[Lincoln-Continental]

Listen -

These things don't actually save you money -

They burn the air you breathe, which is bad for your health -

They also frequently burn houses down. See below:

Omaha.com - The Omaha World-Herald: Metro/Region - Space heater wiring sparks blaze


I realized this last year and have not used one since. I'm noticing my whole place is warming because I'm running the furnace, and it's not costing any more. My place hasn't burned down either.

[Mercedes-Benz]

Originally Posted by Lincoln-Continental

Listen -

These things don't actually save you money -

They burn the air you breathe, which is bad for your health -

They also frequently burn houses down. See below:

Omaha.com - The Omaha World-Herald: Metro/Region - Space heater wiring sparks blaze


I realized this last year and have not used one since. I'm noticing my whole place is warming because I'm running the furnace, and it's not costing any more. My place hasn't burned down either.

Untrue. Electric space heaters don't burn the air you breathe. Although kerosene space heaters or any space heater that heats by using combustion will burn the air you breathe and you can potentially suffocate from it.

Depending on the furnace and the space heater. Sometimes the space heater is cheaper, sometimes not. Depends on the utility costs as well for every kilowatt vs. every square food of natural gas.

[mattpoulsen]

Ya, I'm not sure where you get the "burns the air that you breathe" idea. As mentioned by the other poster, any combustible process, including gas, kerosene, wood stove, and etc., will "burn" oxygen. Well, an electric heater works on resistive heating...NOT combustion. The principle that is used in space heaters is no different than that used in an electric stove top.

They are not efficient to heat a whole house but they might save money if you are seeking to only heat a small volume, as opposed to heating an entire building or house using central heating just to maintain temperature in a the small volume.

Most intelligent people I know use them to heat very small areas, such as a small area in a basement or garage. In these cases it may very well be more efficient to use a space heater.

[Jays1983]

Originally Posted by Lincoln-Continental

I realized this last year and have not used one since. I'm noticing my whole place is warming because I'm running the furnace, and it's not costing any more. My place hasn't burned down either.

Any space heater you can buy in a retail store is manufactured so they do NOT reach a combustable temperature via thermostats and other regulators. Nice try on that one.

[Drover]

I have a 1,300 sqft apartment. I'm not interested in heating the whole thing while I'm sleeping in 120 sqft of it. Furnace goes off at night, space heater in bedroom goes on. It does not "burn" the air any more than my conventional furnace does, and my utility bills beg to differ with your contention that I'm not saving money. My electric bill increases by roughly $10/mo, compared to the $50-60/mo decrease in my gas bill. It paid for itself in roughly 6 weeks.

[mattpoulsen]

I would also add that the article that is cited only references "faulty wiring," which caused a house fire. It has nothing to do with the efficiency of space heaters or the idea that they are "unhealthy" due to the fact that they "burn the air we breath." Ha! I just chuckle when I hear that statement.

Ya, so your house hasn't burned down since you switched. Umm....so?? Did you house burn down when you were using a space heater?? Space heaters have their place, but have to be used wisely, just as everything else in the known universe! Faulty electrical wiring in houses has been known to cause house fires. Should we assume you will soon be getting rid of all electrical wiring in your house?

[Omaha Rocks]

Originally Posted by Drover

I have a 1,300 sqft apartment. I'm not interested in heating the whole thing while I'm sleeping in 120 sqft of it. Furnace goes off at night, space heater in bedroom goes on. It does not "burn" the air any more than my conventional furnace does, and my utility bills beg to differ with your contention that I'm not saving money. My electric bill increases by roughly $10/mo, compared to the $50-60/mo decrease in my gas bill. It paid for itself in roughly 6 weeks.

Cool. You must have purchased a better space heater. I know that some of them can be extremely hard on the electric bill.

Even so, you're doing it the right way - dropping the heat everywhere but exactly where you are at. How cold does the rest of your place get when you turn the furnace off?

And by the way, wow, 1300 sqf is a huge apartment. Kudos!

[Drover]

During an average winter night, the rest of the apartment drops to roughly 60. One thing that helps cut down on the electric use is that the space heater has a timer. I have it shut off roughly 2 hours before wakey-time.

And yeah, it's a pretty spacious place. Unfortunately, except for the bedrooms it also has a pretty open floor plan so I don't have a lot of choice but to heat the whole thing during the day. I do have the vents to the bedrooms closed off though. Otherwise I'd just cart the space heater from room to room. I don't know how effective it would be in the living room where we spend most of our time though. Even if it were possible to close it off from the rest of the place, the living room is pretty big.

[Jays1983]

I'm sure it works great if you have neighbors below you. Might get a bit chilly on the main floor I would think?

[Omaha Rocks]

It's interesting how that works.

I'm in a 4,000 sf two-story brick house, built in 1928. I've super-insulated & sealed everything. But with the interior being plaster, I've found that the most efficient thing for me to do is keep the whole house at the same temperature all the time (though we do close off the basement & spare bedrooms unless we have company). In fact, it's 10 below zero tonight, and my furnace is only coming on about once every 15-20 minutes - and only for 2-3 minutes per cycle.

I guess, if nothing else, it shows that there is no single "one size fits all" rule to efficiency.