Are you looking for energy-saving ways to bring down your heating costs? While space heaters are one of the most popular home heating products, you still might wonder, “do space heaters save money?”
Space heaters are portable heating devices often used when the main heating system of a room or a small area is not enough or not working. It is one of the alternatives to a central heating system, but does it save you money?
This article will examine if space heaters are the most effective and cost-efficient compared to central heating and other ways of warming your home. We will also look into some tips to save money using these devices.
So, if winter is coming soon in your area, bundle up, and let’s get this warm talk started!
Do Space Heaters Save Money?
Whether space heaters save money depends on how much of your house you’re heating.
The temperature settings of the space heater are also a significant element in determining how much electricity is used. The higher the temperature setting, the more energy it will consume. You can save by lowering your thermostat offsets to conserve energy when you use a space heater.
A high-quality space heater is also necessary if you want the best chance of conserving energy when using a space heater. A reliable space heater will not only provide better safety, but it should also be more efficient than cheaper types.
It is more likely to be better equipped to handle voltage changes and will endure over time. This relatively more expensive purchase is one of those instances where spending money might be necessary to save money.
When you’re looking into a space heater, here’s one of the most energy-efficient space heaters out there. You can even use it to cool down in the summer and heat up in the winter. It can heat up to 200 square feet in seconds.
Saving Money When Using Space Heater
To prevent using more energy than is necessary, buy a space heater designed to heat a room instead of heating your whole house. By turning down the thermostat on the central unit, you prevent paying too much for heating.
To determine which version is more efficient, compare the wattages of similar models, including:
- The price of power in your location
- The amount of electricity your space heater consumes
- The cost of operating your central heating system
Temperature Settings of the Space Heater
A thermostat controls the various settings on the majority of space heaters. Many modest space heaters utilize 1,500 W per hour at full power and as little as 300 W per hour on low.
Depending on how thermostats are set, utilizing space heaters might or might not result in lower energy costs. When you decide to lower your central heating unit, you’ll save plenty of money with a space heater.
Hours of Use
The time you use a space heater impacts how much energy it needs. It will take more electricity the more hours you use it.
It won’t cost extra to run a space heater if you only use it sometimes, as opposed to using one that runs for roughly 8 hours daily.
Size and Area Being Heated
Your energy costs may also be influenced by the size of the area that needs a heating and the heater’s capacity. Because the room will heat up more rapidly if you have the correct size heater for the space, you might be able to reduce your energy costs.
Space heaters function best in compact, constrained, small-space areas. If your house has an open floor plan or the area you want to heat is larger than half the size of the home, a space heater probably won’t heat the home efficiently.
More Tips on How to Save Money When Using a Space Heater
1. Switch Off the Space Heater When Not in Use
The largest money-saving tip for utilizing a space heater is to turn it off when not in use. You waste energy and money if you turn it on to heat a room but then leave it unoccupied.
Instead, only turn it on when you need it. After use, switch it off. Your house will stay warm without consuming additional energy.
2. Purchase an Energy Efficient Space Heater
You will likely be causing more harm than good to your overall power consumption if you utilize an old space heater that consumes a lot of power each time you turn it on. Instead, you must make use of a current, efficient model.
3. Try Different Thermostat Settings
In keeping with the experimenting concept, you can experiment by changing the temperature on your thermostat to observe how it affects energy use and your sense of comfort.
Does lowering the temperature by a few degrees from the normal result in the savings you’re after, or do you need to go much lower? When you make those adjustments, make sure your home seems cozy enough.
4. Insulated Residence
You will need to run the space heater all day if your house is not well-insulated, increasing costs.
Here are a few quick tips to increase insulation when this is an issue for you:
- Cover any drafty areas that don’t close properly, like doors and windows. Cover any air leaks with weatherproofing materials.
- When you don’t use your chimney, plug it in.
- Hang up warm curtains to protect against the cold.
- Put a door snake under any drafty doors in your home.
Space Heater Types
There are 3 types of space heaters: convection, radiant, and combination. Each type of space heaters has working differences. However, all of them have the fundamental role of providing heat.
The 3 types of space heaters are:
Convection Heaters
A convection heater will warm the air in a space rather than the occupants and possessions therein. Prices for convection heaters normally range from $40 to $200.
If you want to buy one, we recommend this convection space heater, an efficient heater with 1500 Watts, best for medium to large rooms. A kit is included so you can mount it on the walls, and has built-in safety features.
Radiant Heaters
Radiant heaters heat things and people in a room, not just the air. A person seated in front of this space heater is kept warm through radiant heat. Radiant space heater models start at less than $100.
