Baseboard ELECTRIC heat

[Wulf202]

my place was built in 1902, 1t's 800 sq feet apartment. I have nobody upstairs and a max of r-17 (as low as r-5 in some areas, that's one interior wall worth of insulation) in any direction other than my next door neighbor. All electric, my bill was $78 last month. It's as low as $30 when I don't use HVAC in the spring and fall.

I have seen over the years of working on electric only heated places bills in mid winter 50-100 typical but up to 250 a month in greeley. The variable here was the users, not the structure or equipment. Although this month the meter reader has screwed up and had me dealing with a ton of extremely high bills with no logical reason.

Want to try it yourself? Go to wal mart and buy the oil filled 110v space heaters at $33 per, try it for a month in your place with your usage. 110v is slightly less effecient than the 220v heaters you'd have in those houses. Just put one in each exterior room and turn down the thermostat for the central unit. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Oil-Filled-Heater/53017084

Personally if I were looking for a house I would only get one with gas forced air AND a wood stove, and keep several of the above heaters on hand along with spending money and time dealing with insulation and air flow as soon as I got the keys, the faster you fix this the sooner you start getting a savings. With a strong preference to unfinished basements so I could access the duct work to correct issues.

Excel used to offer an average use quote, you could call them and give them an address and they would give you an average bill based on the past 3 years broken down by winter/summer. They've stopped this recently but your utility company may offer it? Worth a call.

Also semantics but boilers are for steam heat, not hydronic heat. Those are just hydronic heaters but slang is boiler but it will cause severe damage if it boils.

[Big E3]

Keep in mind if the house only has electric and no gas, you will likely have an electric water heater. It gets expensive to keep 40 to 50 gals of water hot 24/7 as well. Gas fired boiler hot water heat is fairly efficient but expensive to install.

[BushMasterBoy]

I installed my own wood stove for 1200 bucks. Bought a used stove and all new Selkirk chimney products from Home Depot. Cost is 300 bucks a year for wood. I could do it for free by cutting up pallets. I use the forced air gas "fan only" setting to circulate air. Ceiling fans too. With passive solar I could probably lower the cost to $150. Craigs free wood sometimes.

[fitterjohn]

The biggest thing for me is baseboard=no duct work, no duct work= no air conditioning

[fitterjohn]

If you want base board for sure go with a gas boiler. The plus side to that is you can have a snow melt loop or a solar loop

[Wulf202]

Keep in mind if the house only has electric and no gas, you will likely have an electric water heater. It gets expensive to keep 40 to 50 gals of water hot 24/7 as well. Gas fired boiler hot water heat is fairly efficient but expensive to install.

See my above post about being all electric. That includes and electric water heater....

[Martinjmpr]

From what I've seen baseboard electric heat is commonly found in additions where they don't want to spend the $$ to run ductwork from a forced air system.

Having lived with baseboard heat in a few apartments I hated it, the only warm spots were near the heaters and as others have said, it really impacts where and how you can set up your furniture. It's also hella expensive compared to gas.

On our recent house search I automatically ruled out anything that had baseboard heat. In warmer climates where they don't get sub-zero temps, baseboard heating might make sense but not around here.

[MED]

I will be purchasing a new to me home in about 6 months. In my mind, I have the mentality that baseboard electric heat is junk. Costs an arm and a leg, not efficient at all, and just avoid the house if it has it. My other mindset that baseboard water/boiler is a little bit better as far as costs go, but still not very efficient. Gas forced air is the way to go.

Should I avoid baseboard heat, or consider it? Thanks.

I won't live in a house with forced air or carpet because they aggravate my asthma and allergies so much. The self contained hydronic baseboards are nice but expensive to upgrade. The old heating element convection heaters are very costly to run, and I wouldn't want them as my primary source of heat. I have baseboards but never use them since I have two wood stoves. I'm slowly upgrading to the self contained hydronic for resale value when I retire.

Edit, I also purchased eight upright radiant heaters that I use when I am gone for extended periods of time, and they work well.

[MED]

my place was built in 1902, 1t's 800 sq feet apartment. I have nobody upstairs and a max of r-17 (as low as r-5 in some areas, that's one interior wall worth of insulation) in any direction other than my next door neighbor. All electric, my bill was $78 last month. It's as low as $30 when I don't use HVAC in the spring and fall.

I have seen over the years of working on electric only heated places bills in mid winter 50-100 typical but up to 250 a month in greeley. The variable here was the users, not the structure or equipment. Although this month the meter reader has screwed up and had me dealing with a ton of extremely high bills with no logical reason.

Want to try it yourself? Go to wal mart and buy the oil filled 110v space heaters at $33 per, try it for a month in your place with your usage. 110v is slightly less effecient than the 220v heaters you'd have in those houses. Just put one in each exterior room and turn down the thermostat for the central unit. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Oil-Filled-Heater/53017084

Personally if I were looking for a house I would only get one with gas forced air AND a wood stove, and keep several of the above heaters on hand along with spending money and time dealing with insulation and air flow as soon as I got the keys, the faster you fix this the sooner you start getting a savings. With a strong preference to unfinished basements so I could access the duct work to correct issues.

Excel used to offer an average use quote, you could call them and give them an address and they would give you an average bill based on the past 3 years broken down by winter/summer. They've stopped this recently but your utility company may offer it? Worth a call.

Also semantics but boilers are for steam heat, not hydronic heat. Those are just hydronic heaters but slang is boiler but it will cause severe damage if it boils.

Keep in mind if the house only has electric and no gas, you will likely have an electric water heater. It gets expensive to keep 40 to 50 gals of water hot 24/7 as well. Gas fired boiler hot water heat is fairly efficient but expensive to install.

My electric bill is $100 per month + or - $10. I have a 50gal electric hot water heater, a couple of chest freezers, my refrigerator as well as my shop and and general electricity use for electronics, etc. I burn 6-8 cords of wood each year for heat.

[Big E3]

See my above post about being all electric. That includes and electric water heater....

While it may be obvious to a grand master know it all, when talking electric only houses, many people overlook the water heater and tend to think only of heating systems. I see nothing in any of the posts above that specifically mention an electric water heater to the OP.