If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
|
Posted by D J on September 12, 2006, 12:41 pm
Hi All,
I just bought one house with Electric Heat in it and was thinking to
convert it to natural gas heat.
House is having four bed rooms, living room, kitchen, one bath room. I
heard from the utility company that the last gentlmen had an average of
200$ in Electric bill for last two years.. Which scared me off.
I live in NJ, north. Would it be a good idea to convert to natural gas
heat? I heard government is giving some subsidies and also loan
programs are available. But, I don't know what is given to whom and
also which companies are good at it.
Any help?
Thanks,
D J
|
|
Posted by Pete C. on September 12, 2006, 12:54 pm
D J wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I just bought one house with Electric Heat in it and was thinking to
> convert it to natural gas heat.
>
> House is having four bed rooms, living room, kitchen, one bath room. I
> heard from the utility company that the last gentlmen had an average of
> 200$ in Electric bill for last two years.. Which scared me off.
>
> I live in NJ, north. Would it be a good idea to convert to natural gas
> heat? I heard government is giving some subsidies and also loan
> programs are available. But, I don't know what is given to whom and
> also which companies are good at it.
>
> Any help?
>
> Thanks,
> D J
You don't indicate what type of electric heat you have, and this makes a
big difference. Some types of electric heat will be far easier and
therefore less expensive to convert to gas than others. Electric
baseboard heat or electric radiant heat would be the worst to convert
since you essentially have to install everything new. Electric forced
hot air or electric fired hydronic heat would be among the easiest to
convert since much of the existing system could be reused.
Either way you'll still be out more money that you will save for a few
years. You need to get estimates on the cost of the conversion, the best
estimate for the savings and pay back time and then decide if it's a
project you want to tackle right away. If it will cost you $5,000 to do
the conversion and only save you $500 over the heating season (10yr pay
back), you might want to wait a year to put aside some money and get
quotes.
Pete C.
|
|
Posted by Edwin Pawlowski on September 12, 2006, 3:55 pm
>
> I just bought one house with Electric Heat in it and was thinking to
> convert it to natural gas heat.
In theory, that is probably a good idea. In most places, gas is cheaper.
Be sure to check that out. There is a web page where you can do cost
comparisons by plugging in some know numbers. A Google search will probably
find it.
>
> House is having four bed rooms, living room, kitchen, one bath room. I
> heard from the utility company that the last gentlmen had an average of
> 200$ in Electric bill for last two years.. Which scared me off.
Scared? That is damned cheap. I pay $200+ in summer with partial Ac. I pay
$100 in winter with oil heat and then pay $160 average for oil. I'd trade
bills with you any time This year, with increased rates and oil prices, I'll
probably average $270 for heat and electric.
>
> I live in NJ, north. Would it be a good idea to convert to natural gas
> heat? I heard government is giving some subsidies and also loan
> programs are available. But, I don't know what is given to whom and
> also which companies are good at it.
First, find out if gas is available. In my case, it would be $10,000 just
to get hte gas line to the house and that was 20 years ago. Until you know
that gas is available, the rest may be for naught.
Changing oil to gas or vice versa is fairly simple. You just change the
burner or boiler and leave all the plumbing or furnace ducting in place.
From electric baseboard to some other form of heat can be very expensive if
you have to run ducts or piping.
Your local utility company will know about any subsidies or loans available.
Check with them and the heating contractors.
|
|
Posted by mrsgator88 on September 24, 2006, 11:57 am
As others have mentioned, unless you have ductwork in place, you may spend
more than you'll save. Perhaps spend that money on better insulation or
siding. Our house has an "odd" multi level layout, so we're often heating
several rooms just to keep one or two bedrooms warm. Our "solution" for
this winter is to turn the thermostat down and give the kids electric
blankets. We'll see how it works....
S
|
|
Posted by Morvin Stayner on September 24, 2006, 8:36 pm
> As others have mentioned, unless you have ductwork in place, you may
> spend more than you'll save. Perhaps spend that money on better
> insulation or siding. Our house has an "odd" multi level layout, so
> we're often heating several rooms just to keep one or two bedrooms
> warm. Our "solution" for this winter is to turn the thermostat down
> and give the kids electric blankets. We'll see how it works....
>
> S
>
Before you tuck your kids under an electric blanket for 8 to 10 hours a
day, do a Google search for "electromagnetic field" and/or "electromagnetic
radiation."
Maybe there's nothing to it. Maybe sleeping under an electric blanket is
as safe as sleeping under a down-filled comforter. However, if there's any
chance - even one in a billion - that electromagnetic fields could harm my
kids, I wouldn't take a chance.
Instead of electric blankets, why not buy them some good artic sleeping
bags? They'll be nice and warm, your electric bill will be lower and
you'll able to sleep at night knowing they're safe.
Morvin
|
| Similar Threads | Posted | | Whirlpool electric dryer; problem with heat/thermal cut-offs (no heat) | August 31, 2007, 12:58 pm |
| HVAC - Oil or electric backup for new heat pump? Or oil heat only? | August 17, 2005, 8:16 pm |
| oil heat vs natural gas | September 22, 2005, 9:03 pm |
| Natural gas hot water heat. | March 22, 2006, 11:42 pm |
| Convert from Natural Gas to Heat Pump ? | September 24, 2005, 9:10 am |
| converting a furnace from natural gas to propane | September 21, 2006, 6:19 pm |
| Electric heat | January 2, 2006, 10:39 pm |
| electric heat? | February 11, 2006, 12:28 am |
| Gas vs electric heat | November 24, 2006, 6:17 am |
| Gas or Electric Heat? | December 8, 2006, 2:57 pm |
|
|
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap