Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Hey all,

Well i've been renting for the last 7+ years so I basically have zero equity to my name. I found a house for sale. I drive 1.5 minutes to work currently. This house would be 15 minutes from work which means more gas money.

There is no A/C in the house for sale. The house is heated with all baseboard electric heat. Does anyone on this board heat their home with baseboard elec heat? I'm not crazy about it. Because there is no forced air system in the house, there is no duct work so options for an A/C are limited. The windows are crank outs which limit the options even further. The house has older wood siding. It could use vinyl siding within 3 years or so. It's got a 2 car garage with blacktop drive. Has a good sized shed out in back. Absolutely no neighbors to the back. It's all open farm land.

I just don't know about the electric heat thing and the cost to heat the home. Any pros or cons to it? Should I stay away from this house or what?

I'll attach some pics... Price is firm at $73,000

Thanks for any info

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

If you can get on a plan where it spreads out the heat bill over 12 months, it will really help your budgeting.

Natural gas prices are constantly shifting, but I can only go buy how the shop heat/electric bills fluxuate monthly.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Hi Josh-

They pay $122/mo on the budget plan. That covers everything electric: heat, lights, water heater, stove, etc... They also have a newer wood stove in the basement if I wanted to burn wood in conjunction to the electric heat.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Well, you know how much it costs then don't you.

And wood stove heat is the best. Utilize that beast!

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

$122 a month is pretty good. I pay more then that for just my electricity. you could try to get it setup with off peak heat and save alot. But I dont think you can do off peak heat with wood backup anymore. Looks like a steal for 73k. You can always retrofit a furnace in the future.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Yes, i know that he pays that much but I don't know his living habits and I don't really know how much wood he burned last winter in conjuction to that. So to heat solely with electric would be alot higher of course. I don't have access to a woods that I could log out for heating wood so I'd have to buy it from someone.

73k is a pretty good deal. That's in my home town which is 12 miles from where i'm at now. That house in my current town would be 90+ easily. I was thinking of getting it and fixing it up and making some money on it.

You can see in the attached pic that it clearly needs something done with the countertops.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

My brothers house is all electricly heated. he does have a higher electricity bill but he says it still is cheaper then to have a furnace

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Burn Corn. Seriously, it might be a good thing to look into investing in one of the Bixby (sp?) stoves (Shameles plug for Jet) for heat in the Winter. I know Marks roomate had one at their place in Bloomington as well.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Yep, get yourself a corn burner! I have one in the shop and one downstairs. I also happen to work there full time. Let me know, I could probably hook you up!

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

If I wasn't in a townhouse, I'd for sure be burning corn.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

just get 11 computers like me then you'll be set :)

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

You are going to start a corn farm aren't you?

Corn gas, corn heat...do you like to eat corn?

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

It's amazing how efficient corn burns. Over the whole winter, you might have one cup or so of ash.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

I don't eat a lot of corn, but I love corn on the cob. I just don't buy that much fresh food. I really should though.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

kinda off topic, sorry... but what part of wisconsin are you in? a decent house for 73K? O_O damn. you cant buy a refridgerator box on a street corner for that much around here.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Actually that isn't true, our stove is the most efficient on the market (99.7% burn efficiency) and we get a hockey puck sized clinker for every 33 lbs of corn. Shameless plug: www.bixbyenergy.com

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Those are not the units I am speaking of. The unit that I am most familiar with is about the size of a small car (Fit). It's located on a farm, so he just uses his own corn. I was there when he cleaned it. I cupped my hands together and he put the ash in my hands saying, "This was all the corn from last winter's heat."

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Yes, that is an outdoor boiler unit and that still isn't possible. We burn 99.7% of what you can in the corn. There are starches and other parts that simply won't burn. I have been the technical support manager for 4 years, believe me :D

Back on topic, electric is one of the most expensive sources of heat that there is. I am sure he was using the wood stove all the time if his electric bills were that low. Wood is a pain too.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

How many pounds would you say you burn in a winter?

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Back on topic, I have only baseboard heating in my condo, about 740 sq ft. I'm not on the budget plan, and last month my electric bill was $38.

But in January/February, my bill was $150 or so each month, and I kept my place around 65, and didn't turn the heat on in my room because I like it cold in there. And in my living room, I only have one baseboard heater, usually full blast in the winter, that's the only thing that heated my place. Cost me about $4 per day for that thing to be on.

