By STEVE ODEN
Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative Staff
All heaters are not created equal, especially electric resistance portable space heaters.
With spiking prices in natural gas, propane, home heating oil, and kerosene this winter, portable electric space heaters have been selling like hot cakes at hardware and discount stores. The small heaters are fine for zone heating, but consumers need to be aware that resistance heaters gobble kilowatt hours of electricity.
In attempting to avoid higher seasonal energy costs by shifting from fossil fuels, consumers might be adding to their electric bills.
“A 1,500-watt electric resistance heater can use over $3 in power over a one-day period,” explains Buckeye REC Consumer Services Manager Russ Elliott. “Multiply $3 by a 31-day month, and you’ve added $93 to your electric bill.”
Consumers need to carefully consider whether it’s worth heating their homes with portables, according to Elliott.
“These heaters are not designed to provide whole-home heat. You’d need one in every room, running on high, during periods of extreme cold. We’ve seen as many as six portable heaters running in a single home. This causes huge electric bills.”
Portable electric heaters come in all shapes and sizes, but all operate on the same principle. Electric current is used to produce either radiant (heats objects) or convective (heats air) heat. There are ceramic disc, coil, or ribbon-type models, passive convective (baseboard or oil-filled), and fan-forced convective.
“What’s common to all these models is their purpose. They are zone heaters. You can heat one room without heating the entire house. This might produce a savings, but a zone heater in every room is going to become very expensive,” Elliott warns.
He also cautions against using extension cords with portable heaters and leaving the units unattended.
“There are safety issues. Never use a portable heater that’s not UL approved. They should be equipped with a tip-over switch, and check to make sure the unit does not overload the wall outlet where it is plugged.”
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