What's the most cost-effective way to run these heaters?

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury) 10/28/2018 at 21:34 • Filed to: None

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I have a few of these oil-fill ed heaters in the bedrooms/office in order to avoid using the electric central heating. I don’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen or living room during winter so I usually set the main thermostat to a balmy 53 degrees.

These heaters have the usual three heat settings, up to a maximum of 1500 watts. What is the cheapest way to run these? I usually just leave it on the lowest setting and let it take a little longer to heat the room, setting the thermostat lower when I'm not using that room/not home . Has anyone computed the costs on these things? I assume there has be a difference...

MM54 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 21:56

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You pay for electric by the kWh so 500W for three hours costs you the same as 1500W for one hour. The difference will come down to how much you use them; maintaining a room at 65 will use less energy than spending 50% of the time at 60 and the other 50% at 70.

atfsgeoff > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 21:58

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Can’t cheat thermodynamics. Using electricity to generate heat is always a zero sum, regardless of the machine or equipment used to do it.

A gaming computer is, in effect, a very efficient space heater because on top of generating exactly the same amount of heat for the wattage consumed as a purpose-built space heater, you also get to play games on it while it’s putting out the heat.

If you have a lot of networking equipment or servers or anything in your house, rearrange them so they’re in the area you want to warm up so you get desired heat from the expended wattage that you’re consuming anyway.

Nibby > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 22:14

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wear more layers

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > atfsgeoff 10/28/2018 at 22:15

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In the home office I do have all of the network and computer equipment, and yes, the gaming computer does make a good space heater; on my old old one I couldn’t run the computer and space heater at the same time. I usually place the oil heater over the floor duct in order to accelerate the distribution of the heart.

In rooms without that equipment I just have the space heaters. Should I run them at 1500 watts with frequent cycling, or will I save money by running at 500 watts for a longer time? (a ssumed to be less than three times as long, but I have no evidence to back up this assumption... )

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Nibby 10/28/2018 at 22:24

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I already look like Bibendum during these months with so many layers; any more and I couldn’t move my arms. The heaters are just to take the edge off, not to get the house to a temp where I could walk around like it’s summer.

In SoCal I didn’t even use the heater, but when I moved to the Midwest I quickly learned that this wasn’t an option. I didn’t realize how inefficient my central heater is, and nearly went broke my first winter trying to get the house up to 68. Every year since I just wear more clothes and set the thermostat lower, supplementing with the space heaters.  

BigBlock440 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 22:30

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Depends on what you mean by “most efficient”. If you mean “cheapest on the electric bill”, put the heat directly under the thermostat. It’ll keep the actual heat from turning on. If you mean most efficient by “cheapest while being the warmest”, put them right next to you and keep the rest of the heat turned down. If you mean “heat the entire airspace to the same temperature”, don’t bother with them because electric is electric, and while there may be minor differences in resistance  in your wiring, you’ll never notice it in comfort or electric bill.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 22:33

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I use one of those to keeps the pipes from freezing in my garage. I just keep it on the lowest setting 24/7. It keeps it above 31 F, but not much more. The only result if I turn it up is it might get the garage up to 40 or so .

atfsgeoff > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 22:40

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Neither approach is better from a cost perspective. You will get exactly the same amount of heat out of 3 kw/h of electricity regardless of whether that’s at 1500w in six 20 minute cycles over the course of 6 hours, or at 500W just left on continuously for those same 6 hours.

A few extra watts of heat drawn from the 1500W setting might be expended in heating up the wires going from your breaker box to the office, due to increased resistance as current draw goes up. From that perspective, running at 500W continuously is just ever so slightly more efficient. Then again, running the 240V baseboard heaters tied into your central heating system is more efficient still due to the higher voltage and thus lower amperage for a given amount of watts.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > BigBlock440 10/28/2018 at 22:40

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Cheapest on the electric bill. No way I’m moving one of these heaters into the area with the thermostat since I have no desire to heat that section of the house as that would be a waste. Since it takes time to heat the oil, I’m assuming that I’m better off leaving it at a lower setting to maintain heat in the oil rather than using a lot of electricity to get it up to temp when I want to heat the room.

someassemblyrequired > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 22:52

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Do you have a central air conditioner? Retrofitting it to be a heat pump will give you 5-6 times the heat that you’ll get out of a resistance or portable heater for the same amount of electricity use .

Carlo > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 22:58

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Well, you’re saving money on a fridge by keeping your house below freezing. 

