Do Space Heaters Save You Money?

When the weather is cold, portable space heaters are a handy, popular way to heat areas of a home that need a little extra help. They are relatively low in cost and aren’t perceived as consuming much energy. There’s a common perception that using space heaters saves money not only during winter but also throughout other seasons. But are they efficient and save you money?

A wide variety of space heaters exist. They range from the popular electric element space heater, an oil-filled space heater to a gas space heater. The space heaters that run on oil and electricity use about the same amount of energy. They usually get rated around 1500 Watts of power, thus, someone gets to heat the room quickly. Gas space heaters happen to be more powerful than their electric counterparts with fewer operation costs.

In many homes, whether its the garage, basement, or bedroom, there are some rooms that tend to be colder than others. While this may be due to an outdated, inefficient heating system, a home’s design, ducting, and insulation can also impact the consistency of heat in a home.

The Pros And Cons Of Space Heating

An argument for using a space heater is they only heat the rooms in use while keeping the thermostat quite low saves on the energy bill. Another argument for space heaters is that when the entire house gets warmed by a central heating system, a lot of energy gets spent in heating rooms that are not in use. These unused rooms can cause significant spending on energy that is not used.

A quick source of heat for a confined area is a positive for space heathers, but if electricity rates are high, you might have to turn down the heat in the rest of your home, making it a less than ideal solution. According to the advocacy, group Alliance to Save Energy, using space heaters to heat rooms is rarely as efficient as a central heating system.

Space heaters also pose a serious safety risk. Each year, many home fires are caused in Utah by space heaters. Space heaters produce intense heat that can ignite drapes, mattresses, bedding, clothing, rugs, or upholstered furniture. You should never leave portable space heaters on when unattended or when sleeping.

Solution

Ductless heating and cooling units are typically the safest, most-efficient selection in the need for indoor space heating and can also help improve indoor air quality issues. These clean, modern systems can be used to heat and cool or a whole home or only trouble spots such as the garage or certain rooms in the home that get too cold in the winter or hot in the summer.

Ductless systems have zone by zone temperature control, a multi-part air filtration system, have less purchase and maintenance costs and take up less space than large conventional systems. Moreover, they never put the house in a no-heat condition by the failure of one unit.

Heating trouble spots in a home can be a real problem. But the use of inefficient and potentially dangerous portable space heating units is not the best solution. Ductless units are a smarter, safer, and more efficient choice for the long run. Contact Triple-T for a free ductless heating and cooling system estimate for your home.