Electric Heat

[doorsdoneright]

I live in the North East (New Jersey), and my wife and I are looking at a house that has electric forced air heating. There is no gas in the area. Wondering if anyone has any input as to how expensive it can get to heat with electricity during cold winters. It's a 2,700 square foot house and I'm not sure how well it's insulated.

 

[1jjpop]

Maybe go to power company & see if they will show you what the people that lived there before you paid . I have heard other people that have done this. It may give you a idea what they paid...

 

[Richard Cranium]

Yes the power company is your best bet, Normally they will tell you this if you need to pay a deposit or you can ask.

 

[The Cobbler]

here it is common to ask the seller for the last year or 2 receipts . I doubt the power company here would give any info due to " Privacy"

 

[nehog]

My heat is electric (baseboard, but probably not a factor) and my costs are either equal or slightly less than oil heat. When oil was cheap, my costs were significantly more, but now that oil heat is higher priced it has equaled out.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Ask the seller to show you bills for the last couple years.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Electric heat is the least cost effective way to heat a home (unless you happen to get "special" rates). Personally, I would NEVER buy a house with electric resistance heat.

Propane might be cheaper. A GOOD heat pump (or 2) would be cheaper, but many stop putting out heat at 20-30F, so you need a secondary heat source.

 

[Milton Shaw]

All resistance type heater put out about 1350 BTU's for each Kilowatt of electric use. A heat pump depending on design and temps out side will double or triple or more the BTU's you get per Kilowatt. This makes the payback for the extra cost of heat pump fairly rapid compared to just an electric furnace and a/c. Some of the ground source heat pumps are way more efficient than an air source, but the payback is stretched out to more than 10 to 15 years because of the vastly increased cost of ground source installation. A good contractor could estimate your costs for each type of heat. Even propane heat is a lot cheaper than just electric resistance heat in most places. This does not apply if you are so stingy with heat that you only heat one room in a house and stay there the entire winter. My grandparents heated with a coal stove in the main room and bedrooms were frozen to the point you could see your breath a lot of the winter. Those were not the good old days that you hear about.

 

[Falcon67]

Mild winters here - 20s typical some days. 1660 sq/ft, old heater was all electric 7500w worth of elements. We pay about 13.5 cents/kWh. Bill would run $250~300+ a month in the winter. We now have a a heat pump system and we usually stay under $200 in winter except maybe for the two weeks we are off at Christmas and are home all day.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Had a friend who was a first time homeowner here in southern Indiana. In his first winter, he was getting $800 power bills. He did not realize that was not a "normal" power bill. The home was equipped with a heat pump, but it had gone out and had reverted to the emergency backup strip heaters (which is resistance heat). Fixed that and bills dropped to $300 range.

I used to see a lot of resistance heat setups around here from the 70's. Mostly forced air electric or that heat coil in the ceiling thing. Every time one goes out it gets replaced by gas or a heat pump. Problem is they are pretty reliable. The ones that are left are pushing 40 years old. A brand new forced air resistance heater is no less expensive to run than one of those. Same thing on the baseboard electric. 4 to 5 times as expensive as NG. 2 to 3 times as expensive as a heat pump.

Phil

 

[James-W]

I would want to see the heating bills, but electric may be your best bet since you live in a pretty cold climate and you don't have natural gas in the area. You could go with oil or propane, but depending on the cost of oil or propane in your area it may, or may not, be worth buying a new furnace. Heat pumps work VERY well in climates where it doesn't get really cold, but where you are located it may not be the best way to go. When the temperature gets down below freezing, or worse, below zero, heat pumps still work but not all that great. During those times you need supplemental heat and usually that will be electric heat. So then you are back to the electric heat anyway.

If the home is really well insulated and you don't have the heat set really high, once you have checked into the alternatives you may find the electric heat to be the best way to heat the house.

 

[gtae07]

Our house had resistive heat, and we would pay $250-300/month during the coldest part of the winter--and that's in south Georgia. You'd almost be better off piling your money up and burning it to stay warm.

We just had the system replaced with a heat pump and expect to save at least $200-300 over the course of the winter.

 

[bazar01]

All electric forced air for heating can get expensive.
A heat pump with electric heat back up and a compressor lock out when outside temps get below 35F since a heat pump loses capacity to heat below this temp will be a nice upgrade. Performance drops as outside temp drops. You would want to run the heat pump as much as possible by itself (electric heat off) until the outside temp drops to 35F (usually in the early morning) then the compressor stops and the electric heat kicks in.

 

[nadogail]

I live in the North East (New Jersey), and my wife and I are looking at a house that has electric forced air heating. There is no gas in the area. Wondering if anyone has any input as to how expensive it can get to heat with electricity during cold winters. It's a 2,700 square foot house and I'm not sure how well it's insulated.

What they said about the past power bills for the property; if they refuse to share them don't walk away from the deal, RUN.

There are too many variables for me to attempt further advice.

How many Degree Days, KWH Cost of Electricity, Desired Comfort Level, and the habits of the occupants all enter into the equation.

 

[sz0k30]

I live in SE Mich. My house is smaller than yours, 100% electric forced air with an air to air heat pump and heating coils in the furnace. I have 2 elec meters. 1st for the heat and A/C. 2nd meter for lights & everything else. This past winter my largest "heat" bill was $130.00. In 2015 the largest "heat" bill was $195.00 and 2 years ago it was $210.00

 

[Mr. T]

All electric forced air for heating can get expensive.

A heat pump with electric heat back up and a compressor lock out when outside temps get below 35F since a heat pump loses capacity to heat below this temp will be a nice upgrade.

Mine "craps out" at about 20F. And by craps out I mean will only heat the house to about 67F. The I have to turn on the baseboards (no heat strip for the forced air). That's when the electric meter looks like it's ready to take flight.

 

[walrus]

Some mini splits will heat down to -15f. They lose capacity as it gets colder and also efficency. If the house isn't open floor plan it's also tough to get head units where you need them. In your climate I'd bet you could get 100 % of your heating needs from mini splits and also 100% of ac needs from same units

 

[theoldwizard1]

All resistance type heater put out about 1350 BTU's for each Kilowatt of electric use. A heat pump depending on design and temps out side will double or triple or more the BTU's you get per Kilowatt.

That explains it in a nutshell !