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > someassemblyrequired 10/28/2018 at 23:01

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I do, and I don’t use that much, either. Same reason - the cost of cooling the whole place when I’m just in one or two rooms. I’m currently renting so a retrofit of anything more efficient isn't going to happen. But as I shop for a place to buy, the condition and design of the HVAC system is going to be quite important.

smobgirl > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 23:13

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I have a similar heater but mine has temperature settings, so I guess it just cycles however it needs for that to work. I get the furnace replaced in December but the end of last winter and beginning of fall it’s been cheaper to use those than the 60+ year old 125k btu gas  furnace with the broken blower motor, so there’s that!

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 23:14

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Step 1: throw out the shitty electric heater.

Step 2: install a hot water heat system, preferably tankless large boiler. Not that chintzy wall-mount bullshit.

Step 3: luxuriate in hour long showers that never go cold.

someassemblyrequired > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 23:21

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Ah yeah, that’s a no go if you’re renting. I’d stick with the ceramic heaters and space heat as required.

Resistance heaters like the ones you’re using are almost 100% efficient.   So the only real impact of the watt setting is on warmup time.   The other consideration is circuit load - if you have 2 or 3 on the same breaker, you’d obviously want to run on the 500W setting.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > smobgirl 10/28/2018 at 23:25

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My central heater is electric and designed for a mobile home and was probably the cheapest thing available when this 120 year old house was converted into three apartments. It works as well as you can imagine, meaning not very well at a ll. A friend had a similar size house and just spent $17K updating the HVAC, and I cannot see my landlord spending even half of that to make this system work better...

glemon > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 23:31

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When I was single years ago I would set the programmable thermostat to go down to 50 or something like that at night, and pile on the blankets, I think if the dog could talk she would have complained.

I don't think I could handle that during the day, but personal feelings aside, where do you live.  If somewhere that gets well and truly cold make sure you keep it warm enough that you don't let pipes close to exterior walls freeze.

BigBlock440 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 23:38

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Cheapest on the electric bill. No way I’m moving one of these heaters into the area with the therm ostat since I have no desire to heat that section of the house as that would be a waste.

So you’ve got electric heat and only one thermostat? But don’t want the room with the thermostat heated? Then I guess turning the heat off completely and relying entirely on these heaters, since the room w/o the aux heaters will be coldest and you’ll be running heat just to heat that room up.

As for most efficient way to run a single heater for a single airspace, it again comes down to what you consider “most efficient”.  It actually doesn’t take that long for the oil to heat up, the oil just keeps the heat output more consistent at levels under “max” since the heating element can turn on and off without changing the heat output immediately like the hot air ones.  It’s going to depend on how frequent you want the space heated, and how quickly.  Option 2 of leaving it off until you’re able to put it next to you would be cheapest if you’ll be there for any length of time (>15 minutes).  If you bounce around from room to room only spending a couple minutes in each, all day every day, you’re probably better off leaving it warm at a lower level.  

smobgirl > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 23:49

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Yeah, this is the first furnace anyone installed in my 110 year old house.

They’re probably still wasting a lot of electricity, but I’m pretty attached to my electric throw blankets in the living room and office (and so are the cats). 

Wild > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 23:53

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We run one in our upper midwest basement. Seems to fill the space best left on low setting with the ceiling fan on the lowest setting to circulate the air a bit on the coldest nights.

Wild > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/28/2018 at 23:55

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Also, plastic on windows if you haven't tried that yet.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/29/2018 at 07:56

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Lots of good suggestions here. I would encourage you to keep as much of the heat inside your house as you can. When we lived in Arkansas, the wind would literally blow through the house, so I put plastic film on the inside trim around the window, creating an additional barrier to the wind that worked its way around the casing. The house was built in the ‘30s and the windows were never replaced. I’d be surprised if there was proper insulation in the walls.  

Anyway, t he worst source of heat loss is the windows, especially if they are old and even more so if they are single pane . A good film kit will make a huge difference in how well your home retains heat.

I’m sure you’ve seen those huge tapestries they used to hang on t he castle walls? They weren’t just for looks. They provided insulation against the stone walls. You can achieve a similar effect if you’re willing to hang big blankets on your walls.

You can go one step further by sealing off some of the rooms ,  just be cognizant of the airflow required by your central heat. Cutting too much air flow through your central system isn’t good for it, makes it less efficient, and can even cause damage.

ArmadaExpress drives a turbo outback > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/29/2018 at 09:14

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I have one of these for my office in the basement. Once the unit is warmed up, I like to place a fan directed at it. A low speed fan helps warm up the room faster in my experience.

benjrblant > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/29/2018 at 12:11

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Sounds like one of those inline ammmeters/electricity usage monitors would help you out:

https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU

BaconSandwich is tasty. > atfsgeoff 10/29/2018 at 14:22

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I had a roommate at one point who had a big gaming rig. His room was a good 10 degrees Celsius above the rest of the house.