Heat Pumps and Electric Heating - Electric "fireplace" heater save money?
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natedana
09-27-09, 06:11 PM
Just a question on whether anyone feels that the electric fireplace heaters save money on the electric bill during the winter. I have a heat pump in my ranch home and was thinking that purchasing a electric fireplace heater and turning the temp on the heat pump down might help me save money? Anyone already have some information on this before I spend the money on the fireplace? Thanks in advance.
airman.1994
09-27-09, 06:34 PM
Heat pump 3 to 1, Electric 1 to 1. You do the math. I only went to community college, but 3 times the heat for the electricity going into it looks better than 1 to 1.
dac122
09-27-09, 07:40 PM
Nope. Your heat pump is far more efficiency down to a certain point. But depending on what your backup/auxiliary is it might be cheaper than that.
gunrunnerjohn
10-07-09, 08:55 AM
The location of the property and the winter temperatures would be real useful here in calculating the efficiency of the heat pump vs. resistance heat. :)
Beachboy
10-07-09, 09:30 AM
Also please realize those Amish fireplace heaters and the other "miracle" heaters that sell for several hundred dollars are no more efficient than a regular electric heater you can get anywhere for $25 or so. Electric resistance heating puts out 3.413 BTU's for every watt input....so a 1500 watt heater will put out 5,200 BTUH regardless of how "cute" it is packaged.
I'd agree with the other guys, leave your heat pump providing the heat, and leave the thermostat set at a constant setpoint. Setting a heatpump back at night then raising the temperature by 10 degrees or so in the morning puts it in emergency heat mode to make up that big of a heat loss, which really costs.
If you DO need a small electric heater to supplement a chilly room, just buy a regular electric heater, not the fancy over-hyped models that do nothing more than make their marketers rich.
I'd agree with the other guys, leave your heat pump providing the heat, and leave the thermostat set at a constant setpoint. Setting a heatpump back at night then raising the temperature by 10 degrees or so in the morning puts it in emergency heat mode to make up that big of a heat loss, which really costs.
If you DO need a small electric heater to supplement a chilly room, just buy a regular electric heater, not the fancy over-hyped models that do nothing more than make their marketers rich.