ENERGY USAGE AND HEATING COST SAVINGS

ELECTRIC BLANKETS

People often ask how much energy do typical automatic blankets use or what the electric blanket watts are. Do not be confused by the manufacturer’s rating tag wattage. Many manufacturers artificially over-state their products’ wattage rating in order to imply more heat and to assure that they will never exceed UL’s stringent requirements on ratings. In point of fact, warming blankets consume around 75 – 100 watts (per side on Dual controlled models) when used on HI. Many people set their controls around #5 or lower thus effectively halving that wattage to 40 – 50 watts. For eight hours this amounts to approximately 0.35kwh consumed per night or about 4 cents per night in most areas of the country.

ELECTRIC MATTRESS PADS

Additionally people ask how much energy or wattage do typical electric mattress pads use. Again do not go by the rating tag watts. When actually measured, most warming mattress pads consume around 60 to 90 watts (per side on Dual controlled models) when used at HI. Inherently, electric mattress pads are more efficient than electric blankets because all the heat of the pad is trapped in the air space under the top sheet and top blanket, whereas much of the heat generated by an electric blanket goes straight to the ceiling of the room. Many people set their pad controls around #3 thus effectively cutting wattage consumption to only 20 watts. For eight hours this amounts to less than 0.2 kwh consumed per night or about 2-3 cents per night in most areas of the country.

SAVING ENERGY AND HEATING COSTS

So how do these facts save energy or save you any fuel costs? It’s because you can then turn your house furnace thermostat(s) down and still stay warm and comfortable while you sleep. Conservatively in most parts of US, one can save 1% of the house heating bill for each degree the furnace thermostat is turned down for a period of just eight hours. In many cities, 2% or more per degree setback can be saved. Thus if a person’s heating bill is $100 for one month and that person turns their thermostat down by 10 degrees while sleeping, they will save $10-$20 per month in heating costs per month. So an electric blanket or especially an electric mattress pad product will pay for itself in short order with energy savings.

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE

A very good article demonstrating actual energy savings can be found in the February/March issue of Mother Earth News. The author shows how he spent $125 for a warming mattress pad and saved $186 the first year in propane energy savings, not to mention a CO₂ reduction of 1150 pounds. He further estimates his 10 year savings due to the heated mattress pad at almost $3000! What a payback! For further details, see the article in Mother Earth News here.