Furnace died..help do you have forced eletric heat??

**Buckeye5** · 10-26-2008, 10:50 AM

We have a propane furnace, it broke, furnace man came, it is cracked and we have to pruchase a new furnace. We are thinking of getting a forcved eletric furnace instead of the propane. I am worried about the cost of the eltric bill monthly. It is 100% efficient vs. 65% for propane. Does anyone have an opinion on this. Does anyone have a forced eltric furnace???

**ironmaiden** · 10-26-2008, 02:26 PM

I lived in a two family with electric heat and my was that expensive.
I was always under the impression that electric heat was the most expensive way to heat a house
Course that was before the big runups in oil and natural gas. You need to do some serious checking before making this decision.

**missyali** · 10-26-2008, 03:07 PM

We have forced heat electric and opted to add a heat pump for ac purposes. We have all electric in our house, no gas at all, and the highest bill we've had (in the snow belt!) was $225 in the last 3 years. We've only been here three years. I have since switched to budget and I we fall in the $130-140 range depending on how lazy I get with the drier. Our appliances are OLD also; no energy efficient ones except the dishwasher and storage freezer. Hope that helps. Looking to get an all electric discount ~ have to call tomorrow. Good luck!

**Buckeye5** · 10-26-2008, 05:18 PM

Thanks for the info. I live in the snowbelt area also, but we are in a rural area and have an electric co-op. My bill for electric in the summer is about $250 a month with Ac and a pool pump. Our electric co. has no budget, we have to pay it as we use it. We have apropane hot water tank. Also, gas logs. Our propane is about $2500-$3000 a year. I was hoping to get away with a $250-300 a month eltric bill during the winter.

**missyali** · 10-26-2008, 06:58 PM

Go to http://hearth.com/econtent/index.php...on_calculator/

to help make your decision. That's how we chose the heat pump.

**TheRootedNomad** · 10-26-2008, 08:21 PM

Since you have to have propane for your water heater anyway DH suggests using a dual fuel system. Also he says "there's no such thing as 100% efficent". He's been in the line for over a decade and has never heard of one. I say you never say never but I would double check what your really looking at. Propane on it's own will be considerably more expensive according to DH. Electric won't heat "as well" in a cold area. His 1st suggestion - dual fuel. Second choice is electric. Hope that helps.

**Greebo** · 10-26-2008, 08:29 PM

Just for the record - it is utterly impossible for any appliance to be 100% efficient.

**SaucyCranberry** · 10-26-2008, 08:38 PM

Having lived in an area where electric heat (with and without) a heat pump was our only choice I have to say I am NOT a fan. If you have an option to have dual anything else, do it. Sorry this happened, what a yucky time of year to have to make a shotgun decision.

**Buckeye5** · 10-26-2008, 10:18 PM

Thanks for all of the replies, We were told it will be 100% efficient because you use no flue for anything for the electric furnace vs. 65% effciency for the propane since part of your heat escapes thru the flue. Our propane runs us $511 (the cheapest) in recent years every 5 weeks during Oct. thru April 1st.

**Greebo** · 10-27-2008, 06:30 AM

They can certainly be more efficient - but nothing is 100% efficient. There are always losses.

Bear in mind tho - when you burn gas or propane, what you're doing is releasing energy, and then some of that energy is being used to heat your air, and some goes up the flue. There is a *LOT* of energy stored in a little bit of gas.

With electrical heat, you're pulling the energy you're using from the power company and converting that energy into heat. It takes a *LOT* of energy to create heat.

You should get the energy usage numbers for the new furnace BEFORE you buy, and check with the electric company to determine what that will cost you. You can look at your bill, for example, to determine what they charge by killowatt hour.

Say you need about 30,000 BTU's to heat your home. A 10KW furnace will supply 34k BTU's. 10kw means it uses, when operating, 10 kilowatts per hour. If the furnace operates, for sake of argument, 10 hours a day, or 25 minutes out of every hour, then your furnace will use 10kw * 10 or 100 kw of electricity a day. In a 30 day billing cycle, that amounts to 3,000 kw hours (kwh) used.

Here in Baltimore, BGE charges $0.118 per KWh. 3,000 * is $354/month.

So you can see it might save you money, but it might not. You need a real estimate on how long the furnace will run and the numbers on how large of a furnace you require.

I suspect, even with the cost of propane, that electric is gonna cost more - but I really can't be sure.

**TheRootedNomad** · 10-27-2008, 07:07 AM

Here are a couple of articles that explain a little about dual fuel systems. I am not recommending any companies that might be mentioned in the articles, just posting because of the "how they work" explinations. The first one is pretty general and then the second one gets a little more technical (this will help explain what someone means when they give you on a price on a "15 SEER" unit)

I happen to disagree with Greebo about his suspicion on the electric costing you more than propane specifically, but I would run the numbers as he suggested and double check EVERYTHING the sales guys/installers are telling you. As either side of the coin are just guesses on our part until you run the numbers.

http://www.hoecoop.org/Dualfuel2.html

http://www.nppd.com/My_Home/Product_...l_heatpump.asp

**Spikey1341** · 10-27-2008, 12:29 PM

I saw on the news that this winter natural gas is supposed to cost more than electric. I plan on using my fireplace more this winter, and if needed supplement with space heaters.

**fixer** · 10-27-2008, 03:29 PM

We have a duel fuel system. The heat pump uses electicity to heat our home until the outside temperature reaches a set point. Then the propane funace takes over to provide heat. It works well because depending on the cost of propane verses electricity that set point can be adjusted within the efiecency range of the heat pump. It is important to look at your specific costs regarding energy in your area.

**Starlight9803** · 10-27-2008, 09:55 PM

we have electric heat in our home (heat pump and electric furnace for when temps are too low for the heat pump to operate efficiently) and overall, we spend about $500/winter to heat the house. We have high electric rates here, but when figured up, the only more cost-effective option for us is an outdoor woodburner (which is on the list of "must haves" once debt is paid off). Also, that $500/season bill is for a house that is single level, 1,059 sq ft, and the thermostat is kept on 60-63, so a larger house or higher thermostat temp would greatly increase the costs on ours. HTH a bit.