Do area heaters save more money than turning on the central heater?

Question

My family just moved into a 5 bedroom house and the weather is getting kinda chilli. To make matters worse, my room stays cold constantly. I had an area heater with automatic shut-off to keep my room a certain temperature thoughout the days and nights. My mom told me not to use it because it might run up the utility bill. Now, she has the heater and my room is the only one that's really cold. And to make matters worse, it's about to snow. The only way that I can get it back is if I can convince her that my little area heater with automatic shut-off is more economic than the central heating system in our house that doesn't heat up my room in the first place..

Can anyone help me?

Thanks!

:)

Sources are very much welcome and needed if possible... :)

Answer 1

OK if you only want to heat a small space.

Answer 2

Acttually it depends on the location of your room. If the central heating system of your home is running and your room is located in the same zone or level where there is only one thermostat, then running an extra heater will increase your utility bill. In case if your room is located in a different level or zone for which if there is a separate thermostat, then you can switch of your thermostat and you can use your own small room heater  in such a case you will be able to save some energy and your utility bill will also not goes up/

Answer 3

A central heating or cooling system will always cost more than a single heating/cooling unit.

Basically, the central heating system heats up all the rooms that the duct work brings to. Unless you have a separate zone. (2 or more thermostat controlling different areas of the house. Normally split from level to level) Imagine heating a 3000 sq. ft. of volume versus heating a 200 sq. ft. of volume.

Check the vent outlet to see if any hot air is blowing into your room when the central heat is turn on. It might just be the duct that connect your room to the furnace had felt off or blocked. Also clean the filters and see if it help.

If turning on the central heat and your room still don't heat up, get professional help to check you heating system.

Hope this advise is helpful. Good luck.

Answer 4

Absolutly a good idea. It's costing a bundle to run the heat throughout the house. Cutting it down to one or two rooms would be smart. And also, to help, you can put towels or something under the door to help keep the heat in.

Answer 5

Since electric space heaters do not lose any energy through ducts or combustion, they're considered to be 100% efficient. All of the warmth generated by the space heater will radiate into the room.

You can also calculate the cost of the space heater like this:

It uses 1.3 kwh, so if you use it for one hour it costs approximately $0.080613 -- so if you're using it about 8 hours a day, the monthly bill would come to $19.35.

The second link below also has a very helpful article on it.

Answer 6

In your case, I think a space heater is a great idea. Since your room is so cold (like someone else said, make sure your heater vent is open) using a space heater will be more efficient than turning up the heat for the whole house. To convince your mom, put a thermometer in your room so you can show her just how cold it is. Also, make sure your window isn't drafty.