CEO Note - No such thing as a miracle heater

Winter temps often equal higher bills

Another year is starting and I want to wish everyone the best in 2012. While January always brings the hope of a fresh start, it also brings the heart of winter. It’s seems it is typically in January and February when we feel the full wrath of winter and experience those nice single digit days that leave us longing for spring. Unfortunately, those days also make us look for ways to bring up the temperature in our homes. This, in turn, increases our utility bills no matter what heat source one may use.

Relying on space heaters may disappoint

This colder weather makes the staff here at your cooperative brace for calls from members concerned about the higher bills. I will concede that some of those calls will come from disappointed members who expected to save money by relying on space heaters to heat their homes. Let’s talk about heating your home in general and the use of electric space heaters.

Best way to heat is sealing home's envelope

Space heaters are generally not very cost effective. Call Tipmont for a cost analysis to determine how you can save on heating your home this winter.

First, as I have mentioned before in these articles, we need our members to recognize their home is a living and breathing system. The best way to heat (or cool) your home is to seal the home’s envelope and use a properly installed and efficient whole house system. I won’t go into great detail on this topic here as I want to focus on the supplemental use of space heaters. If you want more information on this topic, contact your Energy Advisor, Jim Clark, here at Tipmont. Jim’s contact information is available on our web site at www.tipmont.org or you can reach him by phone.

No such thing as miracle heaters

Turning our focus to space heaters, I want to make one thing clear to our members. Now, this may upset some salespeople and manufacturers out there but here goes…..there is no such thing as a “miracle heater.” Yes, I said it! These in-home flyers, magazine and newspaper advertisements (designed to resemble news articles), e-mail blast, TV infomercials, and mall kiosk are marketing efforts designed to do one only one thing and that is separate you from your hard earned money!

A watt is a watt is a watt

While technology has improved and heaters may have become more efficient over time, the laws that govern electricity are much like those of physics. Neither sees a lot of amendments! With this in mind, here is another fact and a great quote I will attribute to our energy advisor, Mr. Clark, “A Watt is a Watt is a Watt.” In other words, if a person plugs in a 1500 watt space heater it is going to use 1500 watts of energy. Putting a very nicely built mahogany cabinet around a $30 space heater and charging people $350 for it doesn’t change the amount of power that unit is going to use. It’s not a miracle. Let’s be nice. For the sake of argument we’ll call it a misrepresentation of a product’s true potential to perform.

Do a cost analysis before making a purchase

If you are using these units, Jim can do a cost analysis for you. I think you will be shocked to see what these will actually cost you. Oftentimes people tell us things like, “the salesperson told me these heaters would cost me pennies a day.” If this sounds familiar, think about this…did they quantify how many pennies per day?

Efficient does not equal cost-effective

Don’t get me wrong, electric resistance heaters are efficient. For every unit of electricity that is consumed by these devices, they will produce one unit of heat. The problem is they are just not very cost-effective. Again, and I can’t emphasize this enough, no matter how you slice it, a watt is a watt. It doesn’t matter what kind of heater or appliance you have. If you put 1,000 watts in, you get 3,412 British Thermal Units of heat out.

Multiple heaters multiply costs

We often visit homes after receiving calls from members and we find three to five electric space heaters in their home. The average consumer struggles to understand why their bills are so high. The simple fact is the cost of operating multiple electric heaters is almost always significantly more than most central heating systems.

A Tipmont energy audit could save you money

If this article hits close to home I would again encourage you to contact Jim. He has the experience and knowledge to help guide you in your quest to save on your heating bills. In closing, I implore you to ask questions and do some research before you buy any “miracle heaters.” I think you will find that facts will cut through a lot of marketing hype and could save you a significant amount of money and frustration in the end.

Have a great New Year everyone!