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How to Keep Your Home Warm This Winter
Saving on Your Heating Bill How to Reduce Heating Bills |
Does anyone know anything about the quartz infrared room heaters that are advertised in various newspapers? How well do they warm a room and how economical are they? We have a propane furnace, which doesn't heat our house very well. We are wondering if something like this would heat the living room while allowing us to keep the thermostat down. I think they are a little pricey, so I would like to know if anyone has had any experience with them before we decide to buy one.
K from Wyoming
We had a friend who purchased one of these heaters. At the time, there was an ad in the local paper for the Amish heaters as well. We went out to Wal-Mart and purchased an electric fireplace to see if the quartz heater or the electric fireplace heated better. Unfortunately, a quartz heater was not able to heat our living room and dining room space as well as the electric fireplace. We were thankful for the opportunity to borrow it, so we could find out for ourselves. There are many brands out there. For us, it is cheaper to use the electric fireplace than to turn on our fuel oil furnace. We are looking into adding electric baseboard units in various rooms of our house to heat during the winter months.
b57501
We live in Minnesota and have propane heat as well, but due to some weird remodeling by previous tenants, there are no heat vents in the living room (where the thermostat is) and dining room (which is now an office). The furnace ran constantly and we were using 100 gallons a week to keep the house at 60 degrees during the daytime and 55 degrees at nighttime. We bought one of the quartz infrared heaters and cut our heating bill in half. We bought another one, and this year we haven't had the furnace on yet, as of the first of December. Our electric bill went up about $25 per heater, which is about what the blower for the furnace used.
Lucinda
We purchased two EdenPURE quartz heaters two years ago. We use one in the basement and one upstairs. We subsequently put a wood burning stove with electric blowers in the fireplace as well last year, so our home stays nice and warm even in the coldest months.
Before installing the fireplace and using the quartz heaters, we went through four large tanks of fuel oil in one winter (at about $900 per tank.) Last year, we used only one tank of fuel oil all winter. Our electric bill did go up but not nearly enough to outweigh the savings in fuel oil costs.
I like the quartz heaters. They have temperature controls and will come on only when the room is cool enough to trigger heat. They can comfortably heat a very large room, stay cool on the outside and are safe for children and pets. They can't tip over, but if they did, they will not start a fire. They're very safe heaters, and even though expensive, I'd recommend them.
Carla
We bought one last year and promptly returned it. It did not give off much heat and the electric bill doubled.
KJ
I couldn't recommend them enough. I believe the one I purchased last year cost me about $30 a month to run continually. I was able to turn my thermostat down to 60 degrees while it remained about 75 in the 800-square foot area where I used it. My gas bill didn't drop significantly from the year before (maybe $20 a month), but all of my neighbors were complaining because theirs had gone up $80 to $100 from the prior year. It's really hard for me to judge how much it saved overall, but I'm sure that it more than paid for itself the first year. I'm enough of a believer that I purchased another one this year for my office building and one for the basement. Why heat the whole space when only using a small portion?
Cathy
We purchased one of the EdenPure™ heaters about a month ago and it does a fine job heating our family room and kitchen while keeping the thermostat down to 63 degrees. The rest of the house is chilly, of course, but we spend most of our time in the two warm rooms. It is a nice heat and very quiet. I can't give you a comparison on cost savings since we've only had it one month and don't have our heat and electric bills yet. The salesperson we talked to said a couple of his employees purchased it and saved about 25-30% on their utility bills. I think that's probably more realistic than the "up to" 50% the ads claim.
Roger
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