The Benefits of Warming Your Home with Electric Heat
How you choose to stay warm will depend on factors like cost, efficiency, and space. There is no perfect heating solution, and every method has its pros and cons, but when it comes to overall performance, electric heating will always come out on top.
Electric Heat vs. Other Heating Methods
The primary heating methods used to be coal, wood, and water. A wood-burning stove is nice when you’re up north at the cottage for a weekend. But used as a primary heating method, it may be unsustainable in the long run due to the rising cost of firewood and the need to constantly refill the stove. Coal is not as easy to find as firewood, can be expensive, and also has a higher sulfur content which can be damaging to the environment. Old-school boilers use water to heat your home, but they can take up a lot of space and are usually slower to produce heat.
Unlike other heating methods, electric heating doesn’t require the use of any additional resources. You don’t have to fill a stove with wood or buy coal to get the heat going. All you need to do is set the temperature and let your heating units do the rest. Space heaters, baseboard heaters, and floor heaters take up much less room than, say, a boiler or a furnace. Should you run into any issues, they are also much easier to fix.
The Pros of Electric Heating
Certain questions might arise, like, “Is electric heat expensive compared to other methods?” The cost of installation for an electric heater is much lower because it doesn’t require the installation of any pipes or significant home renovations. Besides the cost, the installation is also much easier if you’re mounting a heater on the wall versus a large furnace. When considering cost, you can’t just look at the number on your monthly statement. Electricity isn’t cheap, but it does less damage to the environment in the long run, and the prices are more likely to remain stable.
You also have to consider efficiency. There’s nothing better than sitting by the fireplace and warming up after a long day of hiking. But unless you’re living in a log cabin in the woods, it’ll take much longer for the heat to work its way through each room. Let’s hope you packed a sweater to sleep in because once that fire goes out, it won’t be long before all the heat is gone. Having a heater in each room or dispersed throughout the house not only distributes the heat better, but it allows you to control the temperature in rooms that are naturally warmer or colder (mezzanine vs. basement).
Space is another thing worth considering, and we’re not talking about putting heaters on the moon. Boilers and furnaces take up a lot of space in your home, and if you’re building from scratch, prepare to lose some square footage to those behemoths. Not to mention the fact that they might not properly heat every inch of the house. A baseboard heater takes up very little room, and with a space heater, you pick the spot where you want to install it.
When considering electric heating options, you also get the luxury of choice. Convection, radiant, and fan-forced heating methods provide different ways of distributing heat (LINK to Different Types of Electric Heating article). Once again, factors such as price, space, and required efficiency will play into which type of heat distribution system you choose, as will the heating “experience” (the way the heat is produced affects how you experience it).
Conclusion
They always say “home is where the heart is,” but we think it should be “home is where the heat is.” After all, a well-functioning electric heating system is what keeps your home and everyone in it functioning in the colder months of the year.