Well, from my limited research, mattress pads really don't use much power at all. Gary from builditsolar.com basically did what you're asking and the mattress pad sleeping comes out WAY ahead. Obviously there are variables in play here, but here is at least one example.
ElectricMattressPad
Quote:
Energy Used:
I measured the power consumption with a Kill-A-Watt meter, and got the following:
setting Power
1 9 watts
2 17
3 25
4 33
5 43
A full night of power consumption for my half was 0.16 KWH -- I am guessing that it would be about 0.25 for the two of us. So, the cost per night is (0.25 KWH)($0.1/KWH) = 2.5 cents.
Energy used 0.25 KWH per night.
...
Cost Saving:
Cost of electricity:
Electricity used is 0.25 KWH per night, or 91 KWH/year.
At 10 cents per KWH, this is worth $9.10.
Savings in Propane
Gallons of propane saved per day = (22400 BTU/day)/(92000 BTU/gal) = 0.243 gallons per day, or 89 gallons/year
At $2.20 per/gal, this is worth $195 per year.
Net Saving:
Net yearly saving for the electric mattress pad = $195 - $9.10 = $186
So, the payback is less than one year!!
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