OT EdenPure Heater?

[jeff outwest]

Wife and I live in an old farm house that is very seasonal, ie: Hot in he summer and Cold in the winter. Paul Harvey claims that these are great heaters and can save me money in the long run. Does anybody have one? What is your opinion? Buy heater or insulation?

 

[Bill in IL]

I really like paul harvey's comments they can be quite entertaining. He was right about the bose wave radio when he used to advertize those the do sound great but when it comes to heating no heater will replace extra insulation. My garage in insulated better than my house cause it's 100 years newer than the house and with a small heat source out there it is more comfortable to be out there cause there are no drafts coming through the windows and walls. Insulation is cheap and keeps paying you back everyday in energy savings and comfort.

 

[fixerupper]

Is your house rented or owned? If you do own, do you plan to live there for a long time? What shape is the house in? If you own and plan to live there awhile, it's insulation hands down. Yes, it costs more than the heater, probably a lot more depending how you have to go about it, but the heating bill will go down and the comfort level will go up. Make sure the house is tight, too.

I was raised in the old two story farm house I live in now, in Iowa, and when I was a kid we had no insulation and the windows and doors were old and drafty. Heat was an oil stove that couldn't keep us above 50 degrees on the coldest days. Today it's the same old house, but with new siding, blown in insulation in the walls and insulation behind the siding, along with new windows and doors. Expensive? Yes it was, but I did the windows and siding myself, so that saved a little money on labor. The oil stove was replaced with a gas heater of the same size (no more soot!). If we wanted to we could keep the house eighty degrees on the coldest days now. Kind of a long story, but it's a good example of what can be done. Good luck, Jim

 

[Red Dave]

It's all marketing. An Edenpure heater will do no more and no less than any other portable, electrically powered, quartz heater of the same wattage.

 

[Coloken]

Way over priced. Go to Ace hardware and check out their heaters, or do it on line. You only get so much heat from a kilowatt, no matter how much you pay for the heater.

 

[suptscottyb]

Fixerupper is right on here! Lack of Insulation is why most houses are cold when it's cold and hot when it's hot. Start in the ceiling. Heat rises and the majority escapes thru the ceiling and roof. You will get the most bang for your buck up there. Next check your windows, If they are single pane - replace them, money better spent. A new heater is only going to send more heat out the roof. Scottyb

 

[Anonymous-0]

The only way that I can see that they could save money is by keeping the room that you use the most warmer by using the electric heater and letting the rest of the house stay colder. Your electric bill will not look as good though.

 

[noncompos]

Insulation , new windows or good storm windows, caulking up all the little holes....oops: getting mixed up here between what takes a lot of money and what doesn't..the point being, if money's tight and won't cover an all-at-once insulation/window refit, there's lots of things you can do yourself, little by little, that'll make a difference. Check with your Extension agent, or the equivalent, your local anti-pollution people (running heaters less reduces pollution) and just surf the web for pointers. You can make your own storm windows (so they're only 75% effective as professional: they're a d--n sight cheaper, etc.
OH: hot in the summer? can you put in plantings that keep direct sun off part of house? Stuff like that.Good luck.

 

[Walt Davies]

Jeff you need to get a large loan and go though the old place with new double or triple pane windows and better doors if needed. You need to seal up all those holes that have been growing in size for past 100 or so years and then add plenty of insulation. After it is sealed up and well insulated then add a ceiling fan in all the rooms where you live.
Now get a Good heater we have a pellet stove and it cost about 1/3 what our old wood stove did and it can be put on a timed thermostat to come on and go off or set back to keep the house evenly heated.
It will cost plenty you can do it a little at a time or take out a second mortgage and get it all done at once. But after you get it done you will have a nice snug warm in the winter cool in the summer house that you will enjoy for many years to come.
Don't get the idea that its going to be cheap because it ain't. You can pay now for this or live the way you are and spend it all on heating and cooling and never be happy or comfortable.
Walt

 

[T_Bone]

Hi Jeff,

The only way to save money while heating/cooling any structure is to lower the required input BTU demand.

Example: a room that requires 50000BTU/hr input costs more to heat/cool than a room that requires 40000BTU/hr.

This is accomplished by insulating the ouside element from the inside room and will save the most money for the amount invested.

Celleous insulation is just about the cheapest dollar cost and preforms extreamly well. Plastic over windows is a cheap temporary fix with great savings. Hanging a blanket in a door way will also cut costs as it doesn't allow as much heat to escape/enter when the door is opened.

Always insulate first to lower BTU demand then consider fuel heating/cooling costs.

Here's an example I preparred many years ago for a building on heating cost using different types of fuel:
Electric: $2.35/hr
LP: $.88/hr
HP: $.44/hr
Natural gas: $.34/hr

The above still holds true in todays world for 99% of the country no matter where you live. You can not use the above numbers to calculate your fuel usage costs,ie; 10hrs at $2.35 = $23.50/day as evry building heat load demand is different but is a illistration of approx types fuel costs.

You can also build a solar hot water heater pretty cheap. Here the collector, a enclosed box with pipes to circulate water while trapping the suns heat inside the box. Circulate that hot water to a storage tank for latter use. It's very easy to achieve 180º water with this type of collector. Once built, then free heat can be used. Need more BTU/hr then add more storage and collectors. Two, 4ftx8ftx4" collectors can supply 100% of heating demand in some homes.

Domestic hot water usage is about 30% of overall heating cost so once again our solar collector supplys free heat.

Free heat? Not really if you consider material cost but it is a free fuel cost.

Humans feel the most comfort from forced air systems. Slow air up draft for heating and fast down draft air for cooling. Ceiling fans are hard to beat for comfort.

Below is a simple solar system to look at.

T_Bone
Solar Hot Water

 

[Eric SEI]

Most electric companies and Rural Electrics have free advice on improving the efficiency of your home. They may also have rebates if you make improvements that save energy. And your local county government may offer assistance if you meet income levels. The IRS used to have tax breaks for energy efficiency improvements, I don't know if those still exist.

We have had good results with "Seal and Peel" caulk. It is intended to seal windows and unused doorways during the winter and then easily be removed in the summer so that you can use the windows.