Electric blankets heat up your sleeping space. When the warmth generated by your home heating system just isn't enough, an electric blanket helps keep you warm and toasty while you sleep. While electric blankets consume just a fraction of the energy required by a furnace or space heater, these devices can still increase your monthly electric bills. Understanding the cost of operating an electric blanket can help you decide if using one makes sense for your budget. Calculating Electricity Consumption Utility companies measure the amount of electricity consumed in the home using kilowatt-hours. To find the daily kilowatt-hours consumed by any home appliance, multiply the wattage of the appliance by the number of hours you use the appliance each day, then divide by 1,000 to account for the fact that 1 kilowatt equals 1,000 watts. Determining Wattage Find the wattage consumed by your electric blanket by examining the tags on the blanket or referencing your owner's manual. While electric blankets vary by size and manufacturer, the average single electric blanket requires about 60 watts, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, with the average double electric blanket rated at 100 watts.
Assuming you use a 100-watt double blanket for eight hours each night, your electric blanket consumes just 0.8 kilowatt-hours (100 times 8 divided by 1,000) of electricity each day. Estimating Cost Electricity prices vary significantly by state. The average cost per kilowatt-hour in California was 16.4 cents as of January 2013, while the average price nationwide was 11.5 cents, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. At these prices, it would cost 13.1 cents (0.8 times 16.4 cents) per day to run your electric blanket in California, or about 9 cents (0.8 times 11.47 cents) per day based on U.S. average electricity prices. This translates to about $47.88 (13.1 cents times 365) per year based on electricity prices in California or $32.85 (9 cents times 365) based on the average nationwide price. Check your utility bill to find your exact electricity rates per kilowatt-hour. Considerations Using the full wattage rating for an electric blanket to calculate operating cost may cause you to overestimate annual electric costs associated with these blankets.
The Electric Blanket Institute contends that many users operate their blankets at less than the maximum setting. A blanket rated at 100 watts but operated at a heat level of 5 out of 10 would use only 40 to 50 watts rather than 100. If you tend to operate your blanket at less than the maximum temperature setting, your actual operating costs may be much less than you expect. References U.S. Department of Energy: Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy UseU.S. Energy Information Administration: Table 5.6.A. Average Retail Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use SectorElectric Blanket Institute: Actual Cost To Run Electric Blankets or Electric Mattress Pads Photo Credits Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images Suggest a Correction ELECTRIC MATTRESS PAD VS. People frequently ask us whether an electric blanket is better than an electric mattress pad. The choice of electric mattress cover or electric blanket is mostly a matter of user preference. However in the United States, many people do not know that warming mattress pads exist and that warming mattress pads do have a few inherent advantages over warming blankets.
The major ones are: Actual Energy Use page. Electric mattress pads are inherently safer from overheating since the pad is held flat to the mattress (i.e. fitted) and generally cannot be balled up as a blanket may become. (When a blanket is balled up, there is no place for the heat in the middle of the ball to escape, the major cause of electric blanket fires or scorches.) Mattress Pads tend to be more durable than electric blankets since they are not being tossed around, pulled and pushed, etc. because the skirt holds them flat and relatively immovable. If you use a heated mattress pad, you are then free to use whatever form of blanket, comforter, duvet, spread, etc. you prefer on the top of your bed. Interestingly enough, around 85% of the warming bedding products sold in the USA are blankets and not mattress pads whereas in Europe, the reverse is true. (In most other countries, what is called a mattress pad in the USA is frequently referred to as an “underblanket” or a "fitted blanket".)
Within the past few years the percentage of pads sold in the United States seems to be increasing somewhat as more and more people learn of their existence and learn of their therapeutic value. Things You MUSTKnow When Buying Electric Bedding. 1. Before You Buy – A MUST Review: the Lead Page of the Buyer's Guide offering: Major considerations before your purchase; Links to all of our Reviews and Ratings sections 2. Ready to Buy? If you want to see a list of retailers carrying each of the major brands of Heated MATTRESS PADS this year, click Heated Mattress Pad Retailers OR for Heated BLANKETS, click Stores Selling Electric Blankets. The Electric Blanket Institute’s Consumer Guide and Blog text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 3.0 United States License. For any reuse or distribution you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page. This information has been developed over many years of testing and is presented freely for educational use only and without any warranty of any kind.
It is not a substitute for the safe usage practices of your individual product. See our Policies Page for other information including advertising and affiliate linkage. Sorry, all information presented applies only to products sold in the United States. We cannot help with other products.Although many people are building houses that have incredibly efficient HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) systems installed, many people still live in houses with poor insulation and HVAC. Older houses are particularly prone to these problems. In the winter, this can make the house too cold for comfort and result in astronomical heating bills. Heated (electric) mattress pads may be a good alternative to keeping the heat running constantly, or to piling on blankets, and can drastically cut heating costs. However, it's worth investigating how much electricity electric mattress pads really use if you want to determine whether the pad will result in real savings. The following sections give information on the wattage used by electric mattress pads, as well as data on what can affect the wattage.
A typical electric mattress pad consumes approximately 60 to 90 watts on the high settings. This usage is per side, however, so an entire pad can consume 120 to 180 watts on average. Translated into money, this means the average pad is consuming about 2 to 3 cents if run for an entire night. The size of the mattress pad impacts how much wattage is used. A twin mattress pad, for example, can use 60 to 85 watts, which is about the same amount as the wattage of each side of a larger pad. If you have a larger pad, you can expect to use more electricity because there is more pad to be heated. Size of Wires and Age Small wires and circuits have increased resistance. This means that it takes less voltage to heat them up than it does for large wires, so mattress pads that have wires that are larger than others will need more electricity to get the same amount of heat. Wires in mattress pads typically have become smaller over time, so the newer your mattress pad, the better the odds are that it is more efficient.
Some mattress pad manufacturers claim their products use as little as 25 watts because of the size of the pads' wires. Some mattress pads are made of material that holds heat very well. These mattress pads don't cool as quickly, so you can run them on a lower setting. Many mattress pads have auto-shut-off features that turn them off once they reach a certain temperature. If your pad stays hotter longer, it won't turn back on as often. This means that you will use less electricity. Everyone has a different temperature at which they are most comfortable. People who get cold very easily may run their mattress pad more often or at higher settings, thus using more electricity. Those who get overheated easily do the opposite and thus use less electricity to run their pad. Along with these factors, consider pad and wire size to reduce your heating costs. A water heater, just like any other appliance, uses a certain amount of energy. However, there are certain brands of water heaters...
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