propane heat vs. electric heat
wildhares
18 years ago
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emily65
18 years agoDPallas
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Heat pump vs propane heat in higher elevations?
Comments (4)Define very cold. It sounds like you may not be a candidate for a heat pump, unless you can afford a ground source heat pump. I replaced a propane furnace with an air source (convnentional) heat pump when propane hit $3.00/per gallon. But I am in Tennessee, and our electric rates are dirt cheap compared to most places. Check into ground source heat pumps, which is the more accurate name. Most people call them geothermal heat pumps. They extract heat from the ground and aren't bothered of affected by outside air temperatures. Beware, they aren't cheap, but with escalating energy prices, they are worth considering....See MoreElectric Heat Vs Gas Heat
Comments (4)I'll post a calculator I found below, but based on the figures you posted, it would cost $31 per million btus for electric resistance heating ( your electric furnace option), $15.50 for the same amount of heat using a heat pump, or $10.50 for natural gas. The wrinkle with using natural gas is that to fully take advantage of the available savings, you would want a gas water heater, clothes dryer, and probably a gas stove - The water heater would require a chimney, and buying a houseful of appliances doesn't sound like an option for you - keep in mind, all of those appliances would require gas pipe inside the house as well, which wouldn't be included in your $850 cost to get the gas to the house. Plus, you would likely incur permit and inspection fees for a changeover. Based on what you've posted, In your situation, I'd probably get a top-shelf heat pump for heating and cooling the house, and possibly a heat-pump water heater as well. I've posted a link below so you can run your own numbers Here is a link that might be useful: energy cost comparator - requires microsoft excel...See MoreElectric only cabin, heat pump vs electric furnace
Comments (5)I agree 100% with capedude and here's additional reasons to use resistant heat. Eventhough heat pump uses less energy when outdoor tempature permits,the savings isn't great since you are only there a small persentage of the time. Since cabin is only maintained at cool tempature while you are absent heat runs very little. Heat pumps can be severly handicaped or even disabled by snow and freezing rain. If and when it break's down,resistant heat is the simplest system in the world to trouble shoot and least expensive to repair or replace. The average Joe with a little knowledge about volt meters can fix resistant heat but very few diyers know where to begain with heat pumps. You can buy a volt meter for less than $25 in the smallest of towns on a weekend. Refergeration tools are expensive and anywhere they are sold will usually refuse selling to diyers. I believe most experienced hvac people here that can repair any system will agree they would 10 to 1 rather arrive at a remote cabin at 2am and find resistant not working than a heat pump. A well trained tech can often tell freinds or family over the phone how to MacGyver resistant and go on to enjoy their stay but not very often with heat pumps....See MoreRadiant floor heating source: Electric vs. propane boiler?
Comments (6)I am curious as to why you say an air sourced heat pump is not a good choice for your climate. If you will have net metering then are you able to sell any unused electricity back to the utility company? If you can then powering you electric boiler is not free. It is hard to estimate, but 5 - 6 kW of solar panels is about what you will need to power the house without the electric boiler. If you post your propane and electric rate a calculation can be done to determine which will be more cost effective. If propane is cheaper, than you could also use it for cooking, drying clothes, and domestic hot water....See MoreJan_Hobbs
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