oil/steam vs. electric baseboard

Unknown

Another consideration is what do you do for heat if you lose electricity? We lost our electricity for 2 weeks a few years back when they had those terrific ice storms in the northeast.
Keep warm and cozy with just a Honda generator to power a few light bulbs and the oil burner on the steam system. The people across the street(with electric baseboard heating)came over and stayed with us. Cost them over $20K when their water pipes froze.

Rob_55

oil/steam vs. electric baseboard

I just bought my 1st home and it has an oil/steam system. Radiators are single pipe. I believe the boiler is about 15-20 years old with an efficiency of 78-81%.

Oil costs are rising and I've heard that steam isn't a very efficient means of heating (have to get the water to 212F to make steam).

I don't have natural gas in the area, so my options are propane (don't want the tank in my yard), electric or stick with oil.

My house is about 1100 sq ft cape cod style. Electric cost is about $0.22 kWh (0.093 for delivery and 0.125 for generation)

Does anyone know whether it would be cheaper to convert to electric baseboard or should I stay with the old steam system?

Thanks!

Brad White_203

Steam for God's Sake

At 22 cents per kWH (per 3,413 BTU's per hour), a house of your size, if with a heat loss of 35 BTUH per SF (38,500 BTUH, that is half what the smallest oil boiler can deliver that I know of), it will cost you $2.48 per hour on the coldest day.

If you burn oil at $4.00 a gallon (because you locked in at that price earlier this year, thinking yourself a savant) and you have a thermal efficiency of 65 percent to be realistic, (firing at a 0.6 GPH rate intermittently for about 2/3 of that time) you would burn about 0.40 GPH during a peak cold hour for about $1.60 worth of oil.

This of course supposes that your steam system is properly set up, vented, insulated, operating on low pressure, etc...

Now, the real advice I can give is, "Is your house as insulated and as tight as it can be?" Make it so.

Then go back and assess your steam system (or do so in parallel).

So much you can do. Your challenge will be to match your steam system and firing rate to your new heat loss but for now, you have a boiler in the prime of it's life with years ahead of it, if properly maintained.

At replacement time, I would assess your heat loss and make radiator changes to match it, then select the appropriate boiler to meet that connected radiation. Unless you live in Wasilla, chances are it will be a very small boiler.