electric baseboard heat

Hello-I need to know how efficient electric basebaord heat is. I am a realtor, an I have a buyer interested in a house with new windows, insulation in walls and attic, and cadet baseboard heaters in each room. she does not want to pay outrageous electric bills. the baseboards seem big enough for each room. thanks so much for your help!!

Depending of the cost of electricity where you are wether they make sense or not.If the house is very well insulated it wont be too hard on power, but if the windows are old and its poorly insulated, it can be very pricey. Ask the current owners for a copy of their electric bill.

You'd need to do a heat loss analysis on the house. 1 BTU/hr = about 0.293 watts. So, if you needed 50K BTU/hr, that would be 14.65Kwh. Not sure how many BTU/term you'd get but you need to factor in the efficiency of the heating system - new high-efficiency ones are in the mid-90% range. Electric is basically 100% efficient. If they don't have natural gas available, it is a moot point unless you want to install propane or oil.

It really depends on where you live. Where I live, electric heat would bankrupt the average person, but where my parents live, it's not bad - it's cheaper than heating with gas (although they use a heat pump, which is more efficient than resistance heating except when it is really cold and they need that, too).

So, it isn't an easy answer, but the tradeoff can be calculated.

heat

Electric baseboard heating, unless it is an oil filled system, is about the most expensive heating there is, unless you are in the TVA or another area that is heavily subsidized. The only way to control the cost is to turn off the unit when a room is unoccupied.