However, I live in building made in late 1800s, I have virtually no modern insulation. That would probably cut my bill in half in the winter.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

I burn about 80 bushel (4500#) a winter for 2000 sqft (1000 each level). That is about $250 worth of corn at today's prices. My dad dropped his natural gas bill (way cheaper than electric) in his store from $3800 to $600 worth of corn. He also has one in his house.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Anyone one have those electric water heaters, that dont use a tank? We're looking into getting one. Supposed to be about 25% more efficient? I'm pretty sure the hot water is produced almost immediately, on demand. Any thoughts?

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Yea those are nice, but they are really expensive compared to a regular electric.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

I have also heard to stay away from the electric ones, they can't keep up to demand. The gas ones are much better and some are great. Some of the lower end ones vary the temp of the water too much, so it gets hotter and colder while they run. That is one of the dangers with those since they don't have a tank. You are looking at about $800 for a nice gas one.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

One thing to watch for on the electric water heaters is the type of water. If you have high mineral concentrations they will clog.

I stayed in a lot of places in Thailand that had little ones attached to each shower and they were awesome. A little warm up time, but not really worse than waiting for regular hot water.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

My parents' house is heated by electricity. After growing up in that and living in 3 different residences since then with gas heat, I'd go back to the electric heat at my parents any day. Two reasons:
1. You do not have to worry about carbon monoxide poisoning with electric heat
2. I hate the bursts of heat that forced air systems have. When electric heaters turn on, they're hardly noticeable. Personally, I believe that electric heat does a much better job of holding a constant room temperature. Electric heat has the ability to repeatedly turn on and off while forced air turns on and off in big bursts.

I'd comment on the price of the electric heat in my parents' house but I have no idea what it costs.

The fuel cost is obviously lower with corn. However, what is the furnace versus corn stove price difference?

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

If I were building a house now, I'd go 100% in floor heat with a few radiators scattered around to also run the water through. In floor heat is incredible.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Hey everyone- thanks for all the input on this. I appreciate all the feedback. I'm looking at a WHEDA loan right now and seeing what i'm approved for. I'd like to get a little more for updates.

My friend actually has a wood pellet stove which is basically the same as burning corn. The wood pellets burn cleaner than corn but is obviously more expensive.

I have infloor heat but i'm renting a duplex that doesn't have any basement. It's definately the way to go for a garage or for a house that doesn't have a basement. Even if you don't plan on doing it, it's not a bad idea to at least run the PVC tubing throughout the floor just in case you want to upgrade later on.

Hey JET are you saying you heated your entire house for $250 for the entire last winter?! If so, did you soley heat it with corn or was this in conjuction to a natural gas system.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

My parents have hot water heat, and that's what I had been used to since as long as I can remember. I couldn't tell you what the monthly expense is, but it's not cheap.

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

I can get a better price. Corn is the way to go.
1. You do not have to worry about carbon monoxide poisoning with electric heat
And with corn stoves you do?
The fuel cost is obviously lower with corn. However, what is the furnace versus corn stove price difference?
Corn-wood stoves 1200.00- 4500.00
furnace 1000.00--2500.00
Corn-wood stoves can pay for themselfs in a heating season easy.

BURN CORN RUN CORN EAT CORN SHIT CORN THAT WILL BE THE LIFE FOR ME!!!!!!
Joe

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

The corn stoves run costantly too, so it is a nice consistent heat. Also, corn is not dirtier than pellets if you have a good corn stove, he is probably used to the cheaper corn stoves. The Bixby can burn corn or pellets, just flip a switch. It also dumps the ash by itself, lights itself, and makes your coffee in the morning!

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Yeah those countertops are pretty sweet. Something straight out of napolean dynamite. If you want to spend some money on countertops check these out. They are all made at my work. You can get fiberoptics in them to. Ask denny hecker how he likes his.

http://www.concretearts.com/Always.Q...untertops.html

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

What does having or not having a basement have to do with being able to utilize in floor heat?

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

Jet does it get hot on the outside to the touch? Is it possible to have one installed like a furnace and use some sort of forced air system?

Re: Anybody heat their home with Electric
 

The MaxFire version doesn't get hot on the outside except for the door, but there is a child protective safety screen. The UBB (Ugly Black Box) can be ducted into current duct work, but that does get hot on the outside.