Electric Baseboard heating question?

thebattle · Post by **thebattle** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 4:35 pm

I'm switching my house over to electric baseboard heating b/c in the long run its cheaper than oil. Anyway i had some questions. Does anybody have this type of heating source and if you do...

I'm planning on getting a 72" and a 36" heater i have one already installed.

I'm curious how big of a room does a heater of 36" heat? I'm curious about the footage or a rough idea of what these things are capable of heating b/c i don't wanna spend extra money on a big baseboard if it isn't needed? Do you think a 36" heater could heat a 12x10 room?

Any ideas? I'm curious I'm doing this within the next two weeks.

BDR · Post by **BDR** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 4:58 pm

Might do the job but you may be pushing your meter wityh one that small. Hell, baseboard heat spins the electric meeter pretty fast to begin with.

I have a 30x60 basement that's separated into four main rooms. Throughout, I have seven 72" units.

Good luck!

r:>)

thebattle · Post by **thebattle** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 5:12 pm

I'm curious whats your electric bill usually run with these on. I have two space heaters I'm using to heat my house and my electric bill was only 210

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:02 pm

You need to calculate that. Here is a page that gives you info:

http://www.houseneeds.com/shop/HeatingP ... eboard.htm

Hydroponic costs a lot more, but is really nice in commonly used rooms.

BDR · Post by **BDR** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:09 pm

lonewolf wrote:You need to calculate that. Here is a page that gives you info:

http://www.houseneeds.com/shop/HeatingP ... eboard.htm

Hydroponic costs a lot more, but is really nice in commonly used rooms.

Agreed, Jeff, and if you're not up on how to calculate that, the guy at the store where you're buying your units can help you figure it out.

r:>)

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:33 pm

Also, these should be installed below windows so that the heat rises into the colder air and is convected into the middle of the room. If you have 2 windows in a room, you would want to split up the total baseboard needs into 2 and locate them under each window.

Something I'm about to experiment with is placing a 6" mirror on the wall above the baseboard along its entire length. 3 reasons:

1. Looks nice.
2. Walls get dirtier above baseboard, so its easier to clean.
3. Good mirrors reflect heat. This should reflect heat back into the middle of the room rather than heating up an exterior wall.

BDR · Post by **BDR** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:47 pm

lonewolf wrote:Something I'm about to experiment with is placing a 6" mirror on the wall above the baseboard along its entire length. 3 reasons:

1. Looks nice.
2. Walls get dirtier above baseboard, so its easier to clean.
3. Good mirrors reflect heat. This should reflect heat back into the middle of the room rather than heating up an exterior wall.

Thinking about stealing your idea. Awesome.

r:>)

tonefight · Post by **tonefight** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:17 pm

Don't get rid of that oil furnace, rate caps come off in 2010 and electric bills are gonna go up.

BDR · Post by **BDR** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:12 pm

I certainly wouldn't recommend electric baseboard for someone trying to heat economically. I'm doing it now, while I can get away with it. It's cheap to buy the units and fairly easy to install. Plus, it's clean and safe.

I personally don't like to burn anything. It's a preference thing.

Upstairs, I have a forced air electric furnace and I'm looking to vent down at some point. I just have to do some math first.

r:>)

thebattle · Post by **thebattle** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 1:13 am

well I'm not getting rid of the oil furnace I'm just using the the electric as my primary