Electricity rates in Poconos- electric heat

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by poconogirl

yes We would like to use the fireplace as a main source of heat and supplement with electrical heat. Can you recommend someone who will install the insert with blower fan installed.

Silly question: would the fan blower blow the smoke or CO back inside the house?

also... what is a damper thing.... every fireplace has one?

poconogirl,



I just wanted to ask you if you do have a damper? Usually the handle is high on the right side and partially up the chimney.

Dampers are usually not firmly attached - you could remove the whole thing if you wanted to put in a woodstove or stove pipe. Be careful, if you do have a damper; the first time you ever close and open it - it could have a buildup of ashes, creosote or dirt that could cause it to come out of the slots that it sits in. Dampers are usually made out of fairly heavy metal or cast iron.

Don’t close a damper unless the fire is totally out - no smoke and no coals. You will smoke up your house if you close it too soon. However, like others have pointed out; your heat is just going up the chimney without a damper.

Do you have plenty of wood on your property? Our average Pocono woods contains about 15 cords of wood - if you clear cut all your trees. Most people, that burn wood; will burn between two and six cords each year - depending on several factors.

You might want to check out pellet stoves or coal. They are probably a little easier for novices. They also do not have the bugs and other problems associated with wood.

[DE_NePA]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

Is it forced air system? If you're having trouble with a forced air system this is usually because they have not split the duct work from the source.

Equally if not more common - no returns. You can't blow air into a room if there's not an efficient way to draw air out of the room. The air just won't come out the vents as well in a room that doesn't have a return, a greater percentage will exit the ducts in the rooms that do. Closing the door to the room just makes it worse.

[live_in_nepa]

Here is my experience.

I have a newer home. 9 years old. 2,400 sq ft living and 1,000 sq ft unfinished basement plus I have a 26x28 garage under my addition which is one very large room as my “man cave” this room is 11.5ft ceilings and is 26x28ft.. The house is a cape cod with three bedrooms and bath on the second story.

I have three heating sources.

My main is coal. I burn 5 ton per year at a delivered cost of 175 per ton. I have a 90,000btu KeyStoker rice coal burner in my basement.

My secondary (when it gets really cold like 10-15 degrees) is propane with two vent-free fireplaces. I ran the larger fireplace last night for one hour and my wife was complaining it was two hot upstairs. I ran the fireplace in my addition for about 2 hrs as I watched TV and I shut it down right before bed.

My third is electric. Every room has it except for the addition. I have the electric baseboard units that have GEL in the centers of a tube. This is similar to baseboard hot-water and the GEL stays warm longer. More efficient and less of a cold-warm-cold feeling in the air. I have not turned on the electric heat in about 2 years.

The Coal that is my savior. I have a bin in my attached garage. With slats of boards so that I can take them out as the coal gets lower. I have my coal stoker stove ducted to the addition, thru my garage and also ducted into the main house. I fill the coal hopper once a day. I should say I keep it topped off so it never really gets empty. The ashes I take out twice a day to keep up on them. To fill the hopper and take out the ashes it takes me about 3 minutes… and that is if I need to walk into my garage to fill a bucket of coal.

My basement is at about 62 degrees. The main house and addition is at 70 to 74 depending on wind and outside temp. and my attached garage is at about 45 to 60 degrees.
Now my house is well insulated and is constructed very well. If you do not have insulation, you are wasting heat.

My yearly heating bills are about 1100 with filling the propane tank as well as coal. And we also cook with propane so some gets used there.

My advice is talk to someone who knows what they are doing. I set up my system in my house myself and I would say with the last 4 years of running it this way, my costs speak for themselves.

Oh.. and I forgot to mention, my coal stove is 18 years old.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by live_in_nepa

My third is electric. Every room has it except for the addition. I have the electric baseboard units that have GEL in the centers of a tube. This is similar to baseboard hot-water and the GEL stays warm longer. More efficient and less of a cold-warm-cold feeling in the air. I have not turned on the electric heat in about 2 years.

This is the same deal with comparing an eden pure to standard electric baseboard:

1500 watt Eden Pure: 3413 BTU
1500 watt Hair Dryer: 3413 BTU
15 100 watt incadescent light bulbs: 3413 BTU (bonus here is you get light)
1500 watt electric baseboard whether it's oil, hydronic or anything else: 3413 BTU

The BTU is never going to change for any electric heat, what changes is how they distribute the heat. In the case of the hydronic (or gel which I never heard of) the the mass of liquid or whatever it may be can temporarily store the heat. It acts like buffer and slowly releases the heat. It takes longer to heat up and longer to cool down. You *might* use less electric with hydronic (or gel) but only because you wont get the overshoots on the desired temperature.

[live_in_nepa]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

This is the same deal with comparing an eden pure to standard electric baseboard:

1500 watt Eden Pure: 3413 BTU
1500 watt Hair Dryer: 3413 BTU
15 100 watt incadescent light bulbs: 3413 BTU (bonus here is you get light)
1500 watt electric baseboard whether it's oil, hydronic or anything else: 3413 BTU

The BTU is never going to change for any electric heat, what changes is how they distribute the heat. In the case of the hydronic (or gel which I never heard of) the the mass of liquid or whatever it may be can temporarily store the heat. It acts like buffer and slowly releases the heat. It takes longer to heat up and longer to cool down. You *might* use less electric with hydronic (or gel) but only because you wont get the overshoots on the desired temperature.

Correct, the amount of heat is the same.. it is just the effect of something holding heat longer and radiating that into the room longer. The fins cool too quick and you get a cold-warm-cold feeling much quicker.

Any heat source you will use is going to have costs. Fuel costs, maint costs, cleaning costs. If you do not have proper insulation or windows/doors.. you are in for a suprise when you get the bills.

Be smart, conserve, use sunlight whenever you can and bundle up when sleeping.

[quiet life]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

Is it forced air system? If you're having trouble with a forced air system this is usually because they have not split the duct work from the source. Instead of having a few split off right at the start they might run one duct. The farther you go the worse it gets. The other issue even when split from the source the air is going to travel the path of the least resistance. A longer run will have much more resistance.

A simple fix might be installing air vents with dampers, by partially closing off the damper in the warmer room you'll create more resistance and force more heat into the other ducts.

I believe this is a forced air system made by Haier. I tried looking up the info from the model # but none found. This house was built in 2008 so this is a fairly new furnace. I have a gas fireplace that heats the whole house if I leave all the rooms upstairs open. Is that my only option?The master bedrm might get a tad chilly if I close the damper in there. Not an option for me much less my wife. They did split it from the source. The path of least resistance I didn't factor into my thought process Silly me,lol.

[quiet life]

Originally Posted by DE_NePA

Equally if not more common - no returns. You can't blow air into a room if there's not an efficient way to draw air out of the room. The air just won't come out the vents as well in a room that doesn't have a return, a greater percentage will exit the ducts in the rooms that do. Closing the door to the room just makes it worse.

Another oversight on my part I do have return air ducts on the first floor family room and second floor hallway. Again, leaving the doors open in the other bedrooms can't be my only option We go into the other bedrooms and put on mitts and overcoats. What to do?