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BANG FOR THE BITE
If 10,000 Biters use a space heater instead of central heating to heat just one room, in a month we'll save a collective $1,419,400.
COCKTAIL FACT
On average, people older than 60 catch less than one cold per year.
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home › tip library › Space Heaters
Are you commonly cold during the winter?
The Bite
Ah-chyou betcha. Get an energy-saving space heater - it'll warm you up faster than you can catch a communicable disease and will keep you from getting sick over high heating bills.The Benefits
- Keeping the (planet's) temp from rising. The last two decades were the hottest in 400 years; we can all do our part by using less energy.
- Saving cold cash. The Department of Energy says 56% of the energy an average home uses goes to heating and cooling. Space heaters use about 14% of the energy that the average central heating system uses.
- Less petroleum. Many space heaters are oil-filled. Not these.
- Hitting the spot. You can point these chill-fighters in any direction you like.
Personally Speaking
Jen claims Cricket makes the best space heater in the world.Wanna Try?
- Vornado TouchStone Vortex Heater - circulates the heat it produces around the room and stays cool to the touch ($150).
- Holmes Radiator Heater - while it doesn't distribute heat throughout the room, this radiant heater's filled with water instead of the typical oil, and the price is right ($32).
- U.S. Department of Energy - the fed's guide to space heaters.
Jan 18,2008
Sponsor
All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
Eco-Excuses to Cuddle
My boyfriend's apartment has no heat. For those of you uninitiated in the wicked ways of San Francisco's weather, that is really kind of unacceptable here. Rain or shine, nearly all times of the year, SF is one cold, cold beast.
Fortunately, however, he has two little space heaters that do the trick quite nicely, without resorting to heating up the entire building with central air. There's one little baddie (heats fiercely but with one heat setting and no finesse) and one sophisticate (all oscillation and digital temperature control).
The age-old wiring in his building keeps us true to our eco-commitment to heat only one room (ideally the one we are in) at any time...if we try to run both, simultaneously, well, it throws a breaker switch and all the lights go out.
Nothing like a little incentive to go green. And light a candle.
-Heather...off to burrow into a sweatshirt to take off the chill...
Fortunately, however, he has two little space heaters that do the trick quite nicely, without resorting to heating up the entire building with central air. There's one little baddie (heats fiercely but with one heat setting and no finesse) and one sophisticate (all oscillation and digital temperature control).
The age-old wiring in his building keeps us true to our eco-commitment to heat only one room (ideally the one we are in) at any time...if we try to run both, simultaneously, well, it throws a breaker switch and all the lights go out.
Nothing like a little incentive to go green. And light a candle.
-Heather...off to burrow into a sweatshirt to take off the chill...
Biter Comments...
Please don't forget the space heater uses electricity which is generated in a power station, which are in the US mostly fueled by coal. The efficiency rate of these stations is barely 35 percent, means 65 percent go off as heat and other losses due to the Thermodynamic conditions off this process. The better way do heat your home is a heating system that allows you to regulate rooms separetly (zoning) that can be done by thermostats connected to every radiator or if you have central air, install zoning devices. To accomplish that homeowners need to invest money and unfortunately you can't see that money unlike the new kitchen or porch and it probably doesn't add to the home value like all those shiny things. So keep buying space heaters to fight the old ancient heating systems and drafty windows. But don't think you'll save the earth with it.
I discovered a ceramic panel heater which you mount on a wall. It only radiates heat, no forced air, but it only uses about 3 cents an hour in electricity. I just bought another one for my bedroom, so now there are three, total. My central heat rarely even needs to come on anymore. You can check the heater out at http://eheat.com/. They are also very safe and intended to be left on for extended periods. My cat loves to park herself just in front of it. Also safe for children. Check it out!
winter in some areas is much colder and longer than in others. a space heater is a nice ADDITION to central heating, but not the answer ecologically--and certainly not enough to keep people, animals, and pipes from freezing.
I went online fully intent on buying the Holmes water filled radiator heater because my husband likes to turn the heat up at night instead of down and it drives me (and out electricity bills) through the roof. When I clicked on the link though, there was no online checkout system and the only stores that stock them are located in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. I REALLY WANT THIS ITEM so if anybody knows where I can find it online- please post a comment and let me know!!!
My blood curdles whenever i hear/read about "energy saving space heaters". The only way they really save energy is if they're used to just heat the smaller space you occupy, rather than heating the whole home to the same degree centrally.
When you buy an electric plug-in heater of any sort, regardless of anything else (what it is or isn't filled with, whether it's got a "ceramic element" or not, groovy styling or no)... one is no more or less efficient than the other. If it's rated at 1000 watts, that's what it puts out and that's what it consumes. If it's rated 2000 watts... that's it. End of story. Forget about any verbiage of "efficiency"... you get what you get, no more, no less.
But to thicken the plot, if it's electric, it's also essentially "fossil fueled" since that's where most of us get the electrons that come down the wires to our homes. Coal still vastly dominates US domestic supply, with nuk's and natural gas following.
Of course, if you've signed up for some form of alternative energy offsets, you're doing one better.
You'll do better still to insulate like there's no tomorrow ('probably so, at the rate we're going) and just minimize all consumption.
Go solar / renewable to whatever degree you can, so as to disengage from that fossil fuel tit ever more.
pax,
Karl
*----->
Boulder, CO
Terry-
Our bad. You can also purchase that heater through Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Holmes-HWH2605-U-Water-Filled-Adjustable-Thermostat/dp/B000V5URJI
Does anyone know how gas heat stacks up? We have small, old house (built around 1940). It has a large gas heater downstairs that just radiates, and a small gas heater in the bedroom, which is the only upstairs room. We do not have central heat or air. We keep fans running to circulate the warm air, and the small upstairs heater works VERY well, so it can be run at the lowest possible flame, and only for a little while. Does anyone know how this compares to central heat and/or space heaters for eco-friendliness? We don't plan to stay in this house and have no desire to do any major rennovations, but if there's something small I could be doing that would be more efficient, I'd like to know about it. Thanks!
Ditto Tara. I have a gas wall heater, light the pilot when it gets cold, and blow it out in the spring. How does a gas heater measure up against a space heater?
My situation is a little complicated by the fact I live in a loft, so there's no comparmentalizing my heating "zones" - it all gets heated.
While I do agree that using electricity is not ideal and using solar to do many things, using the zone approach is a good alternative. We have a small child, live in Indiana, have an older thus not very insulate home, and have found a different approach to heating our home. It is using a cieling fan that has a heater. It's from Reiker, and it's great not only because it has a fan and light, but it also has a space heater that the little one cannot get to. It's nice to heat only the bedroom or the familty room. We like using it instead of heating the whole (very drafty... but working on that) almost hundred year old house we're in. We bought ours at www.fanheatlight.com. So far so good, and it's supposed to be -4 tonight. YOWSERS!
I woke up to -22F here in Bozeman....Butt cold and I'm fresh out of Beer! I am looking for ways to better insulate my home and came across a product using sheep's wool and made in Oregon! Your pet will love it too!! Check it out...
http://www.oregonshepherd.net
Vornado heaters are really good, but I personally would not buy the Touchstone as it is manufactured in China. Their other models are manufactured in the U.S.A..
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Lisa | January 18, 2008 at 07:10 AM