Can you really heat up the house by leaving the lights on?
July 14th, 2009
J.J. asked:
My husband is refusing to put the heater on because he doesn’t want to pay the bill…so he turned on every single light on in the house and said the lights will warm the house….
My husband is refusing to put the heater on because he doesn’t want to pay the bill…so he turned on every single light on in the house and said the lights will warm the house….
Isn’t it cheaper to just turn the heater on?
I never said he was a brilliant man!
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30 Comments Add your own
1. Morbid Human | July 16th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
lmao no you cant heat your house with the lights..
just get a heater
2. Randall E | July 17th, 2009 at 10:28 am
You could wear sweaters.
In an apartment you can run the shower on hot.
Lights will just run up the electric bill and not give off much heat.
3. 3w1d till we see lil grant! | July 20th, 2009 at 7:11 am
It would take an eternity to heat the house that way. Yes, just use the heater…or the oven!
4. Miranda | July 24th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
You’re right. The lights will not help at all.
We purchased two small space heaters, and keep them in separate parts of the house. They heat it up so much we have only had to turn on the regular heat once. Our bill has been less too.
5. Jack X | July 24th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Only if you put gasoline soaked rags near them.
6. TIM, TIM, TIM, TIM P | July 27th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
hmmmm what lights do u have?
7. tulleybeard | July 29th, 2009 at 3:10 am
Yes, just turn your heater on. Lights do give off heat, but not a lot. Either light a fire or heater.
8. whiteshugga | July 29th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Yes it is about five times cheaper to heat with gas than electricity. Lights will make a difference in the temperature.
9. Janka | July 29th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I don’t really think so. What is he a flippin’ dictator? U guys must have a pretty big electricity bill…
10. >>Shyy Babii<< | August 1st, 2009 at 8:38 am
LMAO, NO!
It just wastes electricity-THAT’S ALL!
Only HETERScan heat up your house…
.X.
11. ?Meli Smelli? | August 4th, 2009 at 10:46 am
ahahh no way
just turn on your stove
or bake a cake
and the house will get warm and ull have a treat too to drink with milk tyummy
12. DJG INC | August 5th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Actually if one of the lights is near the thermostat, the heat from the light will fake out the heater and it wont turn on.
13. Joseph B | August 6th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
It depends on the size of each room and how cold it is where you live.
I live in south TX and it gets really hot here during summer. The lights do make a noticeable difference to me. But if you live somewhere fairly cold, then no, it won’t make a bit of difference.
14. Jimmy B | August 7th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
its even cheaper to light your house on fire
15. kingoffish35 | August 10th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
if they are halogen lights they will heat up a room if not ,no way and i dont know if heater is cheaper than a house full of halogen lights
i heated an appartment with the oven door open lol
was freezing in there
16. Minnesota | August 12th, 2009 at 2:52 am
it would be much much cheaper for the heater. 1 lights give little to no heat. the oven..my heater went out last winter and had to run the oven for 1 month and the bill went from 40/mo to 125 for 30 days of the oven.
17. lunatic | August 13th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Yes, the heater is more efficient unless you make your own electricity with a windmill or waterwheel.
18. minute4u | August 14th, 2009 at 1:18 am
that is by far the most inefficient use of energy that i have heard
have fun paying more for electricity while still being cold.
sure lights produce heat but not nearly as much per $ spent as you heating system does!
tell him he’s right in theory, but wrong in practice
19. lingo282 | August 14th, 2009 at 6:21 am
well
depends on how many lights
if it were 8 lights and a a 1000 watt heater
average lightbulb is what 60 watts then yes it would be cheaper
although it would probs not even warm the house
although for the same amount of heat it would be cheaper to run the heater
20. life_loverfl | August 15th, 2009 at 7:15 am
Your husband will flip when he gets the electric bill with all the lights on in the house. You can turn the thermostat down around 68 to 70 degrees just to take the chill out of the air. If he isn’t happy with that and rather than burning every light in the house, it would be more effective if you light six to twelve candles in the room. You will be amazed at how warm they will keep the room. I hope that helps.
21. T.J. | August 16th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
The lights will provide some heat but probably not enough that you will notice. The heater will cost more but it will acturally heat up the house.
22. brownee | August 18th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
lights are a lot more expensive you can prove this by the input of the devices you are using. it requires some calculations but in a simplified way your electric consumption is measured in kWh’s. 1 regular light bulb will consume 1 kwh in 2hrs. a regular space heater will use 1kwh in 30-40 mins or so. but it will heat up much more than 3-4 light bulbs.
23. kagerousan | August 21st, 2009 at 3:54 pm
The average incandescent light bulb produces 70% heat and 30% light. Given that a 100 watt bulb is still only producing 70 Watts of heat (nowhere near enough to heat your home), turning on all the lights will use more power but won’t make an appreciable difference in the temperature.
PS — an electric lamp would be hot enough to set its lampshade on fire long before it got hot enough to warm up a room.
24. logical1 | August 24th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Lights may heat the house a bit, but they will also cost money to operate (electricity.) Switch to compact fluorescents, which are a bit more expensive than standard light bulbs, but will use alot less electricity. Make a plan to heat to a certain temperature and to reduce the temperature when both of you are out of the house and perhaps at night.
25. ? | August 26th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
It would take a lot of lights to make a difference in Minnesota.
26. AnswerDude | August 29th, 2009 at 7:04 am
If I were your husband I would encourage “body heat” to warm things up!
27. BARRY B | August 31st, 2009 at 5:56 am
He’s far from brilliant, except under the lamp bulbs. I’m afraid it begs the question. ‘Does it work?’ I am surprised you even posted the question. Commonsense should tell you both that it won’t work, or hypothermia will.
28. Michael T | September 1st, 2009 at 8:16 am
I’ll assume you have electric heat. The answer would then be it costs the same. Light bulbs convert energy into heat and light. When the light hits walls and furniture the light turns into heat too. So, sixty watts of light bulb equals sixty watts of heat. I don’t know where you live, but, in most places all the light bulbs probably won’t be enough to heat the house. The typical electric furnace is about 20,000 watts. That is about 350 sixty watt bulbs.
If you have gas or a heat pump none of this applies and it is probably cheaper to use the furnace.
29. mjmayer188 | September 3rd, 2009 at 2:44 pm
The heater is probably cheaper and it actually works. Turning on the lights won’t add much heat to the house.
30. latosha j aka tyi | September 6th, 2009 at 5:54 am
OK I AM YOUR TWIN LOL…..
LISTEN YOU ARE GONNA HAVE A HIGH LIGHT BILL.DO YOU HAVE ENERGY SAVER LIGHTS? WELL YOU NEED THEM. BEACUSE IF HE IS GONNA TURN THEM ON YOU WILL NEED THEM…HOW ABOUT OPENING THE OVEN FOR AWHILE. YOU MUST BE THERE THOUGH I DONT WANT YOU BURNING UP ANYTHING GIRL
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