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I switched my heating to electric, which I find costs me less than heating with oil since I can lower the heat in individual rooms. My state was powered by nuc

by rapjr9 6y ago

I switched my heating to electric, which I find costs me less than heating with oil since I can lower the heat in individual rooms. My state was powered by nuclear energy and is now powered by hydroelectric. If there were $5000 EV's available in the USA I'd buy one immediately. 60 mile range and 25mph max speed would handle 95% of my vehicle needs. I don't use propane for cooking or heating water any more either, switched both of those to electric (and I always hated having a huge gas bomb sitting next to the house). Eventually I'd like to switch most of the house to solar power, probably not for heat, but air conditioners can be run on solar. I've been playing with a few hundred watts of solar to see what it can do, may soon convert a room to run completely on solar. I've made some efforts to divest my 401k from oil based energy and encourage renewables. All my new yard care tools are electric/battery based. Electric is the future so start moving everything to it now.

bjourne 6y ago
You probably already know it, but electric heating is very inefficient. You could probably save lots on heating by installing downhole heat exchangers. Insulation can also reduce the energy required for heating. Where I live they are adding insulation to newly renovated apartments.
- rapjr9 6y ago
  Judging by the fact it's costing me less I'd say it is more efficient than my old oil heating system where I did not have individual room control. The conversion of electricity to heat is extremely efficient, close to 100%. If there were small heat pumps I could install per room I might consider that to increase efficiency, but all the ones I see for sale are big and high capacity and a pain to install myself (having to charge them with a gas). It would be great if there were smaller room scale units that just required a simple hole drilled to the outside and came pressurized with a simple snapfit connection to connect the two pressurized halves. Or maybe charging such a system with gas could be made simpler using a built in pressure regulator and reservoir. I looked into downhole heat exchangers and I can't afford to install one and even if I could it wouldn't pay itself off within my remaining lifetime. My house is already fairly well insulated.
  - energ8 6y ago
    I think there are large room diy heat pumps. "diy mini split heat" found me this [0] for example. Also, depending on your hackerness, you could adapt window air conditioners. From what I've seen, solar PV for heat only really makes sense if you're using a heat pump. But solar thermal for heat can be good, though. http://builditsolar.com http://builditsolar.com has a number of DIY heating projects for X,000 USD in materials. [0]: https://hvacdirect.com/perfect-aire-12-000-btu-22-seer-quick-connect-ductless-mini-split-heat-pump-115v-3pamshqc12.html https://hvacdirect.com/perfect-aire-12-000-btu-22-seer-quick...

by rapjr9 6y ago

bjourne 6y ago

You probably already know it, but electric heating is very inefficient. You could probably save lots on heating by installing downhole heat exchangers. Insulation can also reduce the energy required for heating. Where I live they are adding insulation to newly renovated apartments.

rapjr9 6y ago
Judging by the fact it's costing me less I'd say it is more efficient than my old oil heating system where I did not have individual room control. The conversion of electricity to heat is extremely efficient, close to 100%. If there were small heat pumps I could install per room I might consider that to increase efficiency, but all the ones I see for sale are big and high capacity and a pain to install myself (having to charge them with a gas). It would be great if there were smaller room scale units that just required a simple hole drilled to the outside and came pressurized with a simple snapfit connection to connect the two pressurized halves. Or maybe charging such a system with gas could be made simpler using a built in pressure regulator and reservoir. I looked into downhole heat exchangers and I can't afford to install one and even if I could it wouldn't pay itself off within my remaining lifetime. My house is already fairly well insulated.
- energ8 6y ago
  I think there are large room diy heat pumps. "diy mini split heat" found me this [0] for example. Also, depending on your hackerness, you could adapt window air conditioners. From what I've seen, solar PV for heat only really makes sense if you're using a heat pump. But solar thermal for heat can be good, though. http://builditsolar.com http://builditsolar.com has a number of DIY heating projects for X,000 USD in materials. [0]: https://hvacdirect.com/perfect-aire-12-000-btu-22-seer-quick-connect-ductless-mini-split-heat-pump-115v-3pamshqc12.html https://hvacdirect.com/perfect-aire-12-000-btu-22-seer-quick...