Guest Marty Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 (edited) This is the first season i had to use Electric AC/Heat. All the houses i ever live in had Natural Gas central heat. In the summer time the AC work's very very good, but the heater is not up to par. I am in the process of changing the duct work. It's a good size Carrier system, do you think i am expecting too much from a Electric Central Heat unit ? Any suggestion's would be appreciated. Edited January 27, 2007 by Marty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heights2Bastrop Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 If you have to have electric heat, I believe a heat pump is the way to go. However, a heat pump will not heat a house in extreme cold, so an override heat system must be added. I assume gas is not available. That Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1fd Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 This is the first season i had to use Electric AC/Heat. All the houses i ever live in had Natural Gas central heat. In the summer time the AC work's very very good, but the heater is not up to par. I am in the process of changing the duct work. It's a good size Carrier system, do you think i am expecting too much from a Electric Central Heat unit ?There's two common types of electric central heat: Heat pumps which employ the compressor/condenser to move heat from the outdoors into the house. They are very energy efficient, but can only heat the house effectively until the temperature outside gets down near freezing. The air the systems put out isn't as warm as other types of systems, espescially with older heat pumps. The other type of heat is resistance heat...it consumes a LOT of power, but puts out good hot air....this technology is pretty much identical to what's in a hair dryer, only larger. Usually heat pumps have resistance elements as backup incase the outside temperature drops too low.That Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heights2Bastrop Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 I was talking about cost of heating. As far as I know, gas is still the cheaper method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Marty Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Mine is the Hair dryer type system. Do the elements ever go bad and not heat up properly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Mine is the Hair dryer type system. Do the elements ever go bad and not heat up properly?the elements do fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heights2Bastrop Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 the elements do fail.Especially if they are undersized. They will run all the time and may never reach the desired inside temps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Marty Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 (edited) Yea, Might as well change them out while i am replacing the duct work. Who ever installed it left the instuction booklet on top of the unit It say it was made in 1995. Thanks for the help Edited January 27, 2007 by Marty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1fd Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Mine is the Hair dryer type system. Do the elements ever go bad and not heat up properly?They can. There are also usually some overheat sensors that can go bad and cause the elements not to function correctly. If the unit is from 1995, I would just say have it repaired....you should be able to expect another 10+ years of service from it at the very least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumbles Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 I am considering buying a place that is all electric. Makes me a bit nervous as I have no idea how much it costs to run an electric heater here in Houston. More than gas no doubt but certainly it can't be as bad as running ac in the summer. How have your elec bills been and what size is your home? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 (edited) I am considering buying a place that is all electric. Makes me a bit nervous as I have no idea how much it costs to run an electric heater here in Houston. More than gas no doubt but certainly it can't be as bad as running ac in the summer.The electric furnaces i've seen tend to have 50 amp circuit breakers while the a/c units are usually smaller (30A) because they use less current. So i'm not sure running electric heat is less than a/c. not that this helps but it sure does make one realize how much more it costs to heat a house with electric vs. gas. scroll down to the section that says space heating cost comparison. Edited February 10, 2007 by musicman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1fd Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Most electric central heating units are 10,000 watts and up. Run it for an hour, and you've just snarfed down 10KwH. The bigger the house is, the higher the wattage.I got my gas bill for this past month...it was ~$40 more than the normal bill during the summer. Granted I have a small house, but still...I don't think I could've come close with an electric heater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heightsfan Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Good Afternoon All, I used blown insulation in my attic about 2 weeks ago. I just received both my electric and gas bill and almost tripled than last month ? Is truly the cold weather affecting this ? Should I have used the batts of insulations?Thank You Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Marty Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 (edited) Good Afternoon All, I used blown insulation in my attic about 2 weeks ago.I have blown insulation my self i think its better than the paper back fiberglass stuff. I believe that the condention of your duct work on your AC/Heat Unit has a lot to do with efficiency. Edited February 11, 2007 by Marty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumbles Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Wow, looks like it's about 3 times the cost of gas. Pretty scary considering the electric rates in houston. Thanks for the list.not that this helps but it sure does make one realize how much more it costs to heat a house with electric vs. gas. scroll down to the section that says space heating cost comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Good Afternoon All, I used blown insulation in my attic about 2 weeks ago. I just received both my electric and gas bill and almost tripled than last month ? Is truly the cold weather affecting this ? Should I have used the batts of insulations?Thank Youinsulation is good period. as for your bill tripling, mine quadrupled because they read the meter wrong. reliant then took so long to reread that my next bill was higher. several people i've spoken to have had the same problem. the cold temps would cause your bill to go up but not that much IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumbles Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Sometimes they read the meter wrong, often they just estimate it cause my gate is locked. Since you aren't running a/c this time of year the insulation shouldn't have any effect on your electric bill. If they have both gone up that much, maybe you need to read your meter and compare to what is on your bill. Good Afternoon All, I used blown insulation in my attic about 2 weeks ago. I just received both my electric and gas bill and almost tripled than last month ? Is truly the cold weather affecting this ? Should I have used the batts of insulations?Thank You Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heightsfan Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 Good Afternoon All, thank you it worked ! They revised my bill and it was lower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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