Space heater bills?

Hi, I see many people here are using the oil-filled radiator to heat the the room temperature for ball python in plastic tub.
I also have the oil-filled radiator but was not my main option to set good temp in the tub. However, doing some tests, I might have to run oil filled radiator for my single ball python when it gets cold.
My problem is the electricity bills. Even though I am a college student, I live with my family and electricity bill is on my parents at this moment.
How much increase of electricity bill should I expect if I put it on for 7~8 hours a day? Also, do radiators run full blast all the time? or is it like thermostat where I set it at 75 degrees and it turns on and off depending on the temp? If it does, I guess it can save some bills.
I use delonghi oil filled radiator 1500 w.

I don't know about your electric bill. But good luck trying to keep consistent temp in the room using the radiator thermostat. I have my snake in it's own room and I tried that for 2 days and I couldn't do it. At night I had to bump the temperature knob up because nights are colder, but by mid morning the room would get too hot and I had to turn it down and turn it up again in the afternoon... you get the point. I finally plug the heater to a Vivarium Electronics thermostat and the probe is inside my ball python tub, I set the VE thermostat to 80F and it keeps the tub at that temp day and night. Much easier!

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Originally Posted by RickyNY

I don't know about your electric bill. But good luck trying to keep consistent temp in the room using the radiator thermostat. I have my snake in it's own room and I tried that for 2 days and I couldn't do it. At night I had to bump the temperature knob up because nights are colder, but by mid morning the room would get too hot and I had to turn it down and turn it up again in the afternoon... you get the point. I finally plug the heater to a Vivarium Electronics thermostat and the probe is inside my ball python tub, I set the VE thermostat to 80F and it keeps the tub at that temp day and night. Much easier!

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I don't think my single snake will get a own room lol so far so good I think. Once spring comes, I wouldn't need any outside heater.

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Originally Posted by RickyNY

I don't know about your electric bill. But good luck trying to keep consistent temp in the room using the radiator thermostat. I have my snake in it's own room and I tried that for 2 days and I couldn't do it. At night I had to bump the temperature knob up because nights are colder, but by mid morning the room would get too hot and I had to turn it down and turn it up again in the afternoon... you get the point. I finally plug the heater to a Vivarium Electronics thermostat and the probe is inside my ball python tub, I set the VE thermostat to 80F and it keeps the tub at that temp day and night. Much easier!

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Get one with a built in digital thermostat. I've been using the same one for at least four or five years. I have it sitting in the middle of my snake room. I set it and forget it.

Like this.

https://m.lowes.com/pd/DeLonghi-5-12...ing/1000107815

I can't say I've really tested how much mine cost me but I don't think it's much. In the cold months I don't run my home's heater much as I like it cool so that saves me some money. During the cold nights in my bedroom I have a oil filled heater just like the one in my snake room. The snake room is usually set to 77 and my bedroom around 66. They get plenty hot on cold nights and keep my rooms warm and stable. I've had no issue with either.

Mine even have a remote which is handy to make adjustments from bed.

If your family runs the house heater the oil filled heater will only do a little work. I doubt your family will notice adding the oil filled heater.

In the end the only way you'll know is by trying it.

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Originally Posted by gusanr14

I don't think my single snake will get a own room lol so far so good I think. Once spring comes, I wouldn't need any outside heater.

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When you posted that you live with your family I thought my might have your own room... and thus the snake would be in your room. ;) :D

I use a heater for my entire snake room and dont notice much of a spike in electricity. Idguess your parents would have no comaints if you just paid them the few bucks a month difference.

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I ran one on High one winter to thaw my Pipes in our Laundry room, we were -20° and my Pipes broke.. The bill went up $20 that month.
Last year in a 12'x12' room I quarantined a snake for three months. I ran the Electric oil heater on Low (room was 75-78) and the bill went up around $8-$10 a month.

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Originally Posted by gusanr14

Hi, I see many people here are using the oil-filled radiator to heat the the room temperature for ball python in plastic tub.
I also have the oil-filled radiator but was not my main option to set good temp in the tub. However, doing some tests, I might have to run oil filled radiator for my single ball python when it gets cold.
My problem is the electricity bills. Even though I am a college student, I live with my family and electricity bill is on my parents at this moment.
How much increase of electricity bill should I expect if I put it on for 7~8 hours a day? Also, do radiators run full blast all the time? or is it like thermostat where I set it at 75 degrees and it turns on and off depending on the temp? If it does, I guess it can save some bills.
I use delonghi oil filled radiator 1500 w.

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I use a space heater for my snake room. I haven't noticed a huge increase in my bill. My heater runs 24/7. I'm in Canada and its -11 Celsius (12 degrees) so I kind of need it. I do notice with the ceiling fan on the humidity drops to low, with it off it gets to high. So I'm constantly turning that on and off to get the proper humidity.

You could get one of those inline power meters (Killawatt and other brands). Most will let you enter your cost/kWh and calculate exactly how much it's costing you per day/week/month.

How much the heater will need to run is very dependent on the room it is being used. I was running mine in an unfinished section of my basement and it was running at full power (1500W) practically all the time. Huge hit to electric bill. I just moved everything to a finished enclosed room and I can now run it at 600W and get to target temperature no problem.


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A 1,500 watt heater consumes 1.5Kw per hour. On Long Island, we pay around $0.20 per Kwh. Theoretically, running a 1,500 heater would cost approximately $7.20 per day or $2,628.00 per year.

The good news is that you probably aren't going to run these heaters non-stop. How much will it really cost? It varies. What is the temperature of your snake room under normal conditions? What is the temperature you want to achieve by adding a heater? How many watts is your heater? How much do you pay for energy where you live?

If you really want to know the cost to operate, you can purchase a smart plug for $30 that will monitor the energy consumption of any appliance in great detail. https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Monit.../dp/B0178IC5ZY

Like everyone said, it depends on to many other factors and how hard the heater will have to work.

If the room is already at least 70 degrees and its a relatively small room, then it won't have to work very hard.

It also depends on how "insulated" your room is. If you are going to do good with keeping your door closed, that will help. If you have a well insulated window, that helps. Caulk around the edges of the window, often there are "drafts". You can also invest in some "room darkening curtains". Not expensive at all, easy to put up, and when drawn they really keep the cold from entering the room through the glass. Draw them closed at night and on esp. cold or windy days. They actually help in HOT climates, too.

Whenever you have a pleasant day, try to get some air exchange in that room by opening the window briefly or leaving your door open for a short time.

Watch the snakes humidity.

At the beginning of this winter I ran one on an external thermostat. Sadly it increased my electric bill by $80 in one month. Mine were in QT at the time but I have since moved them down to my main floor with my other snakes but I do have to keep my home furnace thermostat set to 75 in my whole house. But this option is still cheaper than running the oil filled heater - at least for me.

Two things are key - the size of the room and how much insulation it has. It would be best to heat a small size room, even just a large closet. Try to get as much insulation in there as possible. I have a small bedroom in my basement that I converted, I put up some real thick foam insulation in the outside window and duct taped it in place and covered it with a fancy blanket wall hanging, can't even tell it's there. That saved a ton of electricity. I also put down luxury vinyl flooring on the concrete floor. Now instead of a cold floor it actually feels warm to the touch. I also have two racks of rats in there, you wouldn't believe how much heat rodents can put out, I could probably heat my house with rat racks LOL. My space heater hardly ever comes on. I run a space heater and control the temp with a 'greenhouse thermostat'. You can dial in the temp and just plug in any heater and it controls the temp to +/- one degree F, they work fantastic:

https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Tool...use+thermostat

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