Electric Heat

17 years ago

I wasn't sure which, if any, forum this would be appropriate for.

We have 100% electric heat, base board with in-floor electric in the lower level.

I was wondering if there are any other types of heating systems out there that use electricity. There is no duct work, so a furnace is out unless we do all the duct work. We are looking at a propane or wood fireplace for the lower level.

I have seen advertisements for Hydrosil (?) but after doing a little reasearch, I am a bit skeptical.

Would simply putting in new baseboards radiators (normal ones) do anything?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. The basement in floor heat used to be on "off peak," but I think this was counter productive, since the slab never got "up to temperature." It was frequently 58-60 degrees in the basement with the heat cranked all the time (off peak would shut service to the heat down for 3-5 hrs. 2 times a day).

Thanks

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Comments (3)

yakimadn
17 years ago
Radiant heating is the way to go. You can heat the water by any means you want. I'm in Germany, so don't know what materials cost for you

http://www.blueridgecompany.com/ (maybe this will help)

, but it's real easy to set up (maybe not physically)and use. I bought my house without heat and ran copper lines and hung a radiator in each room. Floor heating is great also.

Good luck,

Dave
edsacre
17 years ago
A pellet stove would certainly heat things up. They don't need a conventional flue & can be exhausted through a wall.
If the floor isn't warming up, maybe their is a problem or wasn't sized properly to begin with. With a radiant slab the air temp can be lower and still maintain comfort up to a point.
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kompressor
17 years ago
No matter which direction you go in, it won't be cheap.

If you go with forced air, then someone that is a PRO will have to perform a heat loss survey first and then another PRO will have to design the ductwork system and install it. Forced air furnaces can be electric, oil or gas. The latter gives you a choice between propane and natural gas.

Radiant heat can be electric heating elements contained in the walls, ceilings or floors of each room and can be controlled by individual thermostats.

Electric baseboard heaters can also be installed but you will need a 200 amp electrical service to handle them and a licenced electrician to install them.

Hot water can be heated in a boiler powered by gas, oil or electricity. That hot water can be sent to individual wall mounted radiators in each room or it can be plumbed through PEX tubing running in the floor joist cavities below the main level. In order to install it in the basement floor, the existing concrete pad would have to be demolished and removed so that a new floor with the piping could be installed.

The option here would be to use in-floor radiant on the main level and go with wall rads for the basement.

Another option is the heat pump. These come in several forms but they all extract heat from nature. You can go with an air-to-air model that pulls heat from the air outside your home. The problem with this system is that the colder it gets outside, the harder it is for the unit to find enough heat to look after the inside of your house.

Ground source heat pumps can get heat via a grid of piping laid horizontally five or six feet below the lawn in your yard. Another method is to bore a really deep well and extract heat from the ground water in the well.

There is another method if you happen to have a property with a large body of water on it, next to it or running past it. Either a grid of pipe is placed below the surface of that body of water or the water itself is pumped into a heat exchanger located inside of the home and then returned back to the place it came from once the heat has been extracted.

No matter which way you go, a heat loss survey is an absolute must. And aside from heating the home, humidification is an important factor as well because it affects how your body reacts to the heat as well as the overall health of your family.

As much as you might like this to be, it isn't a do-it-yourself project for Joe Average Weekend Warrior types. There's a lot at stake here because you're messing with the biggest investment of your life as well as the safety of you and everyone close. This is also a good time to install hard-wired smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors on both levels of the home.

And if you decide to go with propane, then install gas detectors as well.

The life you save...... may be your own.