Electric oil filled radiators and steam radiators together

RVC7

My question is: Am I saving money on gas to heat only the 1st floor of my house and turning off the 2nd floor steam radiators and replacing them with electric oil filled radiators?

Brad White_203

Assuming you are actually burning gas...

yes, you will burn less. But your electric bill will be appreciably higher. Your overall BTU requirements have not changed, you are just swapping fossil fuel burning on your property for the utility company burning fossil fuel on their property. (Or hydro, or wind, elsewhere).

The way electric heaters save money and energy is when you only want to heat one room, maybe two rooms, exclusive of the rest of the house.

The remainder of your house, that which remains on steam, will be heated of course, but less efficiently because the boiler match-up to radiation is now over-sized. Probably not enough to concern you in the short-term but that will be less efficient, even if it burns less gas.