Cost Effective Home Heating Alternative

[Dave]

After back to back huge propane bills which we get every 6 weeks, just to keep our house at 64 degrees daytime and 60 degrees at night, I decided to research portable electric heaters. My research led me to the Holmes water filled full room radiator (Walmart $35.00). Yesterday afternoon we purchased two of them with hope that they would heat most of my 1865 sq ft home, or at least keep our house at 60 degrees. I did the math and found that to run both heaters on the Medium setting (900 watts per hr per heater) would cost about .15 cents per hours which is $3.60 per 24 hr period. To run our propane keeping it at 60 degrees night time and 64 degrees day time, it costs about 10.00 per 24 hours. The savings is obviously substantial. Our home has 10 foot ceilings throughout and the area we were hoping to heat is a large living room, a dining room, kitchen, and nook, all of which are open. So maybe 1000 or so sq feet w/10 ft ceilings. At 6pm yesterday we turned these two little heaters on placing one in the dining room to cover the dining room, kitchen and nook, and the other in the living room. We sat down and watched some TV and waited to see what would transpire. By the way, we turned the propane forced air home heating system thermostat off, and shut the three bedroom and main bathroom doors. By 9pm the living room, kitchen, dining room and nook were at 65 degrees and we were surprised. By 10 pm it was 68 degrees throughout which to us felt comfortable. We left the two heaters on all night long and had two of the three bedroom doors open, and the heaters maintained the 65 degree temperature all night long. These heaters are a great alternative to propane, and likely may be more cost efficient than heating with natural gas, or electric baseboard heating, costing only about 7 cents each per hour to run. The math is as follows based on my PUD bill: 1 kilowatt hour is = to 1000 watts usage per hour. These heaters on medium setting are 900 watts per hour, 600 on low and 1500 on high. 1 Kilowatt hour of usage costs .8 cents per hour. So it will cost about $108.00 per month to heat our house. Compared to propane which is $2.71 per gallon average and doing the math on my last bill is costing us about $10.00 per day or $300. Per month to use. Savings of $200.00 per month. I hope this helps. Sorry for the long explanation. Great heaters, and way cheaper to run than propane. I am not sure what the cost is to heat using a pellet stoves or fireplace as I have neither of them in my home. Have al great week all.

[Hal]

Hi Dave , while it appears that your math is correct on the electric side of the equation, I am curious how you formed the $10 per day on the propane costs.

[Dave]

I’m happy to explain the propane numbers. Every 6 weeks I get my propane bill. The cost per gallon this last time around Feb 4th 2008 was 2.71 per gallon. I received 140.2 gallons for a total of $379.94, add tax which was 32.46 and a 2.00 fuel surcharge and you get the grand total which was 414.40 for 6 weeks. So I divided 414.40 by 6 weeks and got 69.07 per week which I rounded up to 70.00 per week. 70.00 divided by 7 days in the week = 10.00 per day. So I multiplied that by 30 days (1-month) and got 300.00 per month. So the heaters cost 108.00 for 4 weeks meaning they cost 27.00 per week to run. So I took the 108.00 and added two weeks to that (@27.00 per week to run the heaters) and I got 162.00 for 6 weeks of heater use compared to 414.40 for 6 weeks of propane use. The heaters produce a savings of $252.40 every 6 weeks.

Today the temp is a steady 68 degrees in the house for a fraction of the cost. Can't beat it! I hope this helps. Now, I did read reviews from a few folks who bought this same heater and they said it didn't work for them. I can say they work great. Remember, when we were using propane to heat our home, we never put the thermostat above 64 degrees during the day while we are home (my wife is home full time) and at night we put it at 60 degrees. I am here to tell you that 64 degrees is cold when you are sitting on the couch trying to watch the TV. Our noses were sometime cold and we were bundled up. At 68 degrees, it is actually much more comfortable and obviously way cheaper. So it was a great choice for us to make the change. Now my propane heating system is turned off like it is in the summer and the next time my propane company comes to fill our tank they will be shocked to see it doesn’t take very many gallons to fill it back up. The only other thing we use our propane for is the hot water heater so there will be a significant change in our propane bill next time around. IN the summer when we have the heat turned off and am only using the propane for the hot water heater, the 250 gallon propane tank we have lasts us for 5 or 6 months before they come out to fill it up again. So the hot water heater uses very little propane.

[panfisher]

we figured out your equation about 10 yrs ago we were using (fuel oil). those heaters have saved us alot of money over the years, plus you can just heat a particular room or "not".:thumright

[Hal]

Are you taking into consideration the outdoor temp during that previous 6 weeks vs the outdoor temp currently?
It sounds like you have an 80% efficient propane furnace.
As far as these electric heaters go, when it sounds to good to be true, it usually is. You might make it by one these mild days, but when its 30-40 degrees out again those electric heaters wont do the trick.

What you really need to do is have a heat pump installed, then you will love to see what you are saving.

Good Luck!

[Dave]

I’m taking into consideration the heaters performance based on the current temp outside which is all I can do at the moment since I have only had them for two days. When it gets colder out I can re-evaluate their performance and will be able to report how they do when it’s 30 to 40 degrees outside. I'll re-post an update for those who are interested when it gets colder out which should be soon. Although where I live it has been in the upper 40's the last week or so (lots of rain as well), my house is custom built and well insulated throughout, so I think the chances of it staying comfortable even when its freezing outside are good, but again there is no way to say until it happens or if a person has first hand experience using this exact model/type of heater in those conditions. Either way, running these two heaters appears to be by far more cost effective without question. Yesterday afternoon / evening it was 72 in the house and 67 this morning when we woke up. That means these two electric heaters were heating almost the entire house (1865 sq ft) minus one bedroom, and maintaining a nice temp. Not bad and not too good to be true! My propane forced air heating system is off now. If I need to warm thing up a little to supplement the electric heaters during colder temps I have the option of turning on my propane fireplace for a few which belts out the heat, and will take the chill off. I just wanted folks to know these heaters seem to be working great and are heating my whole house at what will be a fraction of the cost of propane. I wanted to pass the savings opportunity on to others. I hope the information benefits someone else.

[Dave]

Here are the results after 1 week using these heaters. The outside night time temps the last 6 days were right around 38 degrees with the exception of last night, it was 32 degrees outside.

So during the day the main house stayed at 72 degrees.
At night when it was 38 degress outside it dropped to 70 in the main house and the two open bedrooms were at 67 degrees.

Last night it was 32 degrees outside. The main house was 65 degrees and the bedrooms were 62 degrees.

So, when it’s freezing outside and two bedroom doors are open it was 65 degrees in the main house 62 in the bedrooms. I shut the bedroom doors at 7 this morning and the main house as described in my first post is 70 degrees as I write at 10 am. There is still frost on my deck so I know it’s still around 32 or a little above. I can now say these two heaters heat my house so much better than the propane and at a fraction of the cost. You decide for yourself. If you are a skeptic, keep paying 10 bucks a day for propane to keep your house at 64 degrees. I hope this info helps someone heat their home for a fraction of the cost. Thanks all.

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I'm most impressed with reading your posts. You're saving money and are really helping out with cutting the use of propane! Awesome way to go and the fact that your home is insulated makes it nice, otherwise, it'd be in and out. Propane is outgrageous and I never had thought of using those heaters. What a savings!

[panfisher]

i live in the upper yakima area were its about 5-8 degrees cooler. this winter certainly was alot colder than past winters and our heaters kept us warm just fine. <')//<