ACorania t1_j9dil7z wrote on February 21, 2023 at 3:06 AM

Reply to comment by LifeIsARollerCoaster in Heat Pumps Sell Like Hotcakes on America's Oil-Rich Frontier by dolphins3

I could be wrong, but I think in general that space heaters are the most expensive way to heat. More than gas in most situations.

Obviously it depends on if you are heating the same amount of space, the relative efficiency of your specific situation, etc. etc... but as a general rule, space heaters are the most costly form of heating.

series_hybrid t1_j9ftmhm wrote on February 21, 2023 at 4:49 PM

If I eaten an entire house with a space heater in each room, I would agree with you.

This past winer we had a month that was colder than normal, and that month we paid $300 to heat. The following month we turned the central heat way down, dressed warmer, and used a space-heater in the small den where we ate and watched TV

lupuscapabilis t1_j9g3ba9 wrote on February 21, 2023 at 5:51 PM

For some reason people tend to just get stuck on the "space heaters are expensive" thing even though most of us use them to temporarily supplement the heat and not use them to heat the whole house. I've never seen any significant increase in electric bill from occasionally using a space heater.

LifeIsARollerCoaster t1_j9ds4fk wrote on February 21, 2023 at 4:28 AM

Electric space heaters are close to 100% energy efficient. Gas heaters have over 80% energy efficiency. That’s the physics part. The cost part depends on the price of gas and price of electricity. If gas prices are higher like in the last few months or If you have solar panels then the cost of electricity is less and you will save money like I did by using a space heater

_craq_ t1_j9en1sy wrote on February 21, 2023 at 10:49 AM

Heat pumps get 200-300% efficiency.

For people whose electricity is generated from gas, you should include the efficiency of generating electricity in your calculation. So a space heater would be ~50%, but a heat pump still beats direct gas heating.

ghostridur t1_j9fyld3 wrote on February 21, 2023 at 5:21 PM

There are 100000 btus in a therm of natural gas and 3142 btus in a kwh of electric so using $1.316 of gas for heating is equivalent to $5.506 in electricity for a space heater at the current rates I am paying for ng and electric. Heat pumps probably won't catch on as much in the north for heating we mostly use them for cooling in the summer. Even with a crank case heater and an auxiliary heat grid inside the head getting below 5 they really struggle.

I'll stick with my 96.3% furnace for now. The premature push to have everything all electric is just a good way to sell more natural gas to electric power companies for generation. Just costs the end user more money.

LifeIsARollerCoaster t1_j9g3pc0 wrote on February 21, 2023 at 5:53 PM

The math is different for people who have solar panels or those who have much higher gas prices