Every year, as it gets closer and closer to winter, I go through the same process. It starts with sealing windows in plastic sheeting. Then I tape unused doors. Finally, I get in the habit of avoiding the mailbox every day after work because I am afraid of what my heating bill is going to be.
I live in an old, drafty house with an ancient, inefficient heater. I do everything I can to winterize my house and try to bring my heating bill down a dollar or two, but nothing seems to satisfy me. So a couple years ago I went out and bought four oil-filled radiant heaters from the hardware store. I thought they would be great because I could move them from room to room and keep everyone warm while cutting back on running the furnace.
As soon as I got them home I knew it was going to be a problem. They were tall and narrow and got very hot to the touch. There was no way I could comfortably put one of these in my 4 year olds' room. Soon I realized how inefficient they were, too. They took quite a long time to heat up and once they got hot only the things near them stayed warm: they were useless in bigger rooms. Finally, I was anxious to get my utility bills the next month. I was not surprised to see the gas bill go down a little because of the heaters, but I was surprised by how much my electric bill went up. These little things sucked up a lot of juice!
I kept with them, although sparingly, through the rest of the winter simply because I did not want to waste the money I had spent on them. By the time the next winter was rolling around I was back on the market for another heater, and with the knowledge and experience I had gained the previous year I had three criteria in mind: it had to be safe to put in my kid's room, it had to be able to heat a larger area, and it had to be cost efficient.
Through a friend I had heard of Comfort Furnace infrared heaters and decided to give them a shot. It was on the top end of my price range, but it met at least one of my criteria right away: it was short, square, and cool to the touch. There was no need to worry about it tipping over or having someone burn themselves on it.
I brought it home at the end of November and planned to use it through December to see how it ran. After the first night I was convinced by its performance. The little heater had my living room comfortably warm within an hour. There were no hot and cold spots, and everyone felt the heat wherever they sat. I specifically remember it being 34 degrees outside and I had the house thermostat set at 58 degrees. The Comfort Furnace brought our living room (about 750 square feet) temperature to 69 degrees all on its own.
The final test came in January when I got the December bills. Again, I knew the gas bill would be lower because the furnace rarely came on anymore, but I was shocked when I saw the electric bill. It had gone down compared to the same month the previous year. It worked out that the Comfort Furnace ran on about a day in electricity.
Although the upfront cost was significant, the heater paid for itself in the first year. I have since bought a second one for the upstairs of the house. Now, instead of letting the furnace take care of everything, I give it a little help with the Comfort Furnace. Each unit can heat up to 1000 square feet, so one upstairs and one downstairs is perfect for us. I will never go back to the old oil-filled heaters again.
