electric heating solutions

Electric heating can be useful to get energy savings, despite the electricity high costs. Safety and lower initial costs are between the main advantages of electric heaters, but other solutions (air source heat pumps or electric radiant heating...) demand large initial investments.

Electric Heating

Electricity is at the heart of several heating solutions, in spite of its high costs. There are many electrical heating solutions, involving different costs and goals:

- space and portable heaters;
- electric radiant heating;
- baseboard electric heating;
- electric wall heaters;
- air source heat pumps;
- electric thermal storage heaters;
- electric furnaces...

Space Heaters: Advantages

Small electric space heaters are cheap, particularly safe and do not demand wall-venting or chimneys to keep the quality of the indoor air, contrary to what happens to many combustion heaters.

In mild climates, with the heating needs limited to a few days per year, space electric heating is a major solution, replacing the central furnaces and other demanding central HVAC systems...

In cold climates, in very well insulated homes, electric space heaters have also a word to say. In this case, they can combine with central heating systems, or even be a way of replacing them.

See: Zone Heating Basics and Small space heaters.

Electric heating & Environment

Electric heating isn't exactly an environmentally-friendly solution, unless the heating units run on non-photovoltaic and wind electricity. Electric units convert nearly 100% of electricity to heat, but since most of the electricity is produced from oil, coal and gas… they also can be an indirect source of CO2 and other greenhouse gases...

electricity prices & climate

In climates where heating loads are restricted and limited to a few days per year (many regions in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas, in US case) electric heating makes sense.

And it also makes sense in cases of strategies involving home zones, or for well insulated houses with relatively small heating needs. Or to supplement central heating needs... and in specific rooms and garages and home additions.

See, namely: Home zone heating basics

Electrical Heat pumps

Air-source heat pumps use electricity... in a very efficient way. Consider them, if you want a central electric heating system (better yet - for power savings and and environmental reasons - is the geothermal heat pumps systems. Geothermal power savings may go up to 80%, relatively to most electric heating solutions).

Electric thermal storage heaters

Many power utilities charge significantly more for electricity during the day than during nighttime, and you may take advantage of it...

See: Electric thermal storage heaters

Radiant Electric heating

Most floor radiant heating systems do not use electricity (they use hot water systems), but for small heating needs you may want to study the electric radiant heating alternative.

See: Radiant heating systems

Thermostats

Typical resistance electric heaters demand a thermostat to control the power supplied by the heater (line-voltage thermostat) or to turn it on or off (low-voltage thermostats). These thermostats should be programmable to provide automatic setting of temperatures in bedtime or out-of-home occasions. Line-voltage thermostats should also be remote: it’s preferable to have them out of the heater, on a strategic place in the wall, to better sense the room temperature.

See, for more information: Programmable Thermostat Basics and Energy Savings