Is it better to heat one room with a space heater or use a furnace to heat your entire house? The short answer is you should use a space heater and keep the house at a lower temperature, since it's more efficient than heating the entire area of the house.
If you have a smaller home
In smaller homes, it's almost never worthwhile heating an individual room and is generally better to heat the whole house.
Advantages to heating just one room
Heating one room, particularly if you have electric radiators can offer you a great reduction on your energy bills. Kitchens are potentially rooms that do not need heating, after all you are moving around when your are in there, getting food ready or making a drink.
Most Efficient Heating System: Geothermal Heat Pumps
Probably the cheapest way to heat your home, ground source heat pumps or geothermal heat pumps are less common than air source heat pumps, but provide among the most efficient heating system solution.
According to experts at the Energy Saving Trust, the idea it's cheaper to leave the heating on low all day is a myth. They're clear that having the heating on only when you need it is, in the long run, the best way to save energy, and therefore money.
The Department of Energy estimates homeowners using programmable thermostats this way can save as much as 15% a year on heating and cooling by simply setting back the temperature by 7°-10°F for 8 hours a day from its normal setting.
Space heaters do use less energy as compared to using central heat. However, they are not as efficient as space heaters. As such, having a space heater in every room in the home and turning them all on at the same will only cost you more, not less. When you purchased your heater is also a factor.
If you're asking 'Is it more expensive to turn heat on and off? ' in a short term sense, the answer is a resounding yes. Consider this scenario: it's Winter, it's just a couple of degrees outdoors, and you want to turn your heat up.
Central heating is most efficient
So, if you don't need to keep every room at the same temperature, you can use individual room thermostats or radiator valves to target the heat towards rooms you use the most.
For every degree that you lower the thermostat can help you save up to 1% on your heating costs. So, if you turn down the heating eight degrees for about eight hours a night, you can enjoy a saving of approximately $180 annually on your heating.
A modern furnace is more efficient in turning gas into heat than a gas fireplace. This means that although a furnace costs more to run per hour than a gas fireplace, it turns more of that energy into heat and can warm a whole house rather than a single room.
So, is electric or gas heat cheaper? Using off-peak electricity, conventional electric heating may cost about twice as much as gas heating to run. And here's why: electric heaters are essentially 100% efficient. In other words, all the electricity they use is turned into heat.
Furnace. In general, furnaces are the most efficient of the heating systems, especially if you have natural gas. They work by heating air with a component called a heat exchanger and pushing it into the home through a duct system, using a fan (often referred to as a blower).
Gas is generally much the cheapest form of heating, but its cost depends on a number of factors, including your supplier, tariff and boiler.
The startup process for a furnace consumes more energy than simply running the entire time at one set temperature, costing you additional money. To maximize efficiency, it's best to keep your furnace (or AC) at the same consistent temperature for long periods of time.
The average home will stay warm for 8-12 hours after the power goes out. After the first 8-12 hours, most homes will experience a gradual cooling over the course of the next couple of days.
For winter, the ideal thermostat temperature is 68 degrees Fahrenheit when you're at home. Energy.gov 68 degrees is a good room temperature while you're awake at home, but recommends lowering it while you're asleep or away. Lowering your thermostat 10-15 degrees for eight hours can reduce your heating bill by 5-15%.
The best bedroom temperature for sleep is approximately 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 degrees Celsius). This may vary by a few degrees from person to person, but most doctors recommend keeping the thermostat set between 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 to 19.4 degrees Celsius) for the most comfortable sleep.
Most space heaters use on average 1,500 Watts of electricity and cost about 15¢ an hour to operate. While that may not sound like much, it can add up quickly if heaters are left on for several hours a day.
According to research from Energy Helpline, keeping your radiators on all night will cost you an extra £10.80 a day. Over the course of a week, that would cost you £75.60, and if you did it all month you could be paying out a whopping £335.
How Much Does It Cost To Run Gas Central Heating Per Hour? If you use mains gas, you'll pay roughly 2.4p per kilowatt-hour. This means that if you have a 35 kW boiler, it will cost you around £0.84 to run it for an hour. However, if you use LPG, it can be a little more expensive.
Set your thermostat to 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter
According to ENERGY STAR, setting your thermostat to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) when you're home is the ideal balance of comfort and energy efficiency.
This is particularly true if you are still using an older, manual thermostat with a dial and a slider. When you want more heat in the wintertime, you just turn up the thermostat and get the extra heat. And when it's too stuffy? You turn the thermostat back down.
Hot, dry air can leave you dehydrated, and even reduces your ability to fight off infections. Leaving the central heating on all night can also leave you thirsty and with a dry mouth.