The Energy Department estimates that the cost to heat an entire home with electric space heaters cost 43% more than a gas furnace. Using a space heater in your bedroom only while you sleep is a practical way to use a space heater and won't make much of a dent in your electricity bill.
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.
Electric space heaters provide heat quickly, and because they run on household electricity, you never have to buy fuel for them. You don't get this kind of convenience for free, however, and you'll notice a hefty hike in your monthly electricity bill if you use one regularly.
If your heater is equipped with a good thermostat and you do not heat the room to a warmer-than-normal temperature, you can save money by using an electric space heater in a room you're in and keeping the rest of the house chillier.
Even though they are typically small in size, and often touted as 100% efficient, electric space heaters use a lot of electricity. Most space heaters use on average 1,500 Watts of electricity and cost about 15¢ an hour to operate.
Never leave your space heater alone in the room
The best way to prevent a fire is to never leave a space heater running in a room unattended—that way, if anything does go wrong, you can take action quickly.
So put on a sweater, as my fellow columnist says, and remember, if you are still cold, portable space heaters can indeed be more economical for the purpose of heating a small portion of the home, while gas-powered central heating can be most efficient for keeping your whole house warm and cozy.
Infrared Heaters – the lowest wattage per heat provided makes these the cheapest to run. Oil-Filled Heaters – their long-lasting heat makes the most out of the electricity. Storage Heaters – saves in running costs by using off-peak electricity tariffs.
According to Lyon Coffey Electric Coop, a single 600-watt space heater could cost you over $60 a month to run, while a 1500 watt heater could rack up more than $150 a month. This is based on running them 24 hours a day, which isn't recommended but people often do.
For example, if you are running a space heater in your basement home office for 8-hours a day, then you can expect to pay $1.60 per day. If there are an average of 21-work days in a month, then you can expect to add around $33.60 per month to your electric bill to run your space heater.
The electric space heaters tested at Consumer Reports use 1,500 watts to fully power. Since you should never use a space heater while sleeping, it would cost $2.82 a day to use a space heater 16 hours a day, based on the national average electricity rate.
Also, the maximum heat most small space heaters can safely produce is about 5,100 Btuh (Btu per hour). Homes typically have central heating systems with a capacity of 50,000 to 100,000 Btuh, so obviously a single space heater can't heat an entire house.
Regardless of the motivation, space heaters simply aren't a long-term solution for home heating needs. Space heaters are extremely dangerous. The National Fire Protection Association estimates that between 2009 and 2013, heating equipment caused more than 56,000 home fires in the United States.
Example (you can use an electric heater running cost calculator below for different wattages/kWh prices): If we assume the price of electricity is $0.1319 per kWh, a 1,500-watt electric space heater will cost; $0.20 to run per hour. $4.80 to run per 24 hours (day).
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.
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.
This can vary from heater to heater. Most cheap space heaters won't turn off automatically. Even if you have a space heater with an automatic shutoff function, you shouldn't rely on its auto-shutoff to keep you safe.
A modern space heater can be very safe to keep on for long unsupervised periods of time, including while sleeping. Be sure your heater is certified by one of the three major testing organizations and has features like automatic shutoff, tip over protection, a shut off timer, and adjustable thermostat.
Conclusion. While electric space heaters can help keep room temperatures warm, they can also be dangerous and cause fires. Space heaters should never be left unattended or used within three feet of any combustibles and should always be plugged directly into an outlet.
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).
Natural gas: $1,024
Of the four main fuels used to heat US homes, natural gas is the most popular and now the cheapest, as well.