As a landlord and investor changing our heaters, boilers and electric heat is a decision I have to make from time to time. This video helped me alot. Out here none of the old houses have insulation so Rads and boilers are the way to go until you have to replace one. Electric really doesnt heat these houses well and drive up the bills of tenants who in turn complain.
Good video. I have refurbed a few houses without heating systems, and installed 240V cadet baseboards, attaching the thermostat to the baseboards. Tenants seem to like it, and they can do zone heating to save money if they want to. For me, it was the cheapest option, under $1000 for a small ranch house, including the baseboards, thermostats, 12/2 romex, and breakers. Plus, tenants can be destructive, and it's easy to replace baseboards, and a lot cheaper versus the cost of even basic servicing of a central heating system. It was interesting to hear your take on hydronics. I considered them but they are 3x the cost of basic baseboards, don't seem more efficient, and a lot of reviews claim they fail in a 3-5 year period (meaning regular baseboards outlast them), so it was hard to see an upside. In my house we have the portable electric radiator heaters in our bedrooms, which are very efficient because the thermal mass of the oil and the metal fins are heated up, and even when the thermostat kicks off and no power is being used, that heated mass continues to radiate heat outward. I can't understand why they don't make baseboards with this sort of design, like a very large reservoir of oil inside that could be heated and continue to radiate heat even when not using electric. Hell, even making a version of the electric radiator heaters that could be wired for 240 and permanently mounted would be an excellent idea. Given the current portable models sell for $50-100 each, they would be easy to tweak the design and sell at a reasonable price, and I think they would be superior to the baseboard option.
@@331whf9 Not really. We have friends who pay $500 a month for propane if it's a cold winter month. Baseboards are zone heat and can be turned off or down in rooms that no one will be in. If I remember right, the living room has 1000w, kitchen/dining 750w, hall 350w, and the bedrooms 500w each. The main bathroom has a 700w infrared heater designed to be used only when it's occupied. On a typical day, I'd guess it's usually only the 1000w and 750w baseboards cycling on and off. Cost for that versus the other alternatives- central electric heat pump or central propane furnace- I don't see how the baseboards are more expensive to run. The house has decent insulation, and is in Raleigh, which has a moderate climate. It would be more expensive for someone up North with a poorly insulated house. Personally, I like pellet and wood stoves, but wouldn't trust a tenant not to accidentally set something on fire with that type of heat, plus it's a lot more work than turning a thermostat dial
good video thanks you have to watch it with base board heat, your elec bill will go through the roof mine in CO can get over $300 a month. I heat my bath rooms and bed rooms the rest of the house is like in the 50s, also it takes time to heat up a room so turn it up slowly a little at a time don't try to crank it wide open to get the room warm right awayyou will end up with the room to warm then you go crank it the other way then the room is to cold, just slowly work your way up turn it and walk away
The type of electric heater cannot change the amount electricity used. Your house requires a certain number of BTUs per hour to offset the heat loss in order to maintain a desired temperature. The power in watts P(W) is equal to the power in P(BTU/hr) divided by 3.412142. The physics doesn't change just because you heat up a tube filled with oil. Yes, it gives off heat after the heater turns off, but it can only give off the extra energy used to heat up the tube in the first place. Electric baseboard heaters are very nearly 100% efficient no matter the type, style or manufacturer.
The biggest PRO for electric baseboards is maintinence costs. Think about the money spent on servicing a gas furnace over the years, and how you many times replace the furnace completely in 20-25 years. I have electric baseboards in my house for 27 years now.. maintinence cost? ZERO DOLLARS. My mother has had electric baseboards in her home for 51 years, again... maintinence cost, ZERO DOLLARS. You also do not have to worry or be concerned with carbon monoxide issues. I don't even own a carbon monoxide detector, because I don't need one. ALSO.. you must choose a 220V unit to get proper efficiency. The fact that you can keep spare rooms and unused rooms at 50 degrees also helps keep the costs down. just the CONVENIENCE of never having to have your ducts cleaned, or your furnace serviced and cleaned is worth a lot. They ARE better than fan forced for allergy sufferers.. you just have to keep them cleaned, and the best way to do that is to blow the dust out twice a year with an electric leaf blower, and exhaust fan in the window.
My house is all electric with the cheap electric baseboards. There is a significant change in temp when the thermostat on the wall turns it on and off. I have a portable oil filled electric heater and it is really quiet. I will look into the oil/liquid filled baseboard heaters.
That Federal Pacific heater you have is from the 1968-72 time period. It would be in better shape if it were in another room. Some of the rust you see is just from the inherent humidity in the bathroom.
You can wire a 240 plug to it if you have a outlet somewhere near where you want to use it. as long as you put a thermostat on it. not hard at all. both red wires to the hot wires ground the green to the frame and both black wires to the eater itself.
i install electric baseboard heaters as part of my living you said a classic baseboard heater was about 700 and electric oil about 1000 that sounds insane rule of thumb is about 10 dollars for every foot plus another 25 dollars for a thermostat and whatever tax is so if i buy a 8 foot classic baseboard heater its gonna be about 110 dollars all together i don't know your location but im basing that off of home depot prices all i can say to you is your getting took
+nunzio pellegrino The prices that I used were based off of three different estimates where I live. Most were with in $100 dollars of each other. So more then likely it is a regional thing.
well it could be a few things but most of the time is lack of volts let me explain a electric baseboard heater can be wired in at single(110/120 volts) or double pole(220/240 volts) i personally i always advise my customer to have me install it at double pole single pole installation is a waste of time 9 out of 10 never gives an adequate heat unless its a very small space your trying to heat up now if that is not the issue there is a bear copper wire going from one end to the other on the front of the heater right where the heat comes out same place that the screw holes that hold the heater to the baseboard or wall are installed if that wire is broken by let's say the screw that is used to hold the heater up well its game over that wire is not a ground wire it is part of the heating element and of course it could just be wired in wrong
hey wanderer, i have a non electrical baseboard and it's summertime so i'm trying to get the ones in my apartment from letting off heat. i've turned my wall thermostat all the way down but they still radiate heat...it is too hot for them to turn off. i haven't found a breaker switch that's connected to my radiator to turn off and theres no dial to close the vents. there is only a very old faucet type lever but i'm not sure if that'll make it turn off. any help would be appreciated!
