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Electric baseboard heat in the northeast?

enn
enn Member Posts: 3
Hello,

We're looking at buying a house in upstate NY which has electric baseboard heat as its only heat source. The house is brick, built in the 1890s, around 1500 sq. ft. It's perfect for us in many ways but the electric heat gives me pause. Local rates are around $0.15/kWh. Am I correct in thinking that this is going to be a very expensive way to heat the house in the winter (especially since I work from home)?

Reading some of the older threads, it looks like one option might be to switch to hot-water baseboard units on the first floor with a gas boiler, and leave the electric units on the second floor as a supplement to minimize opening up walls/floors. Is this my best bet? Would I save enough to be worth the up-front costs?

Thanks.

Comments

  • Brewbeer
    Brewbeer Member Posts: 616
    Ask to see the electric bill from the current owner.
    Hydronics inspired homeowner with self-designed high efficiency low temperature baseboard system and professionally installed mod-con boiler with indirect DHW. My system design thread: http://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/154385
    System Photo: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021738/uploads/FileUpload/79/451e1f19a1e5b345e0951fbe1ff6ca.jpg
  • enn
    enn Member Posts: 3
    I plan to ask for the electric bill, but since the house has been vacant for a while, I'm not sure that it will be representative of my costs.
  • sunlight33
    sunlight33 Member Posts: 378
    Is your local rate of $0.15/kWh including both the supply and delivery charges?
  • Brewbeer
    Brewbeer Member Posts: 616
    Yeah if the house hasn't been occupied the electric bill isn't going to be very useful.

    I've converted two house to hot water baseboard, one electric and one forced air. I'd do it again, too.
    Hydronics inspired homeowner with self-designed high efficiency low temperature baseboard system and professionally installed mod-con boiler with indirect DHW. My system design thread: http://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/154385
    System Photo: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021738/uploads/FileUpload/79/451e1f19a1e5b345e0951fbe1ff6ca.jpg
  • Robert_25
    Robert_25 Member Posts: 527
    If the house has had minimal weatherization improvements the electric heat will be VERY expensive. If there are insulated walls inside the brick, decent attic insulation, etc, it may average out alright.

    Is there are kind of supplemental heat, like a wood stove?
  • kcopp
    kcopp Member Posts: 4,418
    Robert said:

    If the house has had minimal weatherization improvements the electric heat will be VERY expensive. If there are insulated walls inside the brick, decent attic insulation, etc, it may average out alright.



    Is there are kind of supplemental heat, like a wood stove?

    Its a house w/ electric baseboard.... 99% chance it has a wood stove.
  • Robert_25
    Robert_25 Member Posts: 527
    kcopp said:

    Robert said:

    If the house has had minimal weatherization improvements the electric heat will be VERY expensive. If there are insulated walls inside the brick, decent attic insulation, etc, it may average out alright.



    Is there are kind of supplemental heat, like a wood stove?

    Its a house w/ electric baseboard.... 99% chance it has a wood stove.
    I had the same thought...which makes the past electric bills even more meaningless.
  • enn
    enn Member Posts: 3
    There is no wood stove or any other kind of supplemental heat. Presumably at some point there were fireplaces but they are gone.

    Thank you all for the suggestions and particular for the comparative cost estimates. This is very helpful for us.
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 15,583
    AJinCT said:

    Electric baseboard is EXPENSIVE. What's scary is that it wasn't built for electric. We have a lot of electric houses in CT, but what makes them slightly less bad is that they were built electric, so they were insulated much better than oil houses built in the same time period (late 60's through 80's usually).

    The cheapest, easiest, and least obtrusive solution is mini-split heat pumps. I've seen electric houses with them, and they allow you to keep the baseboard as backup and add as few or as many heat pumps as you want to, at 3x the efficiency of baseboard, and you retain room by room control. The end cost to operate is about the same as gas for heat, but you get A/C too.

    You feel heating a house in upstate NY with heat pumps is a good idea?

    What's the efficiency of those mini-splits at 10F? 0F? -20F?

    Single pipe quasi-vapor system. Typical operating pressure 0.14 - 0.43 oz. EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Control for Residential Steam boilers. Rectorseal Steamaster water treatment
  • Docfletcher
    Docfletcher Member Posts: 487
    The Mini splits work very well from what I understand from a few folks I know. Best if you have a large open area, otherwise in closed areas like bedrooms you would need one for each "closed" in area. That can get expensive.
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 15,583

    The Mini splits work very well from what I understand from a few folks I know. Best if you have a large open area, otherwise in closed areas like bedrooms you would need one for each "closed" in area. That can get expensive.

    I've heard mixed information on them.
    What I'd really like to see is data on the subject rather than word of mouth. Something to show actual efficiency at really cold temperatures. Just because something functions doesn't mean it does it well.

    I have to assume this data is out there but I've never been able to find it.
    Single pipe quasi-vapor system. Typical operating pressure 0.14 - 0.43 oz. EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Control for Residential Steam boilers. Rectorseal Steamaster water treatment
  • SWEI
    SWEI Member Posts: 7,356
    The smallest indoor units have ratings of 6,000-7,000 BTU/hr depending on manufacturer. If they are installed in rooms having much lower heat losses or gains, the outdoor units will short-cycle and the rooms will overheat/overcool. The mini-duct indoor units work well for serving multiple small adjacent rooms.