Heating question - not shop, but whole house

[Russianwolf]

Okay, so I'm tired of paying a big bill every winter even though we keep our house on the cool side (most would say cold).

The house has electric baseboard heat so about the least efficient type available and we don't like the noise from the forced air wall units you can replace them with.

So I'm looking for options.

I have a buddy that has one of these HomComfort® Electric Furnace - Tractor Supply Co. and swears by it. $200 (less if I find it on sale) isn't too shabby, but I may have to buy two since my space is larger.

And then there is always the option of a furnace. Shop Winchester 51,195-BTU Electric Forced Air Furnace at Lowes.com which seems like a more effiecient way to do the job. I could plumb it to the two main rooms on the bottom floor easily with a return at the end of the hall, and could even have it vent into the shop space with a baffle. Could likeely get everything done for $1k or so.

Anything else I should think about?

Oh, the house. We have about 2000 sqft of finished space with another 900sqft for the basement/shop. The main area is made up of the Living Room, Dining room, Kitchen and a loft with cathedral ceiling. Then there are 3 bedrooms. I'm not concerned with the bathrooms the baseboard are more than enough for those small spaces.

 

[JP61]

Try using a floor model humidifier or two along with the electric heat.

After I installed a humidifier on my furnace years ago I could hardly believe the huge difference it made as far as comfort goes. My thermostat setting has been on average 7°F lower since then for about the same level of comfort prior to the humidifier.

 

[lorbay]

If I were you I would stay away from the electric furnace and go with a heat pump they are 95% efficient. I put one in 2 years ago and love it.

Lin.

 

[stonepecker]

We went to forced air gas to heat our home. The first thing we did we go over every place we could and add insulation. ( $600 )
We then removed the heat pump and old electric furnace and replaced both we gas forced air and an AC unit. No reducting needed. However, the hook up for the gas had to be dug in. Our total costs we under $2,500.00
We cut our heating and cooling bill be half.

This was 20+ years ago and we still are happy. We even added two hanging furnaces in the garages and the cost went up less then 15% over the years.

Right now, we are thinking of getting a new furnace just because they are rated so much higher today.

Personally, we would go to force air gas in a heartbeat. The biggest thing we have had to do is add a large humidifer for in the winter. We also have two little humidifers in the childrens rooms.

STILL, no where even close to what we were paying years ago when we made the change.

JMHO

 

[NittanyLion]

Mike,

Neither one of these options are going to save you money versus what you have now. The first option, you would need at least 2, probably 3, and face a HUGE electric bill every month. These work ok as supplemental, but not as primary heat. It's still an electric heater, no matter how they market it.

Option 2- not big enough. You will still run your baseboard heat. Plus, without ductwork
air will not flow like you think.

The easiest thing to do is zone your electric better by turning down un-used rooms. Otherwise, go geothermal or fossil fuel. I burn hard coal in a
stoker boiler and love it. 75 degrees middle of winter, all winter for $1200 vs +$3K in oil.

 

[Gary Beasley]

We've been upgrading our house bit by bit and replacing the old windows and doubling the attic insulation made the first big difference. Then we had to replace the old heat and air and went with high efficiency units, made a big difference in our heating and cooling bills.

 

[TellicoTurning]

We have a heat pump unit that does heat and cool... it wasn't cheap but much more efficient than what was there, which was a smaller heat pump... we're all electric and the house is only about 1300 square feet, plus it's a modular, so not much option in anything else. I forget the tonnage on the unit, but the physical unit sits outside, both heat and cool and is a 5 foot cube.

 

[turncrazy43]

We went with a dual fuel heat pump system for heat and cool. very efficient and the system pays for itself in about 3 years with the savings. Its more expensive up front but its economy is very good.
____________________________________
Everyday I'm vertical is a great day

 

[Russianwolf]

Can't do gas, no service where we are, only propane which is crazy expensive.

Insulation is needed and I'll be doing that soon I hope. Starting with the attic. Window and Doors will be next spring at least. New siding and I'll try to add a house wrap and maybe some board insulation then as well.

We have a separate AC unit but it's in the attic and all the ducting is to the ceiling(not ideal for heat).

I can put a furnace in the basement with ducting/plumbed to the ground floor easily (ideal for heat since heat rises). I've even considered a pellet stove if I can vent the heat to the main floor.


Either way I doubt I'd see an increase in the bill over what I'm paying now with the baseboards. 30year old tech verses a more modern system.

 

[CabinetMaker]

I would seriously start looking into heat pumps ans/or solar. Both, properly done, can be expensive, but they may offer your best investment I'd you don't have gas available. Good luck!

 

[Gary Beasley]

If you have the money to put in to it a geothermal heat pump can be much more effective than one that gets its heat from the outside air. It's major expense is installing the underground heat exchangers, usually either water lines laid horizontally below the frost line or vertical wells doing the job.