Electric Heat

[rawheels]

I am looking at purchasing/restoring an older home. Currently it has No Air, Hot Water Baseboard downstairs, and electric baseboard upstairs. I had a few contractors come out to give quotes on A/C install. Probably end up puting the unit in the kneewall attic area upstairs since it will be an easier install and cold air will fall easier anyway. Unit will be variable speed, 3 ton, and I plan on having 3 zones; down stairs, upstairs, and a kitchen that was added on. It looks like adding electric heat to an air handler only costs around $50-100. And all the contractor would have to do is add one more 240V line with what he would already have to run.

So here is the question; Would it be practical to remove the three electric baseboard units upstairs and heat it with the electric furnace since it is zoned seperate? Without seeing the actual installation, do you think it would save any money on monthly bills?

Benefits:
- Remove hot baseboards from kids rooms.
- Opens three 240V circuits on the electric panel (which could now be used for Condensor, Air Handler, Eletric Coil)

Downfalls:
- Using a 3 ton system to heat 800 sq ft (seems like a lot of bypass air and short cycles)

[mdharris68]

Have you considered a 2 stage heat pump setup?

It should cost less to operate than resistane heat while providing staged heating or cooling in the event of only one zone calling. Also you could rely on it in case of boiler failure.


The additional cost of the heat pump over the cheap to install electric resistance may outweigh the savings though. My 2 cents.