Thoughts on different heat types for houses (gas, propane, electric, oil)

[Intervention302]

Hey guys,

First time home buyer here. Looking at getting into a house with the lady .Got preapproved for 275 and have begun looking at different houses. Found a nice 1650sq ft raised split level with the NECESSARY 2 car garage(my only real requirement, letting the lady decide the inside lol) The house has electric for the heat.

Both sets of parents are VERY against electric for the heat. The way they talk about it is as if electric heat is the devil. I tried doing some research(very breif, will do more soon), and it looks like propane is the most expensive and oil is the 2nd with electric being cheaper than both. Natural gas(with central air) is the clear choice here, but not sure if a house in my budget will have it.

So details aside, anybody have some thoughts on electric heat? Home is in NH so we do get some pretty brutal winters. One friend suggested keeping the electric and getting solar panels. Only problem is I won't have the upfront cash needed after making the downpayment and the closing costs

Looking inside this house on Tuesday with the Realtor. Thinking if we REALLY love it, we can put in a lower offer and mention the heat needs to be swapped to gas. If they take it, great. If not, nothing to cry about we will keep looking

 

[OhIIICobra]

I wouldn't be discouraged by it. I specifically built my home with all electric (heat pump), but I live in Oklahoma. 2400 sq ft and my ave electric bill is $100. I didn't want propane after a elderly couple we knew in Texas both died as a result of a gas explosion in their home.

 

[97ReoCobra]

Electric heat is going to be expensive in that area. If it is forced air and not baseboard the furnace could be swapped out for gas. If it at least has a heat pump that will help a lot. See if you can get documentation of electric costs for each of the last 12 months. That will give you an idea of what you're getting into.

 

[RDJ]

electric heat sucks. much prefer gas heat. being in NH I would suggest you look for a house in the 250 range and spend that extra 25 on solar panels if you are going to use electric heat ...I have never been in a house that has propane. my father had a house that had oil, and baseboard heating

 

[Thump_rrr]

I'm just north of you in Montreal and I can tell you that this has been the coldest winter in over 60 years.
Although I am fully in favor of heat pumps this year was too cold to run one for any meaningful time length.

I know some people in VT who heat with a wood pellet stove. Pellet stoves pretty much auto feed for a decent amount of time.

Conversion factors

Natural Gas is sold in cubic feet. 1 cubic foot= 1,000 btu
Propane is sold in gallons. 1 pound=8.62 cubic feet. 1 gallon= 4.24 pounds. 1 cubic foot=2,500 btu. 1 pound=36.55 cubic feet 36.55 x 2,500= 91,372 btu per gallon.

1,000 Watts= 3,412 btu
A heatpump can give nearly 3x the BTU of electric heat.

 

[venom_inc]

I'd keep looking for houses but if that one is still the best choice for both of you then go for it. You could always add a pellet stove to help offset the cost. Not every winter is going to suck like this one has.

 

[Mr. Mach-ete]

I would consider a dual fuel application which is a high SEER heat pump coupled with a gas furnace as back up. Many of the high SEER heat pumps, of the inverted variable speed type, are rated to deliver 95% of their heating out put down to 10*(f). Most of these communicating WIFI ready thermostats will switch back and forth between the heat pump and furnace according to the outdoor temperature. These set points can be adjusted by the home owner to obtain best comfort and efficiency levels. Most set their heat pump to cut out @ 30*, anything below 30* the furnace takes over.

Of course the cooling efficiency with the high SEER heat pump will save you plenty of cash in the summer as well. If you have southerly roof exposure you can tie solar panels directly into the outdoor heat pump. Lennox makes a direct solar assisted tie in heat pump which work great, it's their XP series. The last Lennox solar tie-in I installed the system was running and the electrical meter was spinning backwards feeding power back into the grid, pretty amazing if you ask me.

 

[ford fanatic]

Electric heat is going to be expensive in that area. If it is forced air and not baseboard the furnace could be swapped out for gas. If it at least has a heat pump that will help a lot. See if you can get documentation of electric costs for each of the last 12 months. That will give you an idea of what you're getting into.

This, that will give you a good idea of what your monthly bill will be.

Also as mentioned above a good pellet stove will only run you about 2k, that's what we did and we have a heat pump too.

 

[Deceptive]

The house my wife and I are in is about 1700sq ft not including the garage. We have natural gas for our heat and we have it piped into our grill. Prior to buying the house we had lived in an apartment. It was about 800 sq ft we were on the bottom floor which put two walls on the outside, one wall was shared with another unit and another was against the earth. Our bill for electric was $300-350 during cold months. Our home has never exceeded $200 in gas and $50 in electric for cold months. I know that I need to replace my windows as the hermetic seals have broken on the windows. So we are probably fighting that a bit. I would not go oil, my parents have oil heat and pay a ton of money for it. They probably go through a mortgage payment for me within two months of oil use in the winter.

