Electric Baseboard Heat

[Dan Mages]

One unfortunate aspect of our tri level house is that the family room is on the lower level. At one point, there was duct work that ran in the concrete floor, but that has been carpeted over and disconnected. The room currently has electric baseboard heat that I think is approximately 20 years old. I just checked our electric bill and it is currently running at 20kwh more than normal with it on with the thermostat at 60 during the day and 68 from 5-10pm. Obviously, I want this to be much lower. Would replacing the old baseboards with new ones reduce the energy consumption?

Thanks,

Dan

[Jim Becker]

Electric resistance heating is going to spike your bill big-time, no matter what the generation...nature of the beast. You may want to consider a small mini-split system (heat pump) to service this area.

[Dan Mages]

Next summer I plan on re-doing the whole room, including reconnecting the old ductwork.

I am going to do a small McGyver job by straping a web cam and a flashlight to an RC car and then run it down the ductwork to see where it terminates and if the ductwork is in tact. Beyond that, I am going to remove the paneling to see if the walls are insulated or just nailed to furring strips. If not, I am going to rebuild the walls and insulate the space.

Moneypit!!

Dan

[Lee Schierer]

When we purchased our house in 1977 it was heated with electric baseboard heaters. About 1/3 of the house was an addition, which had never had heaters installed. As we remodeled, we decided that we wanted the addition heated and had the local utility come out and advise us as to adding more electric baseboards. They advised as to the length (KW's) of heaters needed in each room and calculated that our $100 per month electric bill would increase to at least $150 per month. We only achieved the $100 per month by turning all thermostats down 10 degrees at night. We weren't in a position to do that and weren't interested in paying that sort of utility bill forever.

Making a long story shorter, we looked at various alternatives and determined that in our area a ground source heat pump made the most long term sense. We installed the unit with help from a local contractor, turned it on in January, heating the entire house including my workshop (68 degrees 24/7) and the utility bill went to just under $100 per month (1980). We ran that heat pump for over 25 years, replacing it only recently with a newer variable speed two stage unit with A/C capability. The new unit looks like it will lower our bils about 5-10% per month despite air conditioning the house in the summer months.

[Rod Sheridan]

Would replacing the old baseboards with new ones reduce the energy consumption?

Thanks,

Dan

Hi Dan, electric heat is 100% efficient since any losses are converted to heat.

Replacing your baseboard heater wouldn't change the efficiency, it's already 100%.

Replacing the thermostat may reduce electricity consumption if the present thermostat is not responding properly to the room temperature.

Regards, Rod.

P.S. In my area electricity is aproximately $0.10 per Kwh, so your 20KWh is costing $2 for me, what's your rate?

[Dan Mages]

Hi Dan, electric heat is 100% efficient since any losses are converted to heat.

Replacing your baseboard heater wouldn't change the efficiency, it's already 100%.

Replacing the thermostat may reduce electricity consumption if the present thermostat is not responding properly to the room temperature.

Regards, Rod.

P.S. In my area electricity is aproximately $0.10 per Kwh, so your 20KWh is costing $2 for me, what's your rate?

Hi Rod. One of the first things I did when I bought this house was replace all of the thermostats with programmable units. Electrical here is $0.125/kwh and approximately $0.08 cents more for transmission and other fees.

Dan

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Dan, at $0.205 per Kwh total, and only 20Kwh per month, you're only paying slightly more than $4 a month to heat the room.

How much savings are you anticipating/

Regards, Rod.