Quote:
Originally Posted by cb2008
we have a sun room that is 15 by 19 Ft, and it is not set up for heat. We have been using space heaters when the weather gets cold until about December.
I am exploring options other than space heaters like an electric baseboard. Has anyone installed one and could share some information?
Do you like it and does it heat evenly and keep you comfortable?
How much does it cost and are there products that are well rated?
If you got it installed, how much does it cost?
Can an electricain do the whole job or do i also need to hire a carpenter or something?
Thank you.
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I put in some electric baseboard heaters while we are getting round to installing a wood stove. It has been several years. Our sun-room is close in area (about 9 x 22).
It was hard to find electric baseboard heaters that run on 110 v instead of 220. We found some online from a place in Ohio. We tied them into the existing 20 amp outlet circuits. They work well, but do not make the room warm, just warmer. The sunroom is mostly windows, and glass is a terrible insulator. Thus, if it is 10 below zero (f) outside, you are not going to go sit in the sunroom and read a book, especially when it is windy. If it is 30 or warmer and no wind, it is comfortable. We are still planning to put in the woodstove eventually.
The electric baseboard heaters were not expensive, I am pretty sure they cost less than $100 each. They were very easy to install, it took about an hour.
The main complain I have about them are the dials. They are not clearly marked and only have tiny lettering at the bottom of the dial. Thus, you have to put on reading glasses and lie on the floor to see which dial to turn which way to turn on/off/up/down the heat. Sine I do that rarely, I never remember how it works and since I am not enthused to about laying on the floor trying to read tiny print, I usually just move the dials a bit and wait to see what happens.
The other two issues are the temperature dial does not have stops. It can turn all the way round, so it can be hard to tell where you are. the other issue is the dials are very low and turn very easily, thus they get turned by people, dogs or furniture brushing against them. Sometime we go out there and it is freezing and sometimes it is hotter than hell.
AS far as changes in our utility bill, ours is so high and jumps around so radically, it is nearly impossible to tell what impact these heaters have. It is not enough to notice a big jump when we turn them on or off because there is always something else contributing to big changes in our bill. Since they are limited to 1500 or 1800 watts, figure it is the same as leaving 15 or 18 100 watt lights burning for each heater. So with to heaters, even if they are 1500 watts (which I think they are), we have the equivalent of 30 100 watt light bulbs on whenever we are heating out there. That is significant, but not massive. Notwithstanding all Dads' crusades to turn off lights, light bulbs do not really have that huge of an impact. 30 will be a definite impact, but not huge. Notwithstanding all the glass, the heaters do not run 24/7 unless it is super cold outside. The only question is whether the use of the space is worth it. For us it is, because we keep the dogs in there at night and when we are away. Without the dogs, I would probably shut them down (but still put in a wood-stove hen I get to it). With a woodstove and a pot of water on top, that will be our most comfortable winter room. A woodstove will keep that area snuggly warm and the water will keep it moist (dryness is a problem in the winter). We will have to kick the dogs out or crate them though, they might get burned by laying against the stove.
I actually installed the heaters so we could remove the doors between the sunroom and the kitchen and have the space counted for an appraisal. The extra $30,000 or so in appraised value helped us get a better interest rate.
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