Will an Electric Space Heater Save You Money?

LESLIE: George in Utah needs some help with heating. What can we do for you?

GEORGE: Oh, well, thank you for taking my call.

TOM: You’re welcome.

GEORGE: I had a question about some electric panel heaters that I saw …

TOM: OK.

GEORGE: … in the back of Popular Mechanics.

TOM: Alright.

GEORGE: The little ad advertisement was, you know, save at least 50 percent off your heating bills [1] and it says that it’s a low-powered draw panel heater that you just simply bolt to the wall. It’s supposed to cost you pennies a day and I was kind of curious as to if you have any thoughts on that.

When compared to using gas to heat your home [2], is this really going to be the big, you know, the big energy – or excuse me – the big monetary savings [3], using these electric panel heaters in rooms as opposed to your natural gas heater and a programmable thermostat [4]? You know, they can shut heat down when you’re not using it.

TOM: Do you remember the name of the product?

GEORGE: Well, I know the website that was referred to. It was the letter E – Eheat.com and they sell them for about $100 a piece and it was basically off of an ad that I saw in the back of Popular Mechanics.

TOM: George, I think the kind of product that you’re talking about is essentially a space heater [5]. It mounts to the wall and it has a …

LESLIE: It looks pretty cool.

TOM: Yeah. It usually mounts to the wall and it has – I should say off the wall a little bit so that air flows behind it. It sort of creates …

GEORGE: Right.

TOM: … a convective loop, which is fine. I mean, you know, you could have an electric heater sitting on the floor that will do the same thing; this is just a wall-mounted. However, this is not designed to heat an entire house. It’s really designed just to put in some additional heat to one or two rooms, perhaps a bathroom or a basement.

LESLIE: Or a room that has a lot of windows or…

TOM: Mm-hmm.

LESLIE: … not enough insulation.

TOM: Yeah. Maybe like a Florida room or a place like that. So I think it’s a pretty efficient electric heater but in fact, it is an electric heater and not designed for the entire house; just designed for those rooms where you just need to add some additional heat.

GEORGE: Yeah. In reading the ad – and that was why I asked you guys first, because it is a hefty investment at $100 a heater and the ad, you know, I think kind of overpitched the product but that’s why I was kind of curious and wanted to ask the question first.

TOM: Alright. Well, we hope we helped you out.

GEORGE: Thank you very much.

TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. Protecting against the overpitch; a wise Money Pit listener.