Try this mobile radiant heater with an exclusive thermal slot designed to maximize heat flow while maintaining a low temperature; best for homes with kids and pets. It also has nice safety features and energy saving mode.
Combination Heaters
Combination heaters provide the best of both worlds. To better spread heat throughout the room, they employ a fan. They work well in practically any room of your house.
Options for combination heaters typically cost between $60 and $120.
Carry this portable combination space heater with a ceramic heater that provides 2 heat levels, 1500 watts or 750W, and 1 cool air fan. You can use it both for winter and summer.
How Space Heaters Work
Modern space heaters are frequently stylish, convenient, and simple to operate. There is no quicker or more practical method to utilize if you need to heat your home immediately due to an emergency.
Space heaters may be more expensive than central heating systems if the area to be heated is huge. They may even be inefficient in heating large areas.
Space heaters that are 1500 watts utilize around 20 cents per hour. However, as the watts increase, the operating cost also increases. Operating cost also depends on how much your electricity provider charges.
Energy Consumption and Efficiency
It is important to determine your space heaters’ energy consumption and efficiency. Electric space heaters generate one unit of heat for every unit of power, which means the heaters are 100% energy-efficient.
To help you comprehend the efficiency of these numbers. There are no 1000 British thermal units or 3000 BTU space heaters when we look at electric heaters. Instead, we have 1000W or 2000W, and so forth heaters.
We must convert these wattages into BTUs to determine the size of space heater you require, and we must then use the general rule of thumb of 30 BTU per square foot. How many square feet can a heater of 1500W heat, for instance? To answer, we could see that a 1500W heater could heat up to 171 square feet using the 30 BTU per sq. ft. criterion.
Frequently Asked Questions – Do Space Heaters Save Money?
Can I Save Money by Using a Space Heater?
Even though a space heater is cheap to heat your house, its effectiveness will depend on how big the room is. If you need to heat 1 or 2 rooms, you may do so with less energy and money spent. It is less expensive in this scenario than a central heating system.
Use a space heater to heat your room and lower the heat in other rooms to drastically reduce your monthly energy costs. A space heater, however, can only warm one room at once. You must purchase a space heater for every room in your house if you want to heat it.
An ordinary 1500-watt space heater that can heat a typical room will cost you, on average, roughly 20 cents per hour to run. You will spend roughly $1.60 per day if you operate it for 8 hours each day. That works out to slightly less than $50 a month, which is extremely affordable compared to other energy options.
Is It Cheaper To Run a Space Heater or Centralized Heating?
Modern central heating systems should typically use less energy than any space heater. Space heaters are a fantastic substitute if you don’t have access to the baseboard or central heating.
If you only need to heat 1 or 2 rooms, space heaters consume less energy than central heating and cost less. However, using a space heater in every room of your house at once will most probably increase your energy costs.
Do Space Heaters Use a Lot of Electricity?
Considering that most space heaters use around 1500W an hour, they use quite some electricity. However, you can follow the tips in this article to get the most out of space heaters while minimizing electricity consumption.
How Much Does It Cost To Run a Space Heater for One Hour?
The operating cost of a space heater is roughly $0.20, or 20 cents per hour, for sizes that work on 1500W. The prices for space heaters with 750W to 3000W of power vary from 10 cents to 42 cents an hour.
Your energy supplier’s electricity determines the cost of operating a space heater.
Conclusion – Do Space Heaters Save Money?
You learned from this article that using space heaters could save money and experience convenience.
Your heater’s efficiency and subsequent costs depend on factors such as the price of electricity in your area, the frequency and area of heating, and the space heater’s settings. Compare these factors with central heating and evaluate which option is most suitable for your home.
Whatever heating system you use, conserving energy whenever you will surely bring down your expenses and save more money. Keep warm!
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Founder of Spark Nomad, Radical FIRE, Journalist
- Expertise: Personal finance and travel content
- Education: Bachelor of Economics at Radboud University, Master in Finance at Radboud University, Minor in Economics at Chapman University.
- Over 200 articles, essays, and short stories published across the web.
Experience: Marjolein Dilven is a journalist and founder of Spark Nomad, a travel platform, and Radical FIRE, a personal finance platform. Marjolein has a finance and economics background with a master’s in Finance. She has quit her job to travel the world, documenting her travels on Spark Nomad to help people plan their travels. Marjolein Dilven has written for publications like MSN, Associated Press, CNBC, Town News syndicate, and more.