot cheaper than heat from (electric) spaceheaters. That's why the gas companies give you energy values in BTU's and kW-h's.
 

dighn

Lifer
Aug 12, 2001
22,820
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Originally posted by: fanerman91
Heat from gas would be a lot cheaper than heat from (electric) spaceheaters. That's why the gas companies give you energy values in BTU's and kW-h's.

where I am, electricty is a lot cheaper than gas.

we use those radiator heaters (with oil running in them) and they are very effective at heating smaller rooms. it's very slow at first though.
 

stuman19

Senior member
Jul 13, 2002
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The main reason I don't midn having a space heater is that I would only run it for a few hours a day...I'm rarely here but it would be nice to not have to wear my winter coat and gloves in my room.
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
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Originally posted by: stuman19
I live in Wisconsin (UW Eau Claire) and we are poor college students, so we don't have the heat very high. On average the heat is set to 55. A few of my roomates have gotten space heaters for their little rooms and they closed the doors to keep the heat in. On the box of one of them it says that they take just pennies to operate. How accurate do you think that is? At one time we'd have around 4 space heaters in our little rooms running on low for a little period of time. We are rarely home (at class) and it does make a difference.

I'm freezing, so should I jump on the bandwagon? Is our energy bill going to be sky high or are these things true to their word?

Thanks for reading from a cold kid in Wisconsin.

They take pennies a day to operate allright... hundreds of them! :)

I bought 2 1500 Watt space heaters for my old (and poorly insulated) rental house last winter, and they kicked up my electric bill by about $40 a month using them a few hours a night.
 

T9D

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2001
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They are very expensive. You'll end up letting it run non stop day and night. And most run at between 500 - 1500 Watts. Adds up real fast. I turned all my other heat off and just let one run in my one room. My electrical bill could hit $150 no problem on cold months.
 

Pabster

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
16,987
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Yeah, electricity is very inefficient heat.

They are fine for occasional use in a small room. I'd never use them to heat any room of significant size.

Pennies a day? Don't know about that. Most run at 1500 watts on high and that starts to add up real quick.
 

iwantanewcomputer

Diamond Member
Apr 4, 2004
5,045
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bad...electricity is a very inefficient meeans of heating...burn coal if you have to.

edit...true they are 100% efficient, they convert 100% of the electricity they use into heat
 

stuman19

Senior member
Jul 13, 2002
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Originally posted by: Pabster
Yeah, electricity is very inefficient heat.

They are fine for occasional use in a small room. I'd never use them to heat any room of significant size.

Pennies a day? Don't know about that. Most run at 1500 watts on high and that starts to add up real quick.


This room is about the size of most people's bathroom. Well maybe a little bigger. That is all I am heating.
 

Tiamat

Lifer
Nov 25, 2003
14,074
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usually electricity is more expensive than using natural gas, or oil-based heat.

As mentioned above, they transfer almost 100% of the electricity fed to them into heat, but you will be going through many units of energy very quickly. The cost of that unit of energy from your wall socket is much more expensive than the cost of that unit of energy taken from the inefficient burn of gas or oil.
 

duragezic

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
11,234
4
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Just see if they have any typical ratings for power usage. Most only list max, so if they aren't running fully, figure 500-1000 W for most I believe. Multiply by number of hours a day you expect to run it, then by how many days a month you expect to run it, then divide by 1000 to get into Kilowatts, then multiply by your $.xx per kW-hour number from your electricity bill. Its $.13 per kWh where I live. Basically if you use it for 6-12 hours a day most days, it's going to cost a lot per heater per month. I hate them personally.


55° F? Hah, weak. ;) Our heat isn't even on. It snowed almost 6" today. I live in a notoriously cold and snowy area. Hmph. Mighty cold on 1st floor (50-55°), but up here on 3rd with my computer its fine. :) But it's going to need to come on in the next day or two if this weather keeps up as it did today.
 

chuckywang

Lifer
Jan 12, 2004
20,139
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I know that for my space heater, the light in the room goes dimmer when you turn it on. Also, if you set it too high, you risk shorting out the power and then you'll have to reset the breaker box for the room.
 

krotchy

Golden Member
Mar 29, 2006
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If someone can invent a space heater that isnt 100% efficient (all electricty converted to heat) I would be really impressed.
 

bonkers325

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
13,077
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get a satellite heater. there is no point in heating up your entire room, if its just gonna get cold in 2 minutes.

i had a presto heat dish, 1500 kWh... so 1500 kWh at whatever $/kWh it is for utilities is your cost to run your own personal heater. would cost me around $30/mo if i used it for several hours a day, every day, if i recall.
 

sunase

Senior member
Nov 28, 2002
551
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0
If you guys are splitting the electric bill evenly, you should probably start using your share. If only the people with electric heaters are going to split the increase, then you should go kerosene or something, because it will be much cheaper.