Tips on heating the house this winter (part 3)

The 3rd and final part for heating the house on the cheap this winter includes the debate of electric vs gas heaters. I am not sure what the most common type of heater is installed in most american homes so I will just focus on what each type means.

Natural gas prices have gone up considerably in the recent years. And gas based home heating systems are fairly common (even I have one). This is a true story:

When I first moved in to my home (first time home buyer). I used the gas heater 24x7 at around 74F. My house heating bill was $300/month!. This was a real shocker. I talked to a bunch of home owners and most didn't know any way out. I took the matter in my own and tried searching the internet for a possible solution. Thin thing I found was that electricity prices have remained steady for a long time and heating your house using electricity could be considerably cheaper. However as a new home owner who had paid a huge down payment, I didn't want to overhaul my H-VAC system and install a new electric system.

So I decided to use a small oil-based convection heater in conjunction with my house's gas heater. The electric oil based heaters are virtually noise-less because they don't have fan, and they heat the air surrounding them by using the convection (i.e. cold air remains at the bottom of the floor and hot air rises).

I found a huge reduction in my heating bill. My gas bill was only $50! (and my electricity bill only went up by $30 for that month). Total savings of more than $220!

Here are some good quality oil based electric heaters:

1. DeLonghi TRH0715 Oil Filled Radiator Heater ($49.99)
   
2. DeLonghi EW7707CM Oil-filled Radiator with ComforTemp Technology ($59.08)
3. Lakewood 5600/7 Constant Temperature 3-Setting ($40) - currently out of stock but you can pre-order now.

(all are available with free super saver shipping)