Alright so last winter I froze my butt off and the heating bills nearly bankrupted me. That’s when I started seriously comparing eheat versus regular heat systems. Here’s exactly how I figured it out step by step.
First – why even bother?
My old gas heater sounded like a dying tractor whenever it kicked on. Plus November’s bill hit $300 which made me choke on my coffee. I knew eheat options existed but had no clue if they’d actually save money or just move the cost to my electricity bill.
Testing the eheat route
Grabbed three portable heaters first:
- Oil-filled radiator: Super quiet but took forever to warm the room
- Ceramic tower thing: Heated fast but dried the air so bad my plants nearly died
- Infrared panel: Weirdly only warmed objects not the air – felt great standing under it but useless otherwise
Ran each for a week in my bedroom while tracking the power meter like a hawk. Made spreadsheets because I’m that kind of nerd.
Gas system experiments
Meanwhile I tried squeezing savings from my ancient furnace:
- Sealed every damn window with weatherstripping tape
- Turned down thermostat to 68°F and wore three sweaters indoors
- Paid $120 for some guy to clean the ducts (big mistake)
Surprise surprise – gas bill only dropped $30. Still outrageous.
The cost showdown
Did the math comparing my best eheat option (the oil radiator) against the gas system:
- Eheat cost per hour: $0.18 keeping just bedroom warm
- Gas system per hour: $0.41 heating whole house
But here’s the kicker – I only need heat where people actually are! Why pay to heat empty rooms?
Hybrid solution FTW
Ended up doing this weird combo:
- Kept gas furnace for brutal January days
- Used eheat in office during work hours
- Infrared panel in bathroom for morning routines
- Smart plugs to auto-shutoff everything at night
Final result? Slashed winter bills from $300 to $180. Took like 4 months of tweaking but damn it feels good not throwing money at utility companies.