electric heating

I think I found the garage of my dreams attached to a house my wife likes on an acre of land in a great location. My concern is the heating system is listed as electric forced air. I have horror stories of the costs of electric heat....but wonder how true they are? HVAC stuff seems like an big $$$ upgrade if it is needed. Any GRMers using electric heat in a cold climate (BC Canada)?

My buddy has a bunch of old baseboard heaters in his detached garage.....they cost a fortune to run. This is Edmonton, Alberta though.

Electric forced air is a weird description. I can think of two very different things that could mean for example, heat pump or resistance grid.

If it's heat pump, those typically are quite good at being efficient, but older ones tend to never be particularly warm feeling.

Resistance wire heating was typically electric baseboard. One of the most expensive ways to heat. I have seen it done in a central a/c type unit where a large grid of electrical resistance wires produced the heat, and that was blown throughout. I would expect that to also be very expensive, and probably not very warm feeling either.

Electric forced air is easily replaced with Gas or oil because the ducting would all be there.

Electric baseboard is really expensive to replace.

FYI, heat pumps usually have a backup "emergency heat" circuit that uses resistance wire. It kicks on when its too cold outside for the hear pump to be effective. Here in Georgia mine often kicks in on winter mornings and you can watch the power bill climb. I can't imagine it in Canada. I was under the impression that heat pumps weren't used much in cold climates for that reason, but I could be wrong.

My dad had a central heat/ac sststem that used only electric wires for heat. It was a 30 year old system in a drafty farmhouse, but his bill touched $500/mo a couple times before he replaced it.

I've seen old school Modine electric heaters hanging from the ceiling. Also seen infra red electric heaters like in a hockey rink. Its Canada, so I'm going with the infra red hockey rink style heaters along the ceiling.

Usually the BTUs from gas will be cheaper than BTUs from electricity. Call up your local power company for rates. A typical efficiency for gas fired units will be 80% or more. Electric heating is 100%.

Also if you're serious about the house, get knowledgeable before you go so you can identify the system. You can always try to rope the current owners into replacing it as part of the purchase price.

If I'd design my own house, I'd put radiant floor heat everywhere, and have a ducted system for cooling purposes and for a whole house fan system (one system).

In reply to ultraclyde:
Up here (Michigan) heat pumps are almost always ground sourced,either from a well or buried tubes. The air sourced versions don't work well at all for much of the year. The ground sourced systems cost on initial installation but operating costs are much lower if your home is reasonably air tight. If we ever get around to building our dream retirement home it will have a heat pump.

foxtrapper wrote: Electric forced air is a weird description. I can think of two very different things that could mean for example, heat pump or resistance grid.

I lived in an apt with forced air electric heat. Essentially a resistance grid in the air flow. We moved out of there 25 years ago, but even back then $200/mo electric bills (for a 2 BR townhouse apt) were not uncommon. For most of the time we lived there, we used a kerosene heater (which naturally, the apt managers hated).

In a garage, electric heat isn't always a bad thing. It's cheap/easy to install and works fairly quickly. Cost-effectiveness will depend a great deal on how much time you spend in the garage and how warm you want it to be. In many cases, the payback can take a number of years.

any chance you can offset the cost with solar on the roof?

I have electric heat (heat pumps), but I live in a warmer climate than anywhere in BC. I would spend the money to change to natural gas if only there was natural gas where I live. It is either electric or propane.

Yahoo, it was a mistake in the listing, it is forced air natural gas heat, municipal water and sewer. Our offer was accepted, now I just need to find some way to pay for it!!!!