Electric Boiler vs Oil Boiler

Jean-David Beyer

Well, here electricity costs US$106.33 for generation charge, and US$45.96 for delivery. I.e., US$154.49 for 822 KWH. This seems to be US$0.1879 per KWH. The last time I bought fuel oil it was something like US$3.50 per US gallon (3.8 litres). I understand heating oil is less, now. Natural gas, including delivery charge and customer charge is US$10.87 for 3.14 Therms or US$3.4618/therm. Currently, the customer charge is greater than the gas and delivery charge combined, but it winter, when I will surely consume more gas, that actual price of gas may take on a larger proportion of this number. I am in New Jersey, USA.

ms dingles

Electric Boiler vs Oil Boiler

The oil boiler in my 1890s east coast home is ancient and needs to be replaced soon. I'm curious about installing an electric boiler. I can't seem to find much info online beyond manufacturer testimonials. Has anyone switched from an oil boiler to an electric one? How does it compare?

Steamhead (in transit)

Cost per BTU

for electricity is usually quite a bit higher than for oil. Unless you live where electricity is extremely cheap, stay with oil.

Is this a steam or hot-water system?

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KevinCorr

Yes, electricity is way more expensive most places.
Here is the conversion:
http://www.energykinetics.com/savingsHeatingFuelComparisons.shtml

ms dingles

energy prices in my region

Electricity is 9.631 cents per kWh. Furnace oil is 74.5 cents per litre but went as high as 131.5 per litre in 2008. So you can see why I'm reluctant to install oil...

ms dingles

Oh and it's a hot water system, not steam.

EricAune

Rates

I'm not sure of your location, however, here in Minnesota most of the electric utility companies have discount rate programs for using electric as a primary heat source.

This is an attempt to gain more customers.

The most common program in my area is a "Dual Fuel" program. For a hydronic system you would have an electric boiler as the primary source with a thermostatically controlled fossil fuel back-up system. (electric boiler w/ gas or oil, furnace if you also have scorched air, unit heater...etc.)

The metering is separate and remote controlled by the utility. This allows them to shut off power during peak demand periods (average shut down is very low in our area, maybe 6-9 times a season for a few hours at a time).

This is most common because of the attractive "half price/Kwh" rate. Installing an electric boiler with a tankless that operates on temp. sensing rather than flow is a very attractive system. In areas with only propane or electric, the propane rates would have to be around $1.00/gallon to compare to the discount rate of electric on a dual fuel program. Electric boilers also happen to be less expensive to purchase, pipe and maintain.

Peace