> I was wondering if anyone here has any comparisons between gas and
> electric heating? Have you or someone you know switched to electric from
> gas? I was wondering if you switched to electric for heating the house
and
> your water would it be so much cheaper.
As seen by the Hydro comparison, electric is still more expensive than mid
and high efficient gas furnaces. It shows less than mid because they
charge
a $12 monthly fee just for having a gas meter attached to your house. To
get
the true savings they are suggesting, you would have to have the gas meter
removed.
In my last house I switched to an electric furnace even though I knew I
could be paying 10-15% more for heating. At that time gas prices were
rising
and we haven't had an electric increase for years (that has since
changed).
The main reasons for the change was that I wanted no chimney so it was
either hi-eff gas or electric. The hi-eff furnace cost more than an
electric
furnace. The hi-eff gas is also much more expensive to repair and is not
as
reliable as the simple electric furnace.
I was also already upgrading the electrical panel at the time which is
usually the first thing you need to look at. Depending on the size of your
home you will probably need a 200 amp service. If you require this
upgrade,
the cost of the furnace will probably even out or probably cost more for
the
electric option. I also changed the old water heater to electric, another
burden on the electrical panel.
I also wanted an HRV and found an electric furnace with one built into it
so
I saved a little again.
http://www.lifebreath.com/en/_dat/do***ents/residential.caf/cafbrw.pdf
(the electric version, not water)
So I paid a little more for heating each year, but the installation cost
was
less (I think at the time it would have taken about 12 years for the
payback
to go gas) and the maintenance costs for the electric would have been
cheaper (hopefully neither would breakdown) and no chance of carbon
monoxide
gas problems...
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