I was curious about the heating pad v seed warmer difference too but mine is mostly for some plants that seem on the edge of unhappiness from the poorly regulated temperatures. I reckon if I can help them through to longer days than more light will help them too. "Water risk" is balony, IMO. My partner's (not so bright) ex made what was essentially a 6' heating element wired into an extension cord. I had to pack her stuff (yup) and when I saw that I was alarmed. Fortunately she's a dilettante and had forgotten about her (messed up interpretation weed filled) fling with what she called permaculture. So apparently some 15 years ago you could buy bulk heating element but I strongly encourage you to follow at least basic safety precautions. If you plug it in and the naked element scorches you, that's not good.

Hi mangodude: I live in fl/jax and I have some very tropical things here with good success. Of course, I lived and learned like all of us... Remember, this is just what I do! Please, don't be mad at me if your plants die or your house catches on fire... About Christmas lights: Be very careful if you use them. The only two plants I have lost died because the Christmas lights over-heated the trunk and killed my guava about 6 inches from the ground. I had wrapped the lights on the trunk and covered it with a blanket, you should not do that... So, I just use warm water and infrared heat lamps now. Here is what I have done to keep my mango, keylime, guava, and others alive: 1. If potted: I just bring them in the garage (no extra heat needed). 2. Planted in ground but small: place a large bucket (5gl) of warm water right next to the trunk and cover plant with a sheet and then a blanket. 3. If planted but large: I use two large buckets of warm water next to the trunk plus one or two 250W infrared heat lamps placed on the ground looking up toward the canopy. Also, you must cover the tree for the method to work. 4. If planted but very large: keep adding more heat lamps or more heat sources until you feel it is ok. The methods above I use when it is a tender plant. For other plants (E.G. oranges) often you can just place hot water and/or heat lamps under the tree and not cover it and it will be fine. It all depends on the minimum expected temperature, check the NWS forecast right before you go to bed the night of the freeze to make sure that your protection is sufficient. *** Important *** To succeed you have to use your common sense. If you heat your plants too much they will die or cause a fire. If you do it properly, they will make it through the freeze without any problems... Here are some tips for making the above methods actually work: 1. Only cover your plants when needed. If the temps are dropping close to a point of danger, lets say 33f for the mango, I do nothing to protect it. I believe that they will become hardier if allowed to come close to dangerous temperatures. If the NWS was wrong and it drops to 30F, then you get minor damage, so what, it will recover. Of course, when plants are very small I tend to protect them a little more... 2. Common sense measures: Stick your hand under the tree (where the heat source points) and feel the heat. If it feels to hot (hotter than the sun) than it probably is too hot and/or too close to the plant... 3. Do not use more heat than its needed: I have a $10 wireless thermometer that I stick inside the tree canopy to check the effect of my heating and covering on the temperature. You will get better at it as time goes on, I hardly ever use my thermometer any more. 4. Experiment before the freeze comes: Make sure you have what you need to cover and/or heat the tree. Remember, the cover should go all the way to the ground and be firmly secured in place. 5. It can be done: It sounds hard, but really it is about experience and instinct. I have a very tender keylime tree here in Jacksonville that has grown from 1ft to 8 ft high and produces hundreds of limes without ever having a problem with a freeze. Of course, I protected when necessary, which frankly is not very often. I even pick limes in the winter... Good luck!

It sounds as though you aren't getting adequate heat from your central heating system. There are a lot of things that could cause that depending on the kind of heat you have. I'd check that out first before going on to anything more costly. If everything is working properly, that implies that the design for heating the bathroom is undersized. It might be possible to add another heating register or increase the size of the hot water baseboard heat to give you adequate heat to the bathroom, for example. Seattle Pioneer

On the tile electric use. I doubt it is that much but I don't know in the new house. In my last house, I didn't notice a bump when we put it in but like most people our electric varies $10-20 each month even when it isn't temp related. Zone 7, 120V, 800 watts or so, 140 sq ft, above insulated crawlspace. New house is 240V 1600watts, 200 sq feet, 2nd story. Both times I used the wire technique. Obviously electric use is dependent on how you set it. If you only run it for the hour before showering (about the heat up time) - then you are looking at no more than $.15 a day - even with a large bathroom. You also have to count about 1/2 of that to lower your heating costs. I say 1/2 because electric resistance heat is about two to three what other systems costs - but it depends on your primary heat system. You should also include in that, that your bathroom floor is one of the most important places to be warm, so you might wind up lowering your thermostat a degree. My wife and I like it cold at night so our bedroom zone is at 60 - the bathroom floor needs to be a bit warmer than that. But without heated tile, we might need to bump our stat to 62 or 63 and the bathroom still wouldn't be as comfortable. So don't be overly concerned about the electric use. Be concerned but don't forget the substractions to the cost. So if it costs $10, it may provide $4 worth of heat to the house, and then might allow a degree down your stat at night which saves another $4. So in the end, it might be $2 a month....