Saving Money This Year With Space Heaters?

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Bill Lauto is an Environmental Scientist and Energy Consultant who has been teaching how we can save our money, energy, environment, and health, since 1982. Mr. Lauto operates GoingTrueGreen.com and his work has been published in magazines such as: Consumer Report, Kiplinger's Financial and Business Ethics.

That’s a good question, because today most Space Heaters are less expensive to buy. However, how do you save money on your home’s heating costs by using a Space Heater?

Most Space Heaters use electricity, functioning like a giant toaster, to create heat. That of itself is inherently costly to operate. So despite the marketing claim that Space Heaters can help save on heating bills, they can actually cost more money. Here is why:

1.) A Space Heater cannot heat your entire house.

2.) Using a Space Heater in a room that is always cold because your house heating system fails to provide sufficient heat to that room, will not save you money. This will cost you more via your electric bill. Suffice to say, you will save more money in the long run, by having the heating and delivery system for that room evaluated and repaired.

3.) Operating a Space Heater with a timer every day, can cost you more. Just being plugged in with the timer running will use electricity and if your schedule changes for arriving home on several days or evenings, you will be paying a higher electric bill to heat an empty room.

4.) Going to bed or leaving the room where you are using the Space Heater without a timer and forgetting to shut off the unit, will cost you much more money.

The Bottom-Line to saving money with an electric Space Heater is by using the “Warm Room Concept” in the following and only effective way:

Dinner is over, you and the family are settling down to watch a movie together in the family room. You lower all the thermostats in the house to 62 degrees Fahrenheit and turn on your family room holographic fireplace with the heat setting at medium. After the movie is over, everyone helps clean up the snacks and you shut off the holographic fireplace and heat. Everyone gets in bed and under the covers. About 45 minutes prior to waking up the next morning, your multi-set back clock thermostat, kicks-in as scheduled and raise the heat to 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

So by doing the “Warm Room Concept” for the evening and all night, with your Space Heater that has several temperature settings (never use the highest setting which can be thousands of electrical watts) and multi-set back clock thermostats, that is how an electric Space Heater can save you money.