Dollar Stretcher
(featured column)

Choosing a Safe Space Heater

by Gary Foreman

Q - Last year when the price of natural gas went up, I was shocked at my heating bill. Almost an entire week's paycheck a month was going to keeping my house at only 65 degrees. I decided a change had to be made. I sewed a heavy floor to ceiling curtain and hung it in the hallway separating the bottom floor of my house from the upstairs. That way I wasn't heating empty bedrooms and a second bathroom all day long. I turned my furnace thermostat down to it's lowest setting and bought a small electric heater to heat the bottom floor of my house during all but the time we were sleeping upstairs. My heating bill went down almost 35 percent! 

This year gas in my area is going up 12 percent and electric is actually going down. I am thinking about not using gas heat at all and getting another electric heater for upstairs at night. I am confused about what kind of electric heater to get. Which is the most efficient? I've seen quartz, ceramic, coil, and oil filled but I don't know which one works best? No matter which one I get I will try and get one with good safety features. - Mary

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A - Mary has discovered one of the best ways to reduce your home heating bill. Only heat the rooms that are occupied. Especially when there's only one person at home and they're only using one or two rooms. And the simplest way to heat a room is to use a portable electric space heater. 

Space heaters convert almost all of the electric used into heat. In that, they're very efficient. Unfortunately, electricity is often made from gas, oil or coal. And only about 30% of the energy used goes into electricity. 

So while you probably wouldn't want to use electric to heat your whole house in a cold climate, it's often the most cost efficient method for heating a smaller area. According the Central Maine Power Company the average cost of an electric heater is 13 cents per hour. 

Mary is also wise to be concerned about safety. Space heaters can be dangerous. Even deadly. Especially if you have small children. Safety features are an important part of the purchase decision. Make sure that you read and follow the instructions.

Space heaters generally provide heat in one of two ways. Radiant heaters actually heat the objects at which they're aimed. They do not heat up the air in the room. The other type, convection heaters, warm the air around them. 

Not heating the air is an advantage for radiant heaters. There's no drafts from moving air. And radiant heat is great for heating just portions of a room. You're only heating the areas where you want heat. Just point the radiant heater at the chair that you're sitting in!

Radiant heaters use a variety of heating elements. Many use quartz tubes. Quartz heaters generally cost less than $70 and are rated between 750 and 1500 watts.

Parabolic heaters use a ceramic core. They cost a little more than quartz and put out about the same amount of heat per watt used. Ceramic element heaters are safer than heaters with coils. They use a larger heating area so it doesn't need to be as hot.

Halogen or reflective heaters use an energy saving halogen bulb to produce heat which is reflected on nearby objects. The feeling is much like having the sun shine on you. 

Convection heaters can heat a whole room more quickly than a radiant heater. That works well if there are a number of people in the room or they're moving about within the room. Some convection heaters also have fans to circulate the air in the room. 

Convection heaters are inexpensive. You'll get one rated up to 5,000 Btu's for less than $50. 

Like radiant heaters, convection heaters use a variety of heating elements. Ceramic disc heaters cost up to $150 and produce up to 5,000 Btu's per hour.

Oil and water filled units are the most efficient convection heaters. They utilize a heating element in a bath of oil or water. Like a water heater, the element cycles on and off. The water or oil stays warm in it's container and heats the surrounding air. 

So which heater is best for Mary? Since she's considering a nighttime application people won't be moving around. So she's probably best choosing a radiant heater for each occupied bedroom. And, unless she has young children with inquisitive hands, the halogen or ceramic heater will provide more heat per kilowatt hour of electricity. Whatever Mary picks we hope that her utility bill won't be the hottest thing in her home this winter! 

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Copyright © 2004 by Gary Foreman

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