I live on a fixed income. Where I live the days are in the mid to high 60 F 's here in October and the nights run around 40F. I've yet to turn on the heat, during the day it seems a bit chill but doable but the nights are very cold. I use a space heater when I am in my one room I usually stay in, the kitchen. I have a heating pad for my bed and I've comfortable in a 63 degree room with that.
But my utility is on a balanced schedule. At the moment it's saying $18.00 for the last month of September. It's based on gas residential. I maybe using more buck to heat one room with a 1200 watt space heater, but I'm not heating the 1800 sq feet of the house either. I used the laundry and the hot water for bathing. But the winters rates for my utility are horrendous. Am I actually saving money but onlyl heating one room?
I realize I can't do this in the winter in the southern USA, due to pipes possibly breaking. It's a temporary measure to reduce my bill till it gets to actual 32F and below.
Am I saving money with using a space heater instead of gas heat?
byu/lovetocook966 inFrugal
Posted by lovetocook966
12 Comments
Electric heat is very expensive. Wear layers, even a hat, but use the gas heat when you need heat.
We have electric heat. We turned off the two extra rooms in the house, shut the doors and put rolled towels down so no heat goes in under the doors. We shut down one bathroom for the winter (left the heat on in there at 45 degrees so the pipes do not freeze) and only use the other bathroom. All thermostats are at 65 degrees the highest. We wear lots of layers and hats in the house, and also got an electric throw blanket for the couch. We drink a lot of tea. We are in a cold state and we do OK! Our bills have been reasonable for the electric heat.
Gas company sends me an analysis of my fuel consumption going back 4 years. Because I keep my thermostat at 60, use space heaters in the living room, and an oil heater in the bedroom at night, and double down on the thermal underwear and heavy insulated hoodies and duvets, I spent $400 less than the same period last year. But I’m Japanese where “you heat the person, not the home” since their summers are sweltering and they get by with kerosene heaters and kotatsus, basically a floor table with a heating element and a blanket to contain the heat. I also have a full length fleece sherpa blanket hoodie that’s toastie as hell. With the fingerless gloves, I don’t care about the cold.
Its possible if you basically “Dexter” a room or section of the house. Using window shrink wrap/plastic sheeting can also be used if aesthetics aren’t important.
Layers, wool blankets, wool blend socks, knit caps etc.
55f is recommended for keeping pipes flowing but most people aren’t accustomed to what that feels like.
It’s really impossible to say without knowing exactly what you pay for gas, exactly what you pay for electricity and having some data on how much usage it takes for the gas heating vs the space heater.
Nope, that is the most expensive heat.
Propane is the cheapest heat normally, at least around here. That or kerosene.
You would have to check your utility bill records for the previous year and compare, assuming you were using gas then. Electric utilities are always more expensive than gas but as you pointed out heating the room vs. the home. My guess would be your records can help you know whether or not.
This house is a cottage that was built in the 1940s. We heat with a built in ventless propane heater.
One particularly rough January, when the cold was such that we dripped water for days and nights on end, we used it until we needed a refill, but that couldn’t happen for two or three weeks because of demand. We ended up using electric space heaters for most of the month.
The electric bill was nearly $300 that month. I don’t recommend it.
Set the thermostat to say 60F since 63F is good for you 55F, is the bare minimum to prevent mold. We would do 65-68 and then only heat the room we were in, I was going to suggest a heat mattress pad but you already have one.
Consider using a heating pad or heated vest instead of the space heater. Put the heat directly into your body instead of heating the room.
Electric heaters are stupid expensive.
Honestly your houses insulation sounds terrible. I’m in similar conditions and my house is hitting about 67 at night.