What are your fuel choices? Electric baseboard is the worse type of heat as far as operating costs. I assume you have no ductwork system. You might look into mini split HP systems..

TD

The house is rural so there is no natural gas. Of course we'd love to be on Propane or hot water baseboard but you are correct, no duct work. Does anyone ever consider installing duct work, or you think mini split is the way to go?

I installed electric baseboards in our three-bedroom cottage, but found the wood stove much better served the whole home in cottage country southern Ontario. And over the three years we used it, we barely touched the woodpile. I'd consider propane-fired hot water radiators as a supplement. So much depends on local energy costs.

Thanks! Yes we are hoping to use our wood stove all through the winter and hope that keeps down the electric heat bill. In NY state electricity is quite expensive.

Minisplit seems ideal for your need.

Solar is really independent of that. As you get far north, the panels really don't generate that much in the winter. There is almost 3 times the generation in May vs. December and that is without snow. So doing solar to save on heat works but not as well as you would like. Now - if NY allows you to build up credits in the summer, then it may make sense.

I am in upstate NY. We had solar installed 7 years ago and it has been trouble free. If the garage we had the panels installed on was larger we would have been able to totally offset our electric usage (not enough roof area). Even with all the clouds and snow here. The roof was 12/12 slope so the snow clears a little better. If your roof is not oriented correctly for solar, a ground mounted system can be installed.

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But does it generate enough electricity to power baseboards or an electric boiler and radiators?

"But does it generate enough electricity to power baseboards or an electric boiler".

It's a small house. I'm sure a system can be sized for it. The beauty of grid-tied solar PV is that the system doesn't need to provide all of the electrical needs all of the time. The grid provides some, and the PV system gives some back when it's not needed in the house.

Hi Seabornman - thanks so much this is very helpful. since you are in NY state your situation seems similar to mine. can you tell me how many khw system you have? I heard the most common is 6? our electric company allows net metering so that seems good, and the largest part of our roof slopes south so also seems promising. Of course our biggest concern is how much damn electricity these electric baseboard use. To offset any of it would be great.

I have a 5kw system, that peaks out at close to 4kw output, as the conversion and throughput loses around 20%. It's 16 panels facing south with no obstructions. Do you have any of the energy bills from the house? My understanding is the energy company won't let you put too large a system in.

Thanks! Yeah we aren’t thinking of going too too big on the system as we can only afford so much. We expect to subsidize the electric costs not eliminate them realistically.

the house has electric baseboard which is by the far the most expensive. I’ve read that to heat the home it needs roughly 15,000 watts, which means 15 kWh per hour. Times that by 12 hours on a day that’s 180 khw a day, times roughly .2 electric charge that’s $36 a day and over $1,000 a month just for electricity! I’m hoping I’m over estimating here. Unfortunately there are no old bills as the home has been bank owned for 4 years prior.

Don't think of how much use at peak. You get to average out the entire year. You'll be making excess electricity May through October, then using it up in winter. My system made 5,500kwh in 2018.

Passive solar or minisplit(s) sound like good potential solutions. Do you get a lot of snow in your location and how will this affect the panels if they get covered?

https://www.simpleray.com/resources-and-informations/solar-panels-after-snowstorm

there is snow in the area but I’m not too concerned as I can get net metering and assume i will collect much more energy in the summer. I’m starting To think I might end up doing both heat pumps to replace electric baseboard AND electric solar. Together I think I could get my electrical bill significantly lower

A ductless heat pump system would likely do the trick, especially if you can get it to draw from multiple sources (ie. solar & gas). Even with those tough upstate winters, they should hold up. If the basement is extra cold and you want to use it often, having both the heat pump and the baseboards would help as well.

Twintech Heating & Cooling

https://twintechheating.ca/

Hi Twintech - thanks so much! I’m leaning towards a ductless heat pump. And then adding solar Electric in the future. i would definitely get one for the Main floor but thinking for the basement also. My question is, do I have to heat the basement If I don’t use it much? Forgive my novice question, I’m a first time home owner. The basement has the hot water heater and I don’t want any pipes to freeze, but not sure if I have to keep it that warm? Currently it has electric baseboard and would consider adding a second heat pump there. Thanks!

Certainly wasn't meaning to discourage solar, but it is generally much more cost effective to switch to a more efficient heating system. I have a 13kw system which completely offsets my 3800 sqft house. Heat pumps including hot water (no backup propane or NG).

But the right response is to get rid of any resistance heating - not bandaid your bill with solar.

Basements do not need heating generally. The ground is 55 degrees in the winter (or close to that) so that is where the basement will go without any heat. Typically, its roof is 70 degrees. The hot water heater will give off some also. Absolutely no issues with pipe freezing.

I might just stick with resistance down there especially if unoccupied a lot of the time. Heat pumps won't warm it quickly. I would see if you can insulate it some and then keeping it warm is not expensive.