Hydronic vs Electric Baseboards

[Baldy217]

I'll start by saying that HVAC is not my area of work.

So I have a house that has hydronic baseboards, heated by an electric boiler. All the baseboards are connected in series with only one thermostat. The system is pretty old (~30 years).

My question is : Would heating the house with electric baseboards be cheaper to heat? Since the boiler is electric, my thought is that it requires the same amount of energy to heat regardless of the method used.

Actually I think that electric baseboards would actually be cheaper since the temperature in each room can be controlled.

 

[MintJulep]

Yes.

But even cheaper to change the boiler to gas or oil.

 

[BM4BRANES]

If you are willing to spend money with an emphisis on payback and continue to heat with resistive, why not spend on solar panels. Providing you have good exposure, tax advantages would make the financials a no brainer, yes?

 

[Baldy217]

If you are willing to spend money with an emphisis on payback and continue to heat with resistive, why not spend on solar panels. Providing you have good exposure, tax advantages would make the financials a no brainer, yes?

Too much trees. Actually I was looking into a water-to-water heat pump. I have a 2 acre lot. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Cooky]

With a ground source heat pump, you'll have large initial capital costs to install the piles or slinky system. Why don't you consider an air source heat pump? The technology is more advanced and unless you have particularly low ambients in winter the running costs for air source heat pumps are about the same as for ground source.

You should consider a gas or oil back-up system if you have really cold winters.

Heating by electricity only should be avoided.

Cooky

 

[willard3]

The comfort factor for heating with water is much better than elec because the water has some thermal mass.

Elec baseboard resistance heating temperature swings are much higher than water systems

 

[RossABQ]

There are other improvements you could make, like running supply/return lines with individual thermostatic control to each set of baseboards in each zone, if they are really "all" connected in series now. If one side of the house has decent sun exposure, you are likely heating it when it doesn't need it, because the cold side is calling for heat. (depends where the thermostat is)

 

[TBP]

If you're looking to save money, I'd look at switching from an electric to a gas/propane/oil fired boiler. Even though electric boilers will be almost 100% efficient vs 80 or 85% for a gas/oil unit, you'll still typically save a significant amount on operating costs, as electrical BTUs tend to be VERY expensive.