Questions on electric baseboard heating
It’s hard to talk about heating when it’s so warm outside. but we’re investigating installing electric baseboard heating in both units of our Brooklyn townhouse for two reasons: 1) To give the tenants control over their own heat, 2) to save money on the heating bills. I read that natural gas is likely to be…
It’s hard to talk about heating when it’s so warm outside. but we’re investigating installing electric baseboard heating in both units of our Brooklyn townhouse for two reasons: 1) To give the tenants control over their own heat, 2) to save money on the heating bills.
I read that natural gas is likely to be at least 25% higher next season, and our heating bill is out of control. We’re also looking into a solar electricity solution for the house, this year or next.
Would anyone be willing to share any positive or negative experiences with this sort of heating set-up? The tenants’ unit has uneven heat in the winter and the house thermostat needs to be set to 72 degrees to get every nook and cranny up to 68 deg in the daytime. Meanwhile, we boil downstairs.
Electric baseboards is a great idea for landlords because you pass all the heating costs to the tenant, so your heating bill will drop significantly.
One downside, particularly with small, cramp brownstone apartments, is where to put them. You will need to put one in every room except the kitchen, and, more problematic, the boards are typically 4′ or 6′ long, and they really only heat well if unobstructed (no furniture in front of them). So that’s 4′ to 6′ of wall space that you and the tenants will need to keep bare in each room, and space is obvioulsy one thing brownstones don’t have much of.
A second concern would be whether your wiring can handle it, because if the wires get too hot, then you have a fire risk on your hands.
A 3rd issue, not really your problem but, your tenants might not like that their electric bill is $100 higher, NYC tenants are not used to paying for their heat, and if this becomes too popular it will put some heating/oil companies out of business; so in more than one way there might be a ground swell against it.
If you ever get in major flooring work done, then floor heating systems might be a good idea. Heating guys will still suffer, but it would solve the space problem, wiring concerns, you can still have it done in a way that the tenant bares most of the costs, and it’ll cost much less electricity.
Perhaps you should consider separate systems. Keep the current one (modified) for yourself and get a new system for the tenant. That way they manage and pay their own heat.
Your options for the new system depend on the unit layout.
To answer your question about radiators, what you have to understand is that all radiators are 100% efficient. By that I mean when you fill a radiator with warm water or steam while it is sitting in a room filled with lower temperature air, the radiator gives off all the heat contained in it until the two temperatures equalize.
That’s 100% efficiency and it applies to all radiators.
Choose a radiator by its suitability for the conditions by construction, BTU output and design.
That said, radiators provide warmth in three ways:
1. By convection. Cool air from the floor rises through the radiator and is warmed as it rises and is expelled out the top.
2.By conduction. Surrounding solid surfaces are warmed and heat is released slowly to the room.
3. By radiation. A human body, in the presence of a warm surface, releases less of its internal warmth.
In theory, heating by radiation means extracting less heat from the boiler water, therefore the boiler runs less.
Copper fin/tube baseboard heaters give off almost no radiant heat. They heat nearly entirely by convection.
Panel radiators (this term is aka European radiators and includes floor heating) heat almost entirely by radiant energy.
So, if you can deal with the initial layout, they are a far better option.
Old school cast iron radiators offer a decent mix of all three heating methods but you have to deal with their size.
Hope this helps.
http://www.GatewayPlumbing.com
Yikes.
I can clarify – the major point is to give the tenants control and responsibility over their situation. I had seemingly endless complaints about the cold but would go upstairs to find their windows and front doors to their apartment open to the (unheated) common hall. With a localized solution everyone can be as warm as possible while not heating the entire house to the mid-70s.
Some people several months ago mentioned that they were switching to more efficient baseboard units than the old coil type. Is there a way to quantify this efficiency into dollars and cents?
ConEd announced a 22% increase in electric last week.
There is no way that electric heat will save you money. If gas goes up so does electricity.
Hydronic heat is the most efficient. You should look into balancing your system or splitting it.