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[Annabellethecat66]

I never thought of it as a way to save money. I guess I bought it because it filled up a space and is cute.

If you live in an apartment or small house maybe it could help save money. It does blow out a lot of hot air.

[Marienkaefer2]

I have gas heat, but I have an oil filled space heater downstairs.

We do have to be careful. Our gas bill might be lower, but the electric goes up. It's a wash imo. It's mostly just about comfort when we're downstairs.

[Feliciti]

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@depglass wrote:

Unless you have electric heat, why would your bill go down? They say a quarter an hour is what it costs to run these things. So run one for four hours a nite and your bill will go up $30.00 a month.

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Because you can presumably lower the thermostat on your main heating. We have electric baseboard heat in a small house, and our winter bills are usually around $300.

[Feliciti]

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@meem120 wrote:

My Duraflame increased my electric bill by $60 a month. Thats exactly what they said. 25 cents /hour for 8 hours a day = $2.00 a day x30days = $60.00 a month. Spot on!

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So you didn't lower your main heating thermostat?

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[Feliciti]

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@RASHIKE wrote:
They do run on electricity, don't they?? Figure .20 to .25 cents every hour they run. You do the math!

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But you lower your thermostat on your main heating. So you can't do the math. You have to wait till you get the bill to see what the total effect was using the Duraflame plus lowering your thermostat.

[Feliciti]

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@bells4me wrote:

I think it depends on where you live, and your source of heat. If you have to use oil it probably is cheaper. I have 2 Duraflame's & quit using the heat feature after the first month. It's much cheaper to use my forced-air natural gas heater. I was back down to $45 this month & that includes my stove & hot water heater. I use a radiator oil heater for my dogs & parrot in their small room at night, use my electric blanket & turn the heat off. My electric bill was only up $3 this month. We have had temps in the teens for the entire month. January will be my highest month, February second. Long story short, I only use the flame feature. I also got mine much cheaper at Walmart & Kmart. Sorry, think they will be a décor item.

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I'm so jealous. Our electric bills in the winter in a 1000 sq ft house here are around $300.

[Feliciti]

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@Feliciti wrote:

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@depglass wrote:

Unless you have electric heat, why would your bill go down? They say a quarter an hour is what it costs to run these things. So run one for four hours a nite and your bill will go up $30.00 a month.

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Because you can presumably lower the thermostat on your main heating. We have electric baseboard heat in a small house, and our winter bills are usually around $300.

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I wanted to amend my reply to say that I know you said unless you have electric heat, but I'm still saying regardless of your type of heating, I would think it may be possible for your bill to go down with judicious use of a Duraflame. Just surmising, though. I only ordered mine this morning.

[SilleeMee]

I have natural gas heat in my house and I bought an electric infrared heater as a backup source of heat in case my furnace went out. One winter I decided to see how much it would cost to supplement my gas furnace with my infrared heater and lowering the furnace thermostat for one month.  I was shocked to see how very expensive it is to heat my house with electricity. Definitely not cost effective to say the least. I will only use the electric heater in an emergency situation.

Another thing...the only room that was warm was where the electric heater was placed. The rest of my house was freezing!

[libbyannE]

Why would you expect utility bill to go down if you are running electric heaters? It costs money to run an electric heater. That's ok (we have two DImplex electric stoves), but it isn't the most efficient type of heat. 

[SilleeMee]

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@libbyannE wrote:

Why would you expect utility bill to go down if you are running electric heaters? It costs money to run an electric heater. That's ok (we have two DImplex electric stoves), but it isn't the most efficient type of heat. 

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@libbyannE,

The sales people who sold me the infrared heater pitched a long story about how efficient and money-saving the heaters were. At the time, the infrared-type heaters were relatively new on the market and little was known about their operating costs. The little info I could find at that time also stated the heaters could "save you money" on your heating bills. I fell for it and bought the dang thing.

The purchase wasn't a total waste. I'm glad to have it around just in case my gas furnace quits working. And that was my original reason for buying it.