I'm not an expert I'm just going to start with that but if you have baseboard he that's not electric there should be some sort of boiler system to move hot water through heaters. If they feel like they're on even though it's hot outside there may be an issue with the heating system itself. Normally it's in a basement or garage space.
Your boiler is firing in summer to make hot water. You have a tankless coil in the boiler. The problem is the heated water moves through the system because of convection. Heat rises. Check your flow control valve, it may be stuck open, missing, or the weight is not seated. That's what is allowing the boiler water to move through the system in summer.
How come yours has a dial on the heater ? I swear mine does not ! I cant find any switch on the heater. Now the dial on the wall by the door to turn up the heat or turn it down is completing down ( off ) and it turns on every 4 hours or so ! Its gonna get hot soon this is not good. What do I do bud ?
@@Wanderer001_Reviews Iv had it for years with no problems. Every thing is off im thinking its the dial is just so old you can push it in even though you should only be able to turn it. Its getting hot outside now I dont want it on it will cook the room I need to work in to lol Even though it turns on to the lowest setting its still to dam hot. I like to figure things out before calling maintence but I think im all out of ideas bud. Thanks for getting back to me.
I believe my condo has also made it possible to connect line voltage baseboard heaters to a low voltage thermostat. When you replaced your heaters did they rewire your system to have your new honeywell thermostat to work? Im looking into replacing my thermostat from a mechanical to a digital programable one. After watching your video I realized my thermostat is low voltage and not a high voltage.
+Diothel Torne When they replaced my baseboard heaters they had to run new power lines, which is part of the reason I went from the low voltage to line voltage. I would have like to have kept what I had but it would not have work. At least that is what I was told. There was a odd "converter/step box" that the old one went to first before running to the thermostat. My place was build back in the 70s, and those were original when my wife and I purchased the place.
+Wanderer001 I won't be replacing my baseboards anytime soon I hope. Any suggestions on a thermostat you might know about for baseboard heaters with a low voltage line.
so question, all my baseboard heaters have their own thermostats and we also have a main dial on the wall. before i knew anything about these i was adjusting them all on their own thermostats. is there a setting i put them on to work with the thermostat?
@@Wanderer001_Reviews is forced air the same as gas system? Sorry for the silly question. I'm first time buyer and planning on updating oil to gas heating. I want to get the dashboard and replace the radiators. Thanks in advance
I will preface my answer would say I am not an expert. For the most part there are three types of heating systems one is electric which general you'll see baseboard heaters one is a boiler system which again you'll see baseboard heaters last is forced air which generally you'll see cutouts in the floor or on walls to push air through. The last two can have different ways of running the system. So you could run forced air or boiler system off of natural gas or oil. Hope that helps you in some way.
Thanks for the video. It was very informative. I have units in my house that I haven't been using. Do you know if a baseboard heater, either of the both you have tried, are better (provide more/better heat and consume less electricity) than units that you plug onto the wall? I have to remove an existing old baseboard unit but I don't know if I should replace it or just get rid of it to use a plug unit instead. Let me know if you have any options about it, thanks.
+Rafael S I can not say if the operational cost would be less. That really depends on what type of pug in heater you get. I can say that the plug in ones would be cheaper to "install". With the baseboard style heaters like I have you will need an electrician to put them in. While with ones that you plug in you can do that yourself. The biggest thing to consider is would you have to get more then one plug in heater to replace your baseboard heater to get them same level of comfort?
His information is all wrong, low voltage & "line voltage" has nothing to do with the number of wires, its the voltage itself .. when he says "line voltage" he means 120v or 240v .. low voltage is 24v or 12v ... you can get 240v with just two wires, you don't need 4
Can anyone tell me a way to turn off a single baseboard heater in a room that’s connected to a thermostat? I have roommates who blast the thermostat to 80 degrees in the winter and we always fight over it because my room turns into an oven when they have it that high, yet they complain when I turn it down to a reasonable temperature of 70. They also get mad and tell me not to use my air conditioner because it runs up the bill. But I cannot sleep in the sweltering heat, don’t know why they like it so hot, it’s not that cold in the apartment. So as I have said I wanna know can mine be turned off in my room or can I buy some kind of cover that will block all of the heat that comes out of it? Let me know guys!!
If they are electric heaters you should be able to get an electrician to come in and split the heater in your room off to its own thermostat. This way you can control just the one room.
And can I ask you I was told that the heaters turn their self I don't think that's true on how high it goes to other where's the knob just keeps moving moving moving no I don't think so
The ones that are not attached to a thermostat have a dial on them which act as a temperature gauge. Turning it to the left well lower the temperature thus turn it off sooner.
I don't think you actually understand the difference between a single pole and a double pole thermostat....this whole idea of line voltage is fine...but it seems like you don't understand the principle difference between low voltage thermostats and a single pole thermostat
@@aaronlewis5613Hydronic refers to liquids, which fills the tubes in a baseboard with the element submerged in the fluid. Hydraulic refers to fluids under pressure as in pistons and shocks.
+Tom C Ya little old lady had it before we did. Made the video as we were doing updates. Looks much better now, but we had to change out pretty much all the appliances and horrible wall paper.
