I use to live in a 50 year old house with more leaks than a sinking ship. One winter we had a surprise bill of $400 for our natural gas heat. After a number of ever increasing bills, I had had enough. After trying plastic on the windows and other seemingly useless measures that didn't make a dent, I took a chance and spent $100 on an electric mattress pad and programmed the thermostat to drop to 55º at night.
Just cutting 14º off our heating for 8 hours a day helped cut our bill so much that the blanket paid for itself within two months. Flash forward 5 years, I live in a properly insulated house and even with a more efficient home and heater, I'm still using the same electric mattress pad. However now I use it more because I'm conserving resources, than as a way to save money.
Did you know that the simple act of lowering the thermostat for 8 hours at night can save you 1%-3% in energy for every degree you drop?
Some people might think reducing one waste of energy by employing another is silly, but isn't conservation about conserving and not necessarily about eliminating? Alternatives like this are a good way to get more people to cut their energy usage, and it is unlikely anyone would be comfortable sleeping in a 55º house.
Turning your thermostat from 72º to 65º eight hours a day can save as much as 10% on your annual heating costs.
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What to Look For When Buying
There are two types of electric blanket for sleeping. One is the typical over-the-body blanket, and the other is a heated mattress pad. I prefer the mattress pad. I find the blankets make me feel claustrophobic and I sometimes get too hot. The mattress pad under you, on the other hand, has a nice even coverage area.
If you are looking to buy one, here's what to look for:
- Individual climate controls for each side of the bed - no two people like the same temperature
- Auto shut off feature for safety and energy savings - no point having it run all day long
- Individual heating sensors that can adjust temperature for the coldest spots - many new blankets have this
- Machine wash and dry
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My Blanket
I've been careful with my own mattress pad to wash it only twice a year and I air dry it. My own unit also has two wireless controllers that can be set to turn on, pre-heat, and later turn off at a specific time. This works great in that as the thermostat is winding down for the evening, the bed is getting all toasty warm. Mine also adjusts its temperature to that of the room and my body, to make sure I'm always comfortable. The controllers work on 4 AAA batteries, but by removing them, I generally get two seasons of use before replacing them.
My controllers
On the Kill-a-Watt, running both sides of the mattress pad (at 50% - my normal setting is 30%), it shows a usage of 80Watts, or about $1.83 a month, for a total of $6.83 in 5 months. Now I haven't calculated what my BTU to therm cost is here in Portland, but I'm pretty sure running my heater (gas heat, electric blower), even at 65º, 8 hours a day, over 5 months would cost more than $6.83.
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More Info:
Fairfax Virginia has some safety guidelines for electric blanket use here. Some of it seems dated as it doesn't consider newer technologies, but still a good resource.
Here's an Amazon search result on electric blanket.
