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I live in a 3 bedroom, two bath, large den, kitchen, attached garage Patio home. I live alone except for when my kids are in from college which is rare. I am hot natured so I keep my electric heating usually set at 60 degrees. However if it is extra cold like zero, I may turn it up 2 or 3 notches and it goes into Aux/emergency mode.

I went outside yesterday and looked at my Kentucky Utility's Meter and it was circling as fast as roadrunner running...(in Aux emergency mode), and it was 38 degrees outside...so I went back in and turned the heat off and went back outside and it was barely moving (which was amazing).

I'm hot natured so the cool house doesn't really bother me. However, since I only use one room in my place would an IHEATER (infrared heater) better serve me? I wonder how fast the meter would turn with one of those plugged in or would it really make a difference. I would of course have the heat turned completely off if I used an iheater.....I'd still keep it set at 60 to 64 degrees... does anyone know for sure? Please advise. Thank you,

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    For anybody else who is mystified like me: 60F = 15.5C; 0F = -18C; 38F = 3.3C Commented Feb 3, 2014 at 16:24
  • It looks like an IHEATER is a fairly high powered heater, which probably has a higher fire risk than central heating. If there's any risk you'll fall asleep (through fatigue or alcohol), or temporarily leave the heater on while unattended, then please ensure you have a correctly installed and tested smoke alarm in any room you're operating the heater in! In fact, when it comes to consuming too much alcohol, a smoke alarm may not even wake you, so best not to use it at all in that case... Commented Feb 7, 2014 at 4:00
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    Does your central heating simply use an electric element, or is a heat pump (air conditioning) system? Commented Feb 7, 2014 at 4:01
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    @HighlyIrregular: If you didn't know this - Aux / Emergency Heat mode is pure electric heat. It comes on automatically when it is too cold for the heat pump to operate, or you switch it on if the system fails. This is very common throughout the USA, and cuts in to the value of heat pump systems dramatically. You are better off with natural gas (where available - cities) or propane (expensive and shipped by truck, but way cheaper than... Electric). The Aux / Emergency heat issue is a MAJOR part of the OPs question. Commented Jul 29, 2015 at 0:10

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You don't make clear what type of heating system you have at present, or what the Kentucky Utility Meter measures (electricity? Gas?).

However, it sounds as though it may be some sort of heat pump system where "aux / emergency" mode turns on a resistive electrical heater. If this is the case, then you may find the answers to this question useful, and perhaps this one in particular. If this is not the type of system that you have, then it would be worth clarifying for people to better help you :-)

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  • I'm sorry, I am renting a patio home and I am on Kentucky Utilities. It is all electric. However, my meter turns very fast when the water heater is turned on and also just as fast when my unit kicks into Aux/emergency heat. I keep it at a low heat too. Never above 66, right now i've got it set to 60. I only use one room in my place and wondered if it would save me money to buy an iheater, for the room i use and keep it at a certain temp like 66. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!! Commented Feb 4, 2014 at 21:52
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    I think the best advice that I can give, given the information available, is "probably"! Infrared heaters are quite cheap, so I'd buy one and test it :-) Do remember that you'll want some background level of heating in the rest of the house to prevent things from freezing. Commented Feb 5, 2014 at 9:32
  • I've got one arriving this monday. Thanks!! My place is new, well, 3 and 1/2 yrs old and I'm not surrounded any other units so I'm not insulated by another buildings like in a regular town home.which is good but down for the insulation heat problem but ill try that infrared heater and do you know how cold it has to get in a home for pipes to burst? it normal never gets under like 56 even when the heat is off.i know that's a dumb ques. but i don't know how pipes work in a newer home.thanks so much.... Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 10:33
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I realize you were specifically asking about using an infrared heater but that still is an electricity consumer and depending upon where and what your electricity comes from, may or may not be sustainable. Have you considered utilizing something along the lines of a Tea Light Heater? It may not be viable given your particular situation but it's possible it might be just what the doctor ordered for you.

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So here’s the deal—infrared heaters are way better for saving electricity, especially since you live alone and mostly use one room. Think of them like little suns: they heat you and your stuff directly, not wasting energy on heating the whole room’s air. That’s what your central electric heat does, so it’s way more wasteful. Since you can turn off that central heat completely and just use an infrared heater in the room you’re in, your electric meter won’t spin like crazy anymore. And keeping the temp around 60–64°F (16-18 °C) is perfect—you said you run warm, so that’ll keep you comfy without overdoing it. Grab one with a thermostat too, so it shuts off when it’s warm enough.

Give it a shot! I bet your bill will drop a ton, especially after you saw how fast the meter went with central heat in emergency mode. Let me know how it goes!

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No. The solution is not infrared. It's heat pump.

Any infrared heater has to produce so high temperatures that they essentially have to be resistor based. This direct conversion of electricity into heat is inefficient.

Heat pumps do better. They move heat from a cold reservoir into a hot reservoir, while consuming less energy than what goes into hot reservoir.

Heat pump is inherently incompatible with infrared, since infrared means temperatures of at least several hundred degrees Celsius, whereas industrial heat pumps max at maybe about 90 degrees Celsius (and this might require two-stage pump), and residential heat pumps max at maybe 60-70 degrees Celsius.

Also, the solution could include intelligent distribution of heat to different rooms. Water-circulating underfloor heating systems should be able to do that, and so can radiator based systems.

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  • I think it's clear from the question that the home has a heat pump, and the high electric consumption occurs when the backup resistance heating kicks in because it's too cold for the heat pump to work efficiently. Heating just a single room with electric resistance heat would certainly be cheaper than heating the whole house. Commented Oct 19 at 20:22

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