Replies

1. Expert Member
   BILL WICHERS | Oct 08, 2019 04:19pm | #1

   If you’re using your electric baseboards as a sort of zoned setup, keeping rooms you’re in warm while the others are cool, then a central electric heat setup may end up costing you more since you’ll be heating the entire house and not just a room or two.

   You may be able to cheaply add some blown insulation into your attic to cut your heat loss down, that might help get a central system’s operating cost down while heating the entire house more evenly.

   Bill

2. Expert Member
   Dana Dorsett | Oct 08, 2019 04:25pm | #2

   >"I’m considering installing a heat kit for the air handler but not sure if it would cost me more than my baseboard heaters."

   If the ducts are tight and reasonably well designed and mostly inside the thermal envelope of the house the operating cost of the air handler heat strip is comparable to running the baseboard. If the ducts leak, and are in an attic above the insulation it'll cost more- how much more depends on the particulars.

   >"I was considering forced fan wall heaters but that would move the heat from the perimeter to the interior wall. I’m not sure if that would cause heat saturation issues."

   Wall heaters with fans are usually a last resort. Adding right-sized heat strip to the AC would be a far better solution from a comfort point of view, if that's what it takes to cover the load.

   With your house description it's probably worth spending some time/money on air sealing & insulating the attic a bit better, and possibly air sealing & insulating the crawlspace walls. The return on investment would be mostly in comfort and indoor air quality rather than on a present-value-of-future-energy-savings basis. A 1 or 1.5 ton modulating ducted Fujitsu could probably handle the loads of the somewhat tighter version of your house if the ducts are all inside.

3. 
   ChrisInIllinois | Oct 08, 2019 04:41pm | #3

   Dana, as you may recall I am in the process of encapsulating my crawlspace. That's is where the supply ducts are. I just need to get last few details worked out. I got a post coming up soon hoping to address this. The crawlspace encapsulation is 100% confront and air quality, with the the benefits of possible of some payback in energy savings and mold free home for my lifetime.

   It's all about space and heat on a budget atm, I have had to handle a lot of neglected things in my new house over the past year. Trying to get ready for winter and relaxing from all the projects.

   Thanks for all the help everyone.

4. 
   walta100 | Oct 08, 2019 07:16pm | #4

   What part of the world is your home? We will give someone in southern Florida different advice than someone in Maine.

   One of your questions seems to be should I switch heating fuels. That choice is driven by the current prices of the fuels in your locality without that info any comments would be guesses and generalities.

   None of the things you asked about are likely to pay for themselves in terms of dollars in less than 10 years. Are you likely to still be in this house in 10 years?

   “My bill last year was not over a 150.”If you total heating costs for the year was only $150 it is unlikely you could ever pay for a fuel switch in dollar terms.

   Window replacement almost never pay off in dollar terms if you want to replace windows for comfort or because the old windows no longer operate then it make sense to get good windows.

   If you keep all the rooms in the house at the same temperature, resistance heaters will use the same amount of electricity no matter where they are install in the air ducts or on the baseboards.

   Walt

1. 
   ChrisInIllinois | Oct 08, 2019 11:00pm | #5

   Thanks Walt, I added my home is in illinois, and fixed the cost of heating to per month.