Will an oil-filled radiator save me money?

 I'm running through around 132 gallons of oil per month in my 1300 sq
ft Cape Cod house. At $3 per gallon that's $400 to heat my house! I've
been reading about oil filled radiators and I read one person's acct
that he was using it to heat a 600 sq foot area and it only cost him
10kwh a day. At my extremely high electricity rate of .22/kwh I would
seemingly still be saving a ton to heat my house if I bought two of
these heaters and ran them all day. ($66x2=$132.) Is that possible?
What am I missing?

  Joe wrote:

   The calculation

If 1 gallon of heating oil has 139,000 BTU and your furnace is 880%
efficient then you are getting 111,000 BTU heat per gallon. That's
37,000 BTU/$

For electricity you get 3340 BTU/kWh    One dollar buys you 15,181 BTU,
more than twice the cost of your oil.

   Now, electric heaters are great for  spot heating, if you can turn
down the heat elsewhere it may  work out for you.

   With all things heating, insulate, cover your windows and eliminate
any air leaks.

   Jeff

 In article


Impossible to say. Each person's house is unique. How warm do you prefer
your home to be? How well insulated is your home? How's the air
circulation? The best way to find out is to try it. The cost of a couple
of good oil-filled space heaters is a lot less than $400, so give it a
try and see how it works out for you.

 

right now I'm wearing two fleece jackets, fleece pants and fleece
socks just so I can keep my thermostat at 65

 How well insulated is your home?
It's a 50 year old home that I bought last year. the Windows are 50
years old and although there are no real breezes coming through I
thinnk their full insulative properties went bye bye long ago. I've
somewhat eliminated all the breezes coming from outlets and doors but
the outside walls are still too cold to the touch for warm air to
stick around too long. That combined with the cold windows seem to cut
down on the residual heat circulation.

 How's the air

Not great. The upstairs is consistently colder than the downstairs by
2-3 degrees, that's why I'm thinking a space heater upstairs (2 rooms)
would save me money because I wouldn't have to heat up the whole
downstairs to stay warm at night.
The best way to find out is to try it. The cost of a couple

$200? I've notices there are some well rated models in the $40-$70
rannge. Should I stay away from going so cheap?

 Joe wrote:


I'm in a short sleeve T shirt - 66F -  very well insulated (2x6
construction).