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You could make a case of misrepresentation if moving is the goal.
Low Medium High is something I have never seen for primary heat.
If you leave them on low what temp does it top out at?
That's going to be the OPs best argument but legal counsel is strongly advised, you have been living in the unit for nearly a year OP so your landlord has an argument against this claim.
Your unit would not be considered uninhabitable since you refuse to turn the heat on but you can try to call the city to look at it. There's no way there is no insulation at all but insulation will not keep a home warm alone, if just delays the cold from getting in.
As for the $500 electric bills, welcome to my world in the summer. I pay around that for 5 months of the year and more than that for another 2 on 2900 sq ft. It isn't unheard of at all.
If these are electric baseboard heaters then they are generally safe. Just make sure they are in working order and that there is no flammable objects touching them. I have three of these in my my Florida apartment and they are safe to leave on while away.
I would leave them on low for now and see if that is bearable for you. If not slowly increase them or just increase the setting on the one in your bedroom. To some degree it is a thermostat where it will adjust to the temperature it just is not the standard type with a temperature reading.
When gas came to one area where I managed rentals... the owner decided to install central heat in both units of the duplex... the tenants were more than happy... they were always complaining about the electric baseboard heaters... being too slow, having to leave them on and the cost.
So from day one, the new gas furnaces were a big hit... they were ecstatic at how quickly they warmed up the house and how even the temp was...
Then the first gas bill arrived and they were in shock... the gas cost more than what they had paid for electric...
In reality no... because they were so frugal with the electric and the first month with gas they just left the thermostat set and 72...
In short... you don't get something for nothing....
The only way to get thermostatic control is to hire an electrician unfortunately. They would direct wire the baseboard heater to a wall mounted thermostat to control the heat. The electric heater might need to be changed as well if not compatible.
Sounds like the heaters are generic, non programmable low-medium-high heaters. I'd run the apartment up to temp and then put them on low and see if it maintains temp, or at least slows the rate of heat loss. If it's a slow loss, this might be your solution for night or when you are away.
I have one bathroom that uses an electric heater on a thermostat and have never felt unsafe running it .
Yes, your electric bill will be high
However I think you have grounds for misrepresentation if you agreed to rent a unit with gas, and found out you had electric heat.
OP, you obviously need to at least experiment instead of just going without any heat.
When you get home or are home, turn it to medium for a few hours and see what happens. If it works and it seems comfortable then always use the medium setting when you are home and turn it to low at night while sleeping. When you are gone or leaving for a long period of time then turn it down to low or off, depending upon the outside temps. I just wouldn't start out using the high setting because hopefully you won't need it due to the cost
There is no way you are going to find out how it works and if it works unless you experiment and plus, because you have pets you really need to get it all figured out and experiment so your poor animals don't freeze and you won't need to run separate space heaters. I would be more concerned about running space heaters than I would running the actual electric heat on low or medium.
From there you can get more conservative with the electric heat because it IS very expensive to run.
I have electric heat and it's awful...not only does it hardly ever feel warm but it is expensive as hell.
Much of the Pacific Northwest is electric... in part because for decades electricity was dirt cheap and because of this... very little natural gas infrastructure.
The Hospital where I work has several Operating Rooms that are 100% electric for heat... they have big reheat coils above the ceiling... cheap to install... so far 100% reliable and pin point temperature control... just on the high side as far as operating costs with the price per kWh being high.
I have one place that is propane and it happens to be the most expensive bar none... only one supplier... take it of leave it.
Just checked an older building that I manage that was divided up years ago into 3 units... the small studio unit has electric baseboard heaters with low, medium, high.
If the unit is left on low and it's 90 degrees out the unit does not come on at all.
There is a feedback loop that regulates on-off... it is not graduated in degrees of Fahrenheit...
The woman that lives there rarely uses it unless the temps are in the 30's... she said it does cycle on-off at all settings.
If she puts it on low and never touches the dial it keeps between 60 and 62 according to her.
As I was told, "Renting is like camping out". . so very true at times.
OP: I really feel for you! I don't live in an apt that is heated the same as yours, but have air leaks around the bedroom window and around the slider door (maintenance says they can't be fixed...too much $$). And we have a garage bay under the apt so cold air comes up through the floor.
The apts did have insulation when they were built 30 yrs ago, and what was left was pretty much torn off when the siding was replaced 7 yrs ago; but unfortunately new insulation was not added. Insulation in the attic is pretty much nil at this point.
We have central air and heat, and to keep costs down:
- Installed indoor plastic film over the bedroom window and tape over the air leaks around the slider door.
- Have table lamp dimmer switches so that I never turn the bulb all the way up.
- Use only one bulb over my bathroom sink, and only one light in the living room ceiling fan (which I hardly ever use anyway).
- Never use the ceiling lights in the kitchen (they are very expensive flood lamps); I use a small lamp on the breakfast bar instead (if one of the flood lamps burns out they charge us $5 to change it (the ceiling is way too high for me to reach the light fixture).
- Reduced the temp on the water heater.
On avg I pay $60/mo for elect (avg pay plan); and $35 for gas (avg pay plan). The steps I mentioned have reduced my electric bill by $10/mo, and the gas bill by $6/mo.
I use a space heater when showering because there is no heat in the bathroom - the heater vent is outside of the room and useless.
I have a similar situation in my new apartment where the heaters are 20 years old and while they have a thermostat of sorts (numbered 1 through 10), the fan never turns off while they are on. However, mine are forced air through the wall units so I plugged them into timers so they turn off at night and while I am at work. That means my indoor temperature fluctuates a lot (down to 50 on cold days) and sometimes it's not quite as warm as I'd like when I get home, but at least my electric is under $120 per month so far.
Baseboard heaters are probably hard wired in, but I would say the OP needs to try the same experimentation to see what combination of variables keeps the apartment tolerable. They should be safe to run during the day; most people do.
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