Heating costs

For those that heat their rooms for tubs/racks how much do you spend a month?

Got our first PG&E bill back since I started heating the bedroom with a radiant oil heater and am not happy. Then again the boys are always opening the door and I'm always telling them to close it quickly behind them. And the apartment had no insulation in the walls. Tomorrow I'm going to stop by lowes and see about that widow plastic that you use the hairdryer to seal to stop window drafts.

Electric is about $250/month keeping the HVAC/heat pump t-stat at 65*F in the winter and the snake room at 75*F with it's own electric heater. BUT the house is 2600 sq ft and we run a gunsmithing business at the house, and some of the machinery runs off of 220V 3-phase so that really racks up the bill.

I run my 1100sqf apartment at 75-77 degrees all year round because I'm always cold. Along with my racks and my husband's lots of computers, we pay $130-150. Running back heat for ten snakes amounts to $3 to $8 of that total.

With my enclosures that have UTHs and heat bulbs all running 24/7. My elec is about $25 more a month that if I had nothing..

I'm using a ceramic heater with a thermostat in my snake room. The rest of the place is sitting around 70-72, and it's on the floor set to 75 (so really around 80 at chest/head height). The cost of running that has been so marginal I can't actually pick it out on the electric bill against the background noise of the hubby's varying playstation usage etc. Running two racks on a herpstat seems to average $8/month and the incubator is $4-ish.

if you go for full room heating, insulation really is everything. wall, floor, window, door, if you want low running cost with full room heating, you really need to find and fix the heat leaks.

the good news is that when you invest money in insulation, and your bills are lower month after month, it pays for itself after a while.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pythonfriend

if you go for full room heating, insulation really is everything. wall, floor, window, door, if you want low running cost with full room heating, you really need to find and fix the heat leaks.

the good news is that when you invest money in insulation, and your bills are lower month after month, it pays for itself after a while.

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Yeah but not much I can do at present time. Trying to convince the roommates to spend a bit more so we can get a nicer place. For right now I added the plastic insulation and thick curtains to the window.

Thanks for the responses guys. Keep them coming.

For my snake room I got one of the electric heaters that looks like a fire place instead of running the heater. It's energy efficient and will save u in the long run. Takes less then running the house heater.

Still cheaper than a dog *cough cough* ;)

Geez, I'd take you guys heating bills any day!! My landlord just switched our apt building over to electric this year.... $585 was this months bill. My usual is $96 and that running filters and lights for 3 turtle tanks, filter and light for fish tank, and the snake room at 75-76, heat tape at 90.
There are sooo many drafts in this place it's ridiculous, can't wait for spring!