I guess I had a while before having to worry about this stuff, but it's 35 degrees outside now, and it feels the same indoors as well. My roommates told me they don't want to turn the heat on until at least after Thanksgiving, but it's okay to get a space heater for my room.
I was reading about the types of heaters online, but I'm not sure which kind would be best. My room is pretty big, I guess about 400 feet. So I guess I need to find a way to heat only part of it, or find a heater that is powerful to heat the whole room. Does anyone have suggestions?
Edit: Also, I was wondering if those window shrink wrap things will come off cleanly in the spring? It looks like a good idea...
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Convince your roomies to turn on the heat, possibly paying for a bigger share until after Thanksgiving? Otherwise, if you were to use like a rolling oil heater, all you guys will still be paying higher electricity.
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I don't use it for more than 30 minutes anyway. Just enough to get the room warm then it's off.
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Every space heater I have ever seen or used has given me the distinct impression that it had somehow burnt my air. I would prefer death via impalement upon a slowly forming ice stalagmite in a cold cave of despair over the sickly-sweet smell of the dead air that emanates from one of these horrible horrible devices.
that said, the only form of heat I've ever really found comfortable was my childhood home's hot water radiator boards.
I miss those.
Electric heaters are great if your room is a bit chilly but they are not meant to heat a full room in near freezing weather. Shrink wrapping your window, unless your window is really drafty, it won' make a big difference in terms of the space heater working better. If you get one your electric bill will go through the roof though. As for the dry air, I have this issue in my apt because the building is steam heat so I bought a humidifier for my bedroom and that solves the problem.
Also, if you don't turn it on and your pipes freeze/burst your landlord will anally violate all of you. You will be liable for the damage and that shit won't be cheap. Just turn the damn heat on.
Second, just set the thermostat at a reasonable level and tell your roommates to suck it. Put it at 68 or something, and explain that's a very reasonable and cost-efficient thermostat setting for during the day, and explain that the weather really doesn't give a fuck what month it is, cold is cold.
you can get oil or water based space heaters as well that look just like plug in radiators. they look like this:
edit: oh, and plastic your windows if they are old or single paned. they sell kits at home depot.
i second the oil filled heater suggestion... they're cheap ($30-40 for a basic one), and safe, i.e. they don't have a red-hot exposed element that can set something on fire
you will have to pay for the electricity, however... but if your roomies split the bills, fuck em... live nice and toasty while they pay part of the cost
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For me, the biggest problem is my hands. I wear gloves some of the time, but it's hard as well to cook, eat, and type with those things on.
Anyway, my roommate is trying a similar thing by buying space heaters and using them to keep the apartment at 60 degrees without having to touch the thermostat. I'm guessing this is going to end poorly for him? Luckily, he's the only one who pays utilities.
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Also, I have a good down comforter that keeps me toasty at night.
From what I've gathered in this thread, he'll just end up paying more for electricity instead of gas.
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This would be true completely regardless of what the date was. I had to get an inspector to explain to a previous landlord that they didn't give two shits what the date was, and that cold is cold and that's not livable.
In short, I do not believe that it is unreasonable for you to turn on the fucking heat. Your roommates are being ridiculous, and they will pay far more to run your space heater than they would to run a proper heater.
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I spent the summer with a family that would turn on the swamp cooler and then set up a complex set of baffles in order to ... well I don't know what the fuck they were doing. My novel idea of setting up a "tunnel" in which cold air would move from the cooler, to your person, and then out a window was promptly shot down, as anything that violently cold was obviously costing a mint. The fact that air was actually leaving the house was all the proof they needed that my frigid contraption was the most inefficient and ridiculous thing anyone had ever seen.
I am still blamed for the four hundred dollar August electricity bill.
2. If you guys are splitting the electricity/gas bill anyway, and you feel you'll use the space heater in the future, then go ahead and buy an oil/water-based heater. Just make sure you think long-term and look at the energy it uses and the amount of space you'll actually need to cover.
3. If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you could try to educate your roommates? I don't see why anyone would feel like it's a good deal to pay $40 more per month just to heat up your room, when they could just pay $20 to heat up the entire place... Then again, people can be ridiculously stubborn sometimes.