 

[SID297]

If at all possible get gas heat. It's the most economical and you're most likely to lose service in an emergency than electricity.

 

[Intervention302]

If at all possible get gas heat. It's the most economical and you're most likely to lose service in an emergency than electricity.

I should look into some quotes to install a gas furnace in a split level with zero existing ducts

 

[Fastback]

Well, I have radiant heat in the basement w/ baseboard heaters. Then in the living area a wood burning stove. And finally in master a pellet stove.

Also tone radiant heat boiler runs off of propane. Seems to all work, get to pick and choose which heat source I want to use. But I always love the wood stove. No need for power, just wood and a place to store the wood.

 

[trc46]

I have a 500 gallon LP tank, costs 500$ to fill and it needs it twice a year, my electric bill is only $52 a month though, when I purchase the place I'm in now one of my extras that I will do is upgrading to either a 1000 or 1500 gallon tank, also relocate it out of the middle of my backyard.

 

[Thump_rrr]

I would consider a dual fuel application which is a high SEER heat pump coupled with a gas furnace as back up. Many of the high SEER heat pumps, of the inverted variable speed type, are rated to deliver 95% of their heating out put down to 10*(f). Most of these communicating WIFI ready thermostats will switch back and forth between the heat pump and furnace according to the outdoor temperature. These set points can be adjusted by the home owner to obtain best comfort and efficiency levels. Most set their heat pump to cut out @ 30*, anything below 30* the furnace takes over.

Of course the cooling efficiency with the high SEER heat pump will save you plenty of cash in the summer as well. If you have southerly roof exposure you can tie solar panels directly into the outdoor heat pump. Lennox makes a direct solar assisted tie in heat pump which work great, it's their XP series. The last Lennox solar tie-in I installed the system was running and the electrical meter was spinning backwards feeding power back into the grid, pretty amazing if you ask me.

Do not use Wi-Fi for something as essential as a thermostat changeover in northern climates.
Two of my clients nearly froze their homes while on vacation due to Wi-Fi and router issues.
Wi-Fi communication to check in is OK but not relying on it for changeover.

 

[Mr. Mach-ete]

Wifi is just a bonus function, the change over is done automatically by the thermostat according to outdoor temp. You should know this.

 

[shanezt]

are there different types of heat pumps? our last house here in vegas had heat pumps and could not keep the house warm when outside temps dropped below 40deg. they would run constantly and with the thermostat set to 75deg the house never got over 68deg. HVAC guys told heat pumps don't work below 40deg. seems like if you lived in a cold climate heat pumps would not be useful.


As far as whats best that would depend on the pricing in your area. my grand parents live in Co and they run multiple space heaters in order to keep the gas furnace from kicking on. gas is so damn high there.

 

[97ReoCobra]

A properly sized heat pump in good working order should heat your house on it's own easily down to 40F. Mine is quite old and heats my North FL house down to about 32F on it's own. If the heat pump on it's own is not keeping the house at the temp the thermostat is set to then the auxiliary heating system (furnace) should kick in to assist in keeping up.

If your heat pump was not able to keep up at 40F it likely needed some maintenance.

are there different types of heat pumps? our last house here in vegas had heat pumps and could not keep the house warm when outside temps dropped below 40deg. they would run constantly and with the thermostat set to 75deg the house never got over 68deg. HVAC guys told heat pumps don't work below 40deg. seems like if you lived in a cold climate heat pumps would not be useful.

 

[Thump_rrr]

Wifi is just a bonus function, the change over is done automatically by the thermostat according to outdoor temp. You should know this.

Not if you are using a NEST thermostat.
It relies on the temperature taken from the internet which is the dumbest thing that they could have done.
It may be OK in California but not for our climate.

 

[Thump_rrr]

A properly sized heat pump in good working order should heat your house on it's own easily down to 40F. Mine is quite old and heats my North FL house down to about 32F on it's own. If the heat pump on it's own is not keeping the house at the temp the thermostat is set to then the auxiliary heating system (furnace) should kick in to assist in keeping up.

If your heat pump was not able to keep up at 40F it likely needed some maintenance.

His thermostat has a minimum changeover temp of 40F.

are there different types of heat pumps? our last house here in vegas had heat pumps and could not keep the house warm when outside temps dropped below 40deg. they would run constantly and with the thermostat set to 75deg the house never got over 68deg. HVAC guys told heat pumps don't work below 40deg. seems like if you lived in a cold climate heat pumps would not be useful.


As far as whats best that would depend on the pricing in your area. my grand parents live in Co and they run multiple space heaters in order to keep the gas furnace from kicking on. gas is so damn high there.

A decent heatpump should be able to heat down to 20F. a really good one down to 12F.

 

[Intervention302]

As stated I'm looking at the house Tuesday AM with the Realtor

Really nice location. About 3 minutes from the highway in a nice wooded area on a slow road. No close neighbors either