[hannaranch]

Have you ever used central heat that was heated by electricity? Is it expensive?

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by hannaranch

Have you ever used central heat that was heated by electricity? Is it expensive?

Yes and yes. Our electric bill in January was higher than any bill we had last summer.

[Buzz123]

Most of the older places we have lived had whole house electric appliances and furnaces, and it definitely costs more than gas. But here in Las Vegas we don't call it central heat or central air conditioning. We just have heat and A/C. I've always associated "central" with basements and registers in the floor. Ours are called "vents" and they are near the ceiling because cold air sinks, and hot air rises, and we are more concerned with cold air than warm air.

[olecapt]

Pure electric heat is very expensive. And you do find it in older homes.

New all electric homes use heat pumps...which are much more efficient than pure electric heaters.

Our winter heating bills are about half that of our AC bills.

@MMB - You should have that checked out. If you are on a heat pump it should not happen. Perhaps you are going to the heating elements rather than the heat pump...

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by olecapt

@MMB - You should have that checked out. If you are on a heat pump it should not happen. Perhaps you are going to the heating elements rather than the heat pump...

The problem isn't with the heat pump, it is with my wife. She likes it toasty in the winter. We usually have the thermostat(s) set in the mid to upper 70s.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

The problem isn't with the heat pump, it is with my wife. She likes it toasty in the winter. We usually have the thermostat(s) set in the mid to upper 70s.

Set your thermostat to 62 in the summer. Now your winter bill will be lower than summer. Problem solved.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

The problem isn't with the heat pump, it is with my wife. She likes it toasty in the winter. We usually have the thermostat(s) set in the mid to upper 70s.

You wanna trade wives for a while? Mine likes to have the a/c at 10 below 0, and never wants to use the heater. We just got back from Home Depot with a portable evaporative cooler for her home office.

[dynimagelv]

we sleep heat off....one blanket and the patio door open all but about 4 weeks of the winter

[tiger08]

Let me give a couple of tips for cheaper heating with a heat pump.

Not all but most of the heat pumps in this valley, have a built in electric auxillary heat kit. The purpose of the heat kit is to aid the heat pump on super cold mornings, when it just cant quite keep up.

If you walk up to the thermostat and throw it up more than 2 or 3 degrees, not only are you engaging the heat pump but you are also engaging the heat strip, this is where running the unit gets expensive.

I added an outdoor lockout thermostat to my heat pump that keeps the auxillary heat strip off, unless it's below 30 degrees outside. If you dont want to go that far, usually you can just shut the heat strip off at the unit.

Also, if you have a heat pump, you never want to keep the house below 65 degrees in the winter. It takes way too long for a heat pump to recover on its own.

My uncle used to complain of high power bills with his heat pump and he was one of those people that would let the house get ice cold at night and then get up in the morning, throw the thermostat way up and was running heat pump and strip heat. Very very expensive! After a lesson from me, their power bill dropped to half of what it was.

And one last thing, make sure your defrost cycle is set for 90 minutes. Anything more than that is too much in this dry desert. This will also save alot on auxillary heat run time.

[hannaranch]

How much does it cost a month to heat your house to able 70 with an electic heater?