My bill has never been higher!!

10 years ago

Please help me out here. I did TONS of research to see what my equipment puts out in wattage and was even on another forum. I like to get a 2nd opinion here. Here's my scenario:

I have ONE ROOM that I want to heat. My SMALL living room. I have been using baseboard heating since I got the house 18 years ago. When winter comes, its expensive. So, I decided to try infra-red. Ever since I put it in, my heating bill has been going up and up. But then again - its a very cold winter! So I want to know - if its the new heater causing it, or the cold weather.

The specs:
My home is kind of old. Was built in the early 70s. It has a 10 foot baseboard heater. Upon research, I see that the average is 225 watts per foot. So that makes this heater 2250 watts.

My infra-red heater is 1500 watts. Its only used in the living room, and we have a heavy blanket covering the entranceway into the dining room, so the only room being heated by this device is the living room.

So - is it more expensive to run this infra-red heater? Or should I keep using the baseboard heater. In the other forum I asked this in they were talking about heat distribution methods, and BTUs, and more. Does this really factor in? I just want a 2nd opinion. Help me save money!

Thanks!!!!

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Comments (8)

dadoes
10 years ago
Electricity is metered/billed in KwH (kilowatt hour), which is 1000 watts used over 1 hour of time.

Reference your last electric bill. Divide the $-amount billed by the KwH stated. That's your cost per KwH.

Cost of running an electric device, calculate the following --

- Wattage Rating of Device / 1000 = KwH of the device

- KwH of the device x Your Billed KwH cost = cost to run the device for 1 hour.

However, you need to determine the specific wattage consumption of YOUR baseboard unit, not an "average" for baseboard units in general. Also consider if the baseboard unit is on a thermostat and cycles on/off to maintain a target temp vs. whether the infrared unit cycles or not.
BlakeStone
Original Author
10 years ago
I do understand how to figure out the cost, Dadoes, thank you for responding, but there is no way of telling what the wattage is on my baseboard heater. Its too old, and there is no tag affixed to it.

The baseboard heater is on a thermostat though, and it does cycle on/off to maintain the temp. So what do you think.... is it cheaper to run the infrared at 1500 watts, which runs 24/7 to maintain a temp, or the baseboard heater which maybe runs at 2250 watts, and is on a thermostat?

THANK YOU FOR REPLYING.
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User
10 years ago
2nd of all, your portable infrared heater also has a thermostat and turns on and off as required.

I assume your living room is occupied when you want to heat it? If so, the infrared heater directed in the general direction of the occupants is probably more effective in making you feel comfortable than the baseboard does.

In order for you and other occupants to feel comfortable, the baseboard heater must raise the temperature of pretty much ALL of the room's air. The infrared can be directed at a smaller volume of air - the air in your general vicinity.

Take a look at the circuit fuse or breaker for the baseboard heat... and also the voltage. The infrared heater presumably has a label attached. Check back and we can likely give you an educated guess as to the wattage of the baseboard... if you really need to know.
BlakeStone
Original Author
10 years ago
Yes, the infra-red does have a thermostat that turns off an on. But it seems to go non stop. And yes, we are in the living room when the heater is on. That's where we spend 90% of our time.

Its not really warm, but it doesnt matter - we like to save money. So even if its a tiny bit cold, we just use a blanket too.

As for the circuit breaker for baseboard heat. The one in the basement? I believe its on a 15 amp fuse. The infra-red heater doesnt have a tag - it just says 1500watts.

I really do need to know. Its driving me crazy!

Please, your best judgement.
User
10 years ago
15 amp fuse and 120 volts suggests maybe 1500-1850 Watts for baseboard. As you say, 1500 Watts for infrared.

I'd again suggest it is likely that you can direct your infrared heater toward the occupants and experiment with nudging the thermostat down. If you can do this, I suspect this is the most economical method to meet your needs.

That said, if you must keep one or the other of the heaters on the maximum setting of 1500 Watts and it still is not comfortable with either, it would seemingly make no difference.

It is my experience with one 1500 Watt Infrared heater pointed directly at me at a distance of 4-6 feet that I could stay warm in an igloo... the igloo would still be cold, but I'd feel toastie!

YMMV
weedmeister
10 years ago
you went form resistance heat (baseboard) to resistance heat (infrared). Resistance heat is the least efficient way to heat a home.

Having said that, the differences are how the types of resistance heat put the warmth into the air. Those are hard to quantify. I have 4 types of electric heaters and each act differently in heating the air. But they all tend to boil down to the same heating ability.
User
10 years ago
duplicate....

This post was edited by saltidawg on Sun, Feb 9, 14 at 22:48
User
10 years ago
Never mind....

This post was edited by saltidawg on Mon, Feb 10, 14 at 8:48

My bill has never been higher!!

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My bill has never been higher!!

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dadoes

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