electric heater buying advice

[obbop]

Facing a HUGE increase in natural gas prices.

The shanty is a hundred years old. Insulated okay but the frigid arctic blasts are brutal around here.

Our area has low electric rates thanks to public ownership and a nifty keen nuclear plant over yonder 'cross the holler.

So.... considering the purchase of a portable electric heater to function alongside the main natural gas heater. The gas heater is NOT a forced-air type. Just a single hole in the floor where the heat rises. It is new, safe, works well. But, I believe the costs of gas may rise to the point that some electric-created heat would help reduce heating costs.

Any opinions/advice/mumblings/grumblings/whatever regarding a make/model of portable electric heater? Want a safe one, reliable, something I would feel okay with leaving on when I go to sleep at night.

The typical electric heater I see is cheap. I'm willing to spend $100-200 for quality.

Are the ones with oil in a reservoir that acts as a "heat holder" the way to go? I don't want the type that just heats a person, I want a "whole house" style so the gas heater doesn't have to run as much.

Any input appreciated!!!!

 

[doctorr]

Electric...
You don't mention your location, but the price per kw/hr would have to be REALLY low, (in the 2-3 cent range) to make it a viable alternative. In Europe they can get a second meter, for "night-rate" power, then fan blow the heat into the house in the daytime.

Types don't really differ much, an 800w heater is much the same as any other 800w. Some store heat in ceramic bricks, or oil reservoirs, but all use and emit the same "amount" of heat.
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doc

 

[kanling]

I think most electric heaters are for "helping out" in individual rooms- not whole house use. If it plugs into a standard electrical outlet it will only be 1800 Watts, maximum (outlets are rated for only 15 Amps). That won't be good for more than a room.

Also, do the math on what the true cost of the electric heat is going to be. What is your electric rate per kWh? An 1800 Watt heater uses 1.8 kWh every hour.

You can convert Watts to BTU/hr if that helps you guess your needs better.

 

[kenw]

best thing would be an electric blanket with timer on it. Heat only you, not the whole house.

But trading whole house electricity for whole house gas is going the wrong way. Gas isn't going up THAT much. it would have to double (100% increase) or triple (200% increase) to be an issue. And the real truth is that the biggst hits (50-70%) will be be in only some areas (I've heard midwest) and not everywhere.

Once again the media has blown this way out of proportion and created a panic where none is warranted.

 

[JHZR2]

quote:

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Originally posted by Eric Smith:
A small electric heater for bathroom- I have the most robust, and safety defiantely a must.

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Some of us only have electric heat (my apartment is all electric), and so a space heater, to warm locally as opposed to setting the thermostat above 63-65 seems a good alternative for me...

What is the one that you have which is so robust?

Thanks,

JMH

 

[Bob Woods]

The little ceramic cube heaters are great, we use one in the RV. We live in an old house with gravity heaters in the living areas, but no heaters in the badrooms. I picked up two oil filled heaters, the ones that look like radiators, and they work good for the bedrooms.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Woods:
I picked up two oil filled heaters, the ones that look like radiators, and they work good for the bedrooms.

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Have you put bypass filters on them yet?

 

[Al]

I would buy one with a fan vs just radiant heat. A fan will spread the heat more evenly. Make sure your service can take it as some of them require 1500 watts which is almost the max on a typical 15 amp circuit. Here is what I have:

It has two settings 1300W and 1500watts

Here are the economics:
You can figure it out yourself. Determine how expensive your Natural gas is. I don't know how it is sold but the heating value is 1,000 btu/cubic foot. So if your natural gas costs $12.00 per 1000 cubic feet..thats 833 btu/cent . Multiply that by .85 (efficiency) thats 708 Btu/cent for gas. Figure 10 cents per kw for electricity. A KW is 3413 btu. So electric heat is 340 btu/ cent. Use your own rates though.

The thing though is you can use a space heater to heat just a small area. I have propane but I get up early and just turn a small 1000kw heater right besides me. One of the things to consider other than turning back your stat at night is to heat only the rooms you need heated. Now you can't close too many dampers off or you will start to lose efficiency. Obviously make sure you are well insulated.

 

[kenw]

i did buy a very small, compact ceramic ("Holmes" brand at Fry's) a few years ago to give spot heat in my parents' bathroom. 1500w, about 9" cube. Whisper quiet. Appears to be quite safe. I believe that safety is often a factor of size, since too big can get things like drapes, robes and such up against them more easily.

Ones that do more "radiant" than forced air are going to be much more efficient. They will warm you or whatever the radiant heat reaches, but not the air.

We have some of those Patton things here at work, they are very noisy and big. and at 1300/1500w the complaint here is that it's a choice of too hot or way too hot. But they are durable. The metal case is scary in wet locations, even if double insulated.

