this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
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Switching to Electric Heating (lemmy.ca)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I went to the Ontario Hydro calculator to look at switching from oil heating to electric (natural gas not available here). This calculator says that I can save about $400 per year by switching. I have much doubt about this. Has anyone actually done this switch? Do you believe this?

Edit: some more info I should have provided:

First of all, I believe this would be for a forced air electric furnace. This should easily swap in for my oil furnace, I would just have to add a 220 line.

I live in central Ontario. I don't have or need/want air conditioning, so there is nothing to save there.

I am not sure about a heat pump for my case, since it would not be used in the summer and they become less efficient as it gets colder. I am not sure I can rely on a heat pump as my only heating source.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Oil heating is inefficient and expensive to fuel, so it makes sense you would save money switching to electric. Before moving forward I would recommend consulting with an electrician or HVAC company to see if your electrical service can handle it.

Also I'm not an expert but I think most heat pump systems have backup resistive heaters for when it gets too cold

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Is this for 1 air-sourced heat pump? Several mini-splits? Geothermal?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

This really is the main question. If you're just going to use normal electric heating, the difference probably won't be much (it'll still probably be cheaper, but not by this much). If you're using an air heat pump, the difference will be greater, in addition to the new system also doing air conditioning during the summer (so you can throw away your old air conditioning bill). A geo-heat pump is by far the most efficient, and may beat that price, depending on the exact system you're comparing to. Works both in the summer and winter and even the most extreme situations, but is also expensive to install.

That said, there might also be tax rebates for the installation. I remember the Feds mentioning this in the last bill for the east coast, and Ontario might be included. Even if not, there might be more local rebates as well.

All that said, I do strongly recommend some sort of heat pump system, as the cost of fossil fuel systems will rise in the future, even if we're talking about the critical level arriving a decade along the way. Though depending on how things go, it might be sooner.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I put some more info in the post.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Modern heat pumps work down to -30C, at which point the furnace supplements with electric heat which is built into the unit.

My electricity costs dropped 50% over my builder-grade piece-of-shit electric furnace & AC unit -- and I even increased from a 2 ton to a 2.5 ton system. The initial cost was about $12k, and it will take 8 to 10 years to break even, less if the cost electricity keeps increasing the way it has over the last 10 years.

Also, you may not want A/C now, but you will shortly -- heat waves are getting more severe each year.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

We had them when I lived in Montana, and we'd get down to -38C. They have a backup resistive heater built in. I'd supplement it with a little resistive heater, (mainly because I didn't realize there was a resistive heat mode, lol), but even at its coldest, the air source heatpump was fine. This was in the US, but it was about $130 USD/month during the coldest months for about 800 square feet, decent insulation, double paned glass, ground floor apartment. That bill was for everything- heating, electric water heater, computer, lights, oven, washer/dryer/dishwasher. Summer power bills were about $60 for everything, and that was with the heat pump running cold air. Montana doesn't even have the cheapest electricity. Suffice to say I was sad when my next apartment(s) did not have that, and I spent considerably more to heat and cool it, haha.

Aside from being remarkably less expensive due to their efficiency is the benefit that you don't have to worry about natural gas /oil refills, fuel fires, and carbon monoxide from furnace issues. And depending on where you source your electricity from, you might be decoupled from the whims of OPEC/local production issues in your area.

I'd say, before you spend anything on your furnace or heatpump, I'd check your insulation and windows. Those go a long way in saving you money, regardless of outcome.