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Let's talk space heaters and now also fire places
Quid
Definitely not a bananaRegistered User regular
Definitely not a bananaRegistered User regular
Nature is starting its annual attempt to kill my wife and I and I'd like to save money keeping the cold at bay. Our current home is three stories counting the basement with the heat in there and the top floor going pretty much completely unused most of the day. Add on to the fact that they both drain the heat from the main floor and our gas bill while not ridiculous is larger than necessary. One of the remedies I've considered is a relatively large space heater for our living room since we spend the bulk of our time in there. Would this be a decent way to save money? Or would I just be transferring my high gas bill for a high electric bill? And if it is worthwhile what's a good option to go with? I haven't even seen a space heater in over a decade much less purchased one.
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The living room is on the middle level with open stair cases to the top floor and basement on one side and an open path to the dining room/kitchen opposite the front. We both generally consider ~70-72 comfortable. We've been making due with ~66 and more clothes though are hands still end up ice cold.
If its the latter see if you can adjust the balance to put more heat to the living room. If the former , I don't know.
Not fear mongering or anything, but I'd avoid space heaters if you can. In my opinion they are just devices you buy to burn your house down at some random future date, but if you do get one make sure you follow the instructions religiously and with a paranoid fervor. One of the big rules about them that people ignore is the keep things X distance away from the device to allow airflow.
Don't let your dog pee on your space heater. Thats... a smell with flavor.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Pelonis-1-500-Watt-Electric-Oil-Filled-Radiant-Portable-Heater-HO-0218H/202295910?N=c4lh#.UogEnPl4LkI
I use one of these at work and it's pretty good for heating a room.
First, get one with a deadman switch on the bottom, so if it's tipped over it will turn off.
Second, follow the safety instructions as far as where to place the heater and keeping flammables away from it.
Third, only use the heater when you are in the room. Make a habit of turning it off when you leave a room.
Do these things, and you probably won't burn your house down.
Also, if you can, get one with a parabolic reflector. Mine is like that, and it provides heat in a nice focused "beam" instead of trying to heat the whole room.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
You can use them to create "thermal airlocks" that will prevent the heat from escaping your living room, and as a side bonus your house will look like a sweetass arabian nights style harem.
How cheap is wood while we're at this?
Edit: The hall curtains won't really work here. A picture of the opening in to the dining room:
Throwing up a curtain there would not only be hard but block a big source of the light in our home.
I would look at getting motorized dampers installed in your duct work so you can seal off the vents upstairs while just heating the living room. Talk to a Heating contractor about this as in the long run, it may be cheaper than buying space heaters.
I don't know what this person is talking about. When I was growing up, the fireplace was our only heat source in the winter and it kept the whole house warm.
As for firewood, you'll need a place to store it. If you can find someone to haul a load to you that would be ideal. I don't know where you live, but in my area you can get a cord of firewood for around $100 delivered.
And definitely make sure it is functional, with a clear chimney and flue, before you go lighting fires in there.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
The second step is go after air leaks to the outside on the top floor - sealing the windows for winter can make a huge difference in the amount of air pulled up through the house.
They also tend to be inefficient and bad polluters, but you can buy firebox inserts to rectify that. That also helps with heat output because you burn the gases that are released from the wood instead of them being released into the atmosphere.
Yeah, they'd need to season that wood.
Depends on the type of fireplace. A woodstove type where you have a metal enclosure that sits inside your house is basically an old school space heater, and can do ok heating a room. The usual fireplace that's built into a wall and made out of brick doesn't do anything. Most of the heat goes up the chimney, and you end up with maybe half a room that's warm (obviously depends on the size of the room).
For central air you can definitely make huge changes by just closing vents in unused areas.
Another thing to consider with a space heater is that they draw a lot of power. So when you take a room that already has several large power drawing items (TV, various tv related electronics, computer, laptops, charging phones, ect..) adding a space heater may put you over the breaker limit for that section of your house.
I'll try hunting for vents tomorrow.
Can you put a door at the top of that staircase? And your basement staircase as well? But mostly the one that leads upstairs.
Looks like the basement vents were already closed which actually explained why it was always horribly frozen down there already. At this point I think I'm just going to commit to a space heater and see what our gas vs electric bill looks like after a couple months.
It being on a separate level still will allow warm air to waft up since hot air rises.