Reportedly the most efficient form of heating for a household is with a heat pump. I don’t really understand how they work. I mean, how do they take cold air from outside and extract the heat from it and pump that into your house? And they are spose to be 150% efficient. I just don’t get it.

Anyway, what I do get is how to use a thermostat properly. I’m stunned that so many people have no idea how to use one! And what results is high running costs and a big electricity bill at the end of the month.

The most common reaction is “hey, its cold, lets turn on the heater!” and they crank it to the highest setting to heat the room the fastest. This is a false. The room won’t heat any quicker! The maximum power output does not change, the thermostat controls what temperature at which the element is turned off.

For example, if you set your heater to 10, it may never turn off because that temperature may be 40 degrees. The thing is, you don’t notice anything until you are too hot. At this point you take off a couple of layers and turn the heater off. You have wasted power, it should have been turned off 30 minutes ago!

The trick is to find the precise setting on the heater which heats the room to a comfortable point. For my tiny oil filled column heater that mark is 3/10. I resist the temptation to crank it to 10 when it is cold, I leave it at 3 and a comfortable and energy efficient evening results.

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