Should You Turn Up The Thermostat Or Use A Space Heater?
Once the cold season hits, keeping warm is one of the most important concerns in most Americans' minds. However, staying warm in winter is not a straightforward problem. Heating costs energy, and without a certain level of planning, your energy bills can eat into your monthly budget.
One of the decisions that people have to grapple with is when does it make sense to turn up the thermostat and when does using a space heater make more sense. Knowing the difference here can save you a lot of money.
Inadequate Heating in One Room
Depending on how the installation was done, there are certain rooms that may not be properly heated by the central heating system. This isn't a big issue when you're talking about a walk-in closet. However, if it's a home office or some other room where you spend a lot of time, you'll need a solution.
Turning up the thermostat to increase the level of comfort in one or two rooms is not the most cost-effective solution. Using a space heater in such situations works much better. However, the cost benefits of space heaters reduce drastically with increase in space or number of rooms.
Avoid Comfort Heating
Many people use space heaters for comfort heating or to supplement central heating to attain higher comfort levels. This, however, can quickly drive up your energy bills.
If you have a room that's inadequately heated, don't use the space heater on top of regular central heating. Turn down the thermostat first to limit the amount of energy used up by your central heating.
Central Heating Best Practices
Unless there is an actual need to use a space heater, you should always rely on central heating to warm up your home. Central heating uses more than 50% less energy than space heaters. This can make a significant difference in your energy bills.
If your central heating doesn't properly heat up certain parts of the house, call a heating repair contractor and start discussing a better long-term solution. This may be installing a new furnace or improving the circulation of hot air in your house.
Space Heater Best Practices
You should think of space heaters only as temporary solutions. The cost of using space heaters may be more than the cost of a long-term central heating solution. Ensure that you also get the most energy-efficient space heater available to minimize energy consumption.
