Posted on 01/19/2025 1:28:27 PM PST by DallasBiff
As we step into the winter months, it’s time to consider your heating options. Whether your home is warmed with electric heat or a gas furnace, you want to know your family will be comfortable when the temperature drops.
Understanding your heating options, like electrification or a hybrid system, supports a comfortable home and manageable energy bill. To help you decide the best way to heat your home, we’ll explain the differences between electric and gas heat, and give a brief introduction to the hybrid dual fuel system.
(Excerpt) Read more at hvac.com ...
Gas. It burns and makes fire. Fire is hot. Also gas heat is simple. Electricity is not hot unless you force it through a thick wires which sometimes can’t withstand the electricity being forced through them. It’s not as easy to figure out problems.
My house in Mira Mesa (San Diego) had forced air, gas heating. The heater ran about one week each year. I put a solar water heater in to supplement the gas water heater. The solar provided 100% of our hot water needs from late March to early September. The Sept to March time frame operated in "pre-heat" mode with warm water off the solar heater feeding the input of the gas water heater. Just a small boost to satisfactory for showers, washing clothes and washing dishes.
The storage tank for the solar hot water failed about 5 years. Too much mineral content in the water. The pipes failed and soaked the insulation around the water tank. In the end, I paid to give away the panels and tank. A new sintered stone on steel roof was installed and the blight of the solar hot water panels was erased. We had the new roof for about 18 months before selling the house and moving to Idaho.
The solar hot water heater had a "lifetime" warranty. The "lifetime" was that of the contractor, not mine. The contractor went out of business a year before the storage tank insulation became totally soaked.
gas is cheaper by far. The US have enough natural gas for the next 500 years+
Ditto. I have a gasoline/natural gas/propane generator out on the back porch and a long enough extension cord to wire down to the furnace in the basement. Preparatory work includes breaking the dedicated 110VAC to the furnace and placing an outlet and plug inline. For quick turn around, a small UPS is available to run the blower until the gas generator is running and the power cord pulled.
I have internet redundancy. The main router is on a UPS and is fed by a 1 Gbps symmetric fiber. Fallback is a Verizon 5G router with WiFi6 for up to 20 devices or I can connect it on the WAN side of the router to supply all the wired devices.
They sure are. Because they can control you with just one utility rather than two.
Hey, with the electric grid on the precipice of failure, lets’s all move everything to electricity. That’s the California plan.
In Monroe county New York, natural gas for heat and hot water. We also have a gas fireplace with standing pilot in living room - if our power goes out, we still have the fire without the fan. If we lose power for too long, we start the gasoline generator
Hate electric heat however Edison Electric loves it $200.00 a month more on long cold snaps and that’s here in Los Angeles.
Had frost this morning checked the meter it looked like a tachometer railing.
Believe the bearings are going too.
Gas heating is OK UNTIL there is a power outage like we had in our counties from the last winter storm on 1/10 - snow in Atlanta...The gas heat has electrical ignition so no electric - no heat. We were without power for 15 hours and others in nearby neighborhoods were without power for 19 hours. Why? Trees were down taking power lines down and in some areas from ice but also unknown reasons...How did we stay warm? We stayed in bed and piled on more blankets. Burners on the kitchen stove could be lit with a match but I was hesitant to try it in the oven for heat so didn’t chance it. Could heat soup etc. on burners.
I’m in an apartment project....no choices...
I had a gas furnace for central heat in Washington state. The furnace had a pilot light inside. It was not electronic ignition as far as I know. Once in a while the pilot light would go out and the heat would not come back on as directed by thermostat. In that situation, I would open the access door to pilot light and light it with a match. I never had a electronic ignition furnace, but I have to believer if gas supply is on, you should be able to light the flame with a matchstick.
I have gas cooking, gas dryer, but of course the electricity hog is the central A/C heat pump. In winter I use portable heaters in the room where I spend time. That saves electric bill. In summer I installed a window A/C unit in living room+
Kirchen common area, where I spend most time. As a bonus, the central A/C unit is working well after 6 years of use without hiring maintenance service. I can clean the air handler unit myself once a year and change filters as needed.
We use wood. I have basically a free unlimited supply on our eight acres.
As usual, I’m coming in late the discussion. Grew up on a winter wheat farm in the Dakotas. Heated and cooked with wood and coal as emergency backup. Then years later in N Minnesota - oil fed furnace for hot air, then later circulating hot water heat.
Cost per therm/kW in versus delivered kW-hr.
Now, living in an escapism state where I can afford anything but on-site nuclear -
I have extremely-efficient wood stoves in my library and bedroom. Otherwise, rely on super-insulation and reverse-cycle AC.
My problem is dumping the excess kW.
Happy to list vendors but so much depends upon design of habitat. R40 walls, R60 ceilings, even the floors are R-20.
I hauled wood behind a horse team, then chopped and split as a kid. Leaves lasting memories.
Sorry that many of you are constrained by not being an ornery engineer with dollars to spend.
Natural gas, and only a fool wouldn’t have a wood stove too, or even coal stove if one lives close to a coal mine.
You can always add one or more of these to your house for blackouts.
NG is preferable to LP. Unless you are south of Virginia and/or have insulation equal to Net Zero houses (where you’ll get black mold if ventilation isn’t increased), “cold climate” heat pumps are a fool’s errand.
Neither. I have been heating the house for a long time with solar heat. Sun shines on trees. Trees grow wood. Trees get old and fall down. I burn trees in stove. CO2 and sunlight feeds trees. trees get old and fall down. lather, rinse, repeat.
There is no gas here. Electricity is 31 cents per kilowatt hour.
I am in the process of installing oil fired hydronic radiant heat in the house. Have same in shop. It will be backup to stoves or for when I get too feeble to cut split and stack firewood.
Have many acres of firewood and it is good exercise!
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