speaking of electric blankets

**scrap_candles** · 10-08-2009, 08:25 PM

someone brought up electric blankets in another thread and it has me wondering.... ds's room gets pretty cold (downstairs basement) we use the wood burner for heat mostly (propane furnace if needed) and we try to keep it 68-70 in here. We have two electric heaters that tend to be used almost on a daily basis, (woodburner is connected to the duct work but the bedrooms get pretty cold).
Which would cost us less to use electric wise... the electric heaters or electric blankets?

**sabrelvssammy** · 10-08-2009, 09:14 PM

well the blankets would only need to be on at night and we usually turn ours on just an hr before bedtime to warm the mattress thru...some people turn theirs off when they get into bed but i am so cold natured that i keep them on all night (plus i have the house set at about 50 at night anyway)....

check the wattages on both the blanket and the heaters and then go to a website like (michaelbluejay.com) coz he has a wattage calculator that you could use to see which is using more energy..... it is all based on the time you have the item actually on and running....

personally i would opt for the blanket coz ours uses alot less energy than a heater would.... you could put the heaters on timers to come on about an hr before your son gets up to 'warm' up the space....the room would get cold during the night but being under the blanket he would probably never notice...it doesn't affect us being 50 degrees in the house....(except for that dreaded bathroom run...lol).....

another option is a heated mattress pad where he is lying on the heat instead of it being over the top of him.....

i am considering getting another blanket for this season and since it will be only me using it (we have a queen on the mbr bed but dh snores me out of the room most nights so i need one for the spareroom) and even though that bed is also a queen i will probably get just a twin coz it will just need to cover me and i can put it right in the middle of the bed where i am....and a twin costs 1/2 of what a queen would.....

**starsapphire** · 10-08-2009, 09:22 PM

I love electric blankets but I've never had one last more than a couple years. This year I've invested in a good quality goose down comforter. I have it underneath my regular comforter and I'm gonna be toasty warm in bed all winter.

**piney** · 10-08-2009, 09:26 PM

I ust to use electric blanket but switched to flannel sheets they are cold when you get in bed but warm up and i think does as good as electric blankets.(just my opinion for what it is worth)

**sabrelvssammy** · 10-08-2009, 09:27 PM

Originally Posted by starsapphire

I love electric blankets but I've never had one last more than a couple years. This year I've invested in a good quality goose down comforter. I have it underneath my regular comforter and I'm gonna be toasty warm in bed all winter.

I guess i must have just been lucky in that dept....mine is probably 6-7 yrs old....

but i also use a heating pad that i carry around with me all winter (like linus and his blanket)....and i have yet to have one last the whole winter....maybe they aren't designed to be on 15 hrs a day....lol

my big vice is i may be warm after i have been in the blankets but its that first initial 'freeze' that ruins me and makes me grumpy and miserable....that sets the tone for the whole evening....ugh.....

**Nana2two** · 10-08-2009, 09:41 PM

Speaking of electric blankets,i need to find the cord to mine.,

**2ndGenGranola** · 10-08-2009, 10:28 PM

I have an electric mattress pad and like it so much more than a blanket. I'm guessing that mine is 12ish years old now. I like the cold room with the warm bed.

**Contrary Housewife** · 10-08-2009, 11:31 PM

I don't know if it is cheaper, but I prefer the blanket. It warms the bed, which is where we are, and I always feel with a heater that it is just blowing warm air into a cold room all night. Kind of the reverse of having the fridge door open. Plus the blanket is quiet.

We had to replace the 15+ year old one last year and we were lucky enough to get a nice one in the spring on sale. It has dual controls and shuts off after 8-10 hours so you can't accidentally leave it on all day. It also pre-heats and gets warm in just a few minutes.

**dcompton** · 10-08-2009, 11:33 PM

I don't know the answer to this, but I would think the blanket would use less electricity. It only has to keep you warm, and cannot be too hot, after all. On the other hand, a heater has to heat a large, constantly cooling volume of air.

**frugalfranny** · 10-09-2009, 12:34 AM

Originally Posted by 2ndGenGranola

I like the cold room with the warm bed.

I am with you 2ndGG. I don't like a hot stuffy room......like a cool room with a warm toasty bed.

I use a blanket but just to heat the bed up with it, then shut it off when I get into bed. Not convinced they are so good for you when you sleep with them 'on' all night.

I have to replace mine this year....it is dying.

**Grainlady** · 10-09-2009, 08:30 AM

We have a Watt-A-Meter that we've used to check the price of electrical use of many items around the house. A typical space heater is going to pull a lot more watts and cost more to run than an electric blanket or an electric mattress pad.

Our Sun Cloud Infrared Heater - http://www.suncloud.com/ - only uses 2-cents of electricity per hour and we can heat our living room, dining room, kitchen and entrance using this "space" heater. It uses less energy because of the infrared bulbs used to heat. It's also has an A-1 Insurance rating, most other space heater's don't, and some aren't covered under your homeowners insurance. You can safely place a Sun Cloud next to flammable materials, unlike other space heaters.

We don't heat our bedroom and it will get around 56°F (or so) during really cold weather. We use an electric mattress pad to pre-heat our bed, as other mentioned. We turn it off as soon as we go to bed and use a down comforter and flannel sheets.

Growing up, I lived in a house that had NO heating in the upstairs and we turned off heat in the downstairs at night. It got so cold that that a glass of water would get a layer if ice in it upstairs, so I know you can live through a cold environment (LOL). The year our parents got us all an electric blanket for Christmas we were in "hog heaven".

**YankeeMom** · 10-09-2009, 10:38 AM

Originally Posted by 2ndGenGranola

I have an electric mattress pad and like it so much more than a blanket.

Ditto!! We all have heated mattress pads on our beds. We turn them on about an hour before bedtime and it's wonderful to get into a bed that's already heated. Mine & dh's have dual controls, so he keeps his on 4 and I have mine on HIGH lol.

**Jeanna** · 10-09-2009, 10:54 AM

Only thing I can say is to make sure your son has a blanket or spread on top of the electric blanket. If not a lot of the heat escapes. I am cold nature and had always had an electric blanket until last year when mine gave up the ghost. I have since just added another blanket to the bed and I like that better. I can't explain why but I do. One thing is my skin does not dry out and itch like it used to.

**shoiji** · 10-09-2009, 04:55 PM

I got rid of the electric blanket years ago. Was always afraid I would start a fire. I now have a down alternative mattress pad, down comforter, regular comforter on the bed. I really enjoy this and am always very warm. Cat also likes all the bedding. Plus I am not using any electricity.