Can use of portable room heaters lowers the energy bills?
With rising energy prices and a cold winter underway, it’s tempting to think about using portable room heaters.If your central heat is electric, you’ll almost certainly save money by using portable electric heaters. In fact, part of the savings come because valuable heat isn’t being lost in the ducts before it reaches your living area.
If your central heat is gas, you might be able to save money by using portable electric heaters, but it’s not something to take for granted.
Your local energy prices and desired comfort level will determine the answer. Also, a typical central furnace will provide about 20-times as much heat as a portable, depending on its efficiency. Keep in mind that even if the hourly cost of using portable electric heaters is lower than for your furnace, you will be dramatically increasing your home’s overall power demand, which contributes to regional power shortages that ultimately can trigger blackouts and price increases.
The following chart may help you to find out how much your heating bill could be reduced by using portable electric heaters.
To use the chart, follow this four-step process:
1. Find your gas price on the left hand vertical scale and read over to the right until you hit the scale marked “Your Heating Bill.” This is the hourly cost of running a 100kBtu/hour central furnace.
2. Next, find your electricity price on the horizontal scale and read upwards until you hit the yellow line corresponding to how many portable heaters you would like have on at one time (one to five).
3. Next read from this point over to the “Your Heating Bill” scale to find the hourly cost of running a typical 1000 Watt portable electric heater.
4. Compare the two hourly operating costs to see which is lower.
In the illustrative example provided, a home paying $0.75/therm of gas and $0.25./kWh would save money if using two portable electric units. They would break even using three and would have an increased heating bill for using more than three portable heaters.
Source:www.radiant-heat-floor-methods.com