One of the major concerns of homeowners and renters alike is controlling the cost of home heating. Other than shopping around for the best price on a particular fuel, consumers have little influence over what they ultimately pay. Where they are able to exercise a high degree of control is in their choice of an energy efficient heating appliance.
Of all the appliances available for supplemental heating including pellet stoves, wood stoves, natural gas fireplaces inserts, and space heaters; electric space heaters are the most energy efficient.
Since electricity is 100% efficient, so also are electric space heaters. Although you can’t improve on the heat delivery efficiency of an electric heater, you can improve any heater’s power consumption efficiency with two simple measures.
1. Use the heater’s thermostat. If your heater is equipped with a thermostat, set it at a comfortable level and let it do its job. Allowing the heater to continually run on the High setting will not deliver a level of extra comfort equal to the cost of the extra power.
If your heater doesn’t have a thermostat you can purchase a programmable outlet thermostat that plugs in between the outlet and the heater. An outlet thermostat can be moved from room to room with the space heater and performs double duty in the summertime with a window air conditioner.
2. Another way to make your electric heater more energy efficient is by reducing power consumption with a power strip/surge protector. Many new electronic appliances such as TVs, battery chargers, and electric space heaters are always “on” even when not in use. The popular term for this overlooked source of power consumption is “phantom load” and probably accounts for a higher percentage of your electric bill than you would imagine.
You can put a stop to unnecessary power consumption by plugging all of your “instant on” appliances into power strips and switching them off before you go to bed or leave the house.
Not only will a power strip reduce the unproductive use of electricity, it will protect your appliances and home wiring from potentially dangerous overloaded circuits and power surges.
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