Buy the one that you like based on size, style, controls, etc.

 

[Pablo]

What about these pups -

http://sun-aire.com/

I have seen them for - yikes - $499!

 

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by Pablo:
What about these pups -

http://sun-aire.com/

I have seen them for - yikes - $499!

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I don't think its any better than the one I posted that I got on sale for 30 bucks.


What would be nice is if they sold window ac units that had a reversing valve and could be operated in a heat pump cycle. They would be to die for.

 

[kenw]

quote:

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Originally posted by Al:

quote:

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Originally posted by Pablo:
What about these pups -

http://sun-aire.com/

I have seen them for - yikes - $499!

---

I don't think its any better than the one I posted that I got on sale for 30 bucks.


What would be nice is if they sold window ac units that had a reversing valve and could be operated in a heat pump cycle. They would be to die for.

---

they do, just have to look. I bought one in the 80s as a kludgy-quick thermal chamber for accellerated life testing. approx .5T cooling cap'y iirc, but they had several sizes. I needed the smallest I could find.

check Sears, Graingers.

 

[eljefino]

Those oil-filled ones are no better than the rest.

If they hold heat after being shut off, they'll hang on to the cold just as long when powered up.

Electric heaters are good backups in case your main heater fails for whatever reason. For me it's usually a frozen pipe on a very cold January so one must spring into action to keep the house from cooling further and cascading the problem. They're worth keeping on hand just for that reason. The $20 walmart model has tons of safety features like tipover protection, etc...

 

[XS650]

Opbob,

Here's one more post that suggests you do something else instead of actually answering your question

Electric quartz radiant heaters can add a lot of comfort without raising the air temperature as much as a regular heater, so they are cheaper to run for given comfort level. You might consider two or three of them in addition to your regular furnace to provide extra comfort where people are.

To help you compare gas and electric prices...

An electric heater sitting in a room is 100% efficient, all the electricity consumed by the heater is released into the room in the form of heat.

New gas heaters run from 80% efficient to 95% efficient. Let's assume your is 85%.

A kW-hr = 3413 BTU/Hr.

Natural gas is usually sold by the therm = 100,000 BTU, so a therm = 100,000/3413 = 29.3 kW-hr. But, if your heater is 85% efficient, you only get 0.85 x 29.3 = 24.9 kW-hr worth of heat out of a therm of natural gas. Let's call it 25 kW-hr/therm.

That means that as long as your natural gas price per therm is less than 25 times your electricty price per kW-hr, that natural gas is cheaper for heat. i.e $0.05/kW-hr electricity and $1.25/therm natural gas would be roughly equal cost heat.

 

[wander2039]

We have a electric blanket for the bedroom. although I think we might trade it out for a heat pad. In the living room/dining room we have a tall holmes electric heater and along with the ceiling fan forcing the air down... works real good. A small electric heater for bathroom- I have the most robust, and safety defiantely a must. We also have a baseboard convention heater I haven't decided where to put it. That one works well in a enclosed room. Also close off as many areas as you can.

 

[Larry the Cable Guy]

I am installing a wood stove. I installed the slate tile floor for it yesterday. We also have two large dogs that help keep the bedroom warm at night. They run at about 50% efficiency...

Just ANOTHER idea to consider rather than answering your question (although I'm sure that you already considered this).

 

[michaelc80]

We use a couple of the baseboard style heaters as auxilary heat in the lower level family room on brutally cold days. The room is quite large (about 20X35) and has a northwesterly exposure to a wall that is mostly glass. It can get a bit chilly on brutally cold (-0 and below) days. The 2 baseboard heaters, run on low, will take the edge off the chill. Once they bring it up to temp they cycle themselves on and off as needed.

I we don't run them all that often, but I can't say that I've noticed much of an impact on the electric bill when we have. I also like them because they sit tucked up against the wall and are unobtrusive.

 

[Pablo]

micheal80 wrote:

quote:

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run on low, will take the edge off the chill

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To me that's what electric heat should be all about.

As for that $499 box - how tough would it be to build such a thing?

 

[obbop]

Lots of good advice and points to ponder.

Thanks to all!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NJC]

Apparently (after I did some calcs), gas and electric is close to same cost:

Gas ~$12.50/GJ
Electric ~$.07 KW/h

Natural gas forced air furnace (MFG 1983)= 90,000BTU x 70% efficiency = 63,000BTU.

90,000BTU = .095GJ (per hour consumption I guess..?) = $1.20/hr to run my furnace at 70% efficiency.

63,000BTU = will be equivalent 18.5KW/h electricity. This will cost me $1.30 to run for one hour at 100% efficiency.

I'm not sure I've done the BTU to GJ conversion properly. And I might have been a bit presumptious on the 100% electrical efficiency but I am excluding losses from fans etc.