Old Victorian, modern heat. Which to go with?

h1p1n3

Hello! I am a first time home owner, and well, I got my self a handyman's special. I'm loving the work I am doing, and its a great project, however one of the things that I am having a hard time deciding on is my heat. I live in the northeast with cold winters, and natural gas is VERY expensive. Im going with electric (at one and a half cents per kWhr, you'd want to!), however I cant decide which to do: Baseboard, radiant, or forced.
Now, if I might ask, which one is the smartest to install, and easiest? There's so many options that its confusing the heck out of me, with nowhere to find answers! Here is a link to the house as of a few weeks ago, and we got her down to the studs, and at the time I am working on the foundation (oh yes, we are doing it ALL) and working up from there. Currently there is no heat, and the old heating system was ripped out so duct work would be impractical, but not ruled out.

So, what would the masters suggest?
I am almost leaning toward radient heat (most floors are either ripped up or will be carpeted on top of the hardwood) however now I see there are multiple types of radeint heat: pex, or some pad kind. But like I said, very confusing.

help?!

Thank you all in advance, so far everything is exciting, but spending hours deciding on a heat source is driving me batty!!

Here's the link to my summer project:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3471190...7616048301310/

Scuba_Dave

Wow, where is electric .015 per Kwh?
Better make sure its not .15 c

Those windows are pretty low
If you are replacing them & keeping them that low you need tempered glass within 18" of finished floor

I have radiant electric (wires) in my bathroom & hallway
I'll have the same in our sunroom

beenthere

Check and make sure what your delivered KW rate is.

Are you going to want central A/C.

A radiant system would work well.

You could do electric panels, or pex with an electric boiler.

hvaclover

yeah, at that rate (if it's accurate) I'd go electric boiler to.

__________________
Just slow, not stupid.

Scuba_Dave

Lowest rate chart I found online:
NorthEast is among the HIGHEST rates

RankStateAverage Electricity Rate for
All Sectors
(Cents per Kilowatthour)
1 Idaho 4.70
2 West Virginia 5.12
3 Wyoming 5.37
4 Kentucky 5.56
5 Washington 6.04
6 Utah 6.32
7 Oregon 6.43
8 Indiana 6.46
9 Missouri 6.52
10 North Dakota 6.63
11 Nebraska 6.72
12 Minnesota 6.81
13 Virginia 6.94
14 South Dakota 7.00
15 Montana 7.07
16 Tennessee 7.23
17 South Carolina 7.28
18 Alabama 7.39
19 Kansas 7.44
20 Illinois 7.50
21 Iowa 7.51
22 New Mexico 7.56
23 Colorado 7.62
24 Arkansas 7.64
25 Ohio 7.77
26 Georgia 7.78
27 North Carolina 7.91
28 Oklahoma 8.01
29 Mississippi 8.24
30 Michigan 8.25
31 Wisconsin 8.32
32 Pennsylvania 8.63
33 Arizona 8.79
34 Louisiana 8.80
National Average 9.26
35 Nevada 10.07
36 Florida 10.49
37 Delaware 10.66
38 Texas 10.75
39 Maryland 11.10
40 District of Columbia 11.34
41 Vermont 11.54
42 Maine 11.88
43 New Jersey 12.77
44 Alaska 12.82
45 New Hampshire 13.62
46 California 13.90
47 Rhode Island 14.06
48 New York 14.89
49 Massachusetts15.71
50 Connecticut 15.74
51 Hawaii 21.51

h1p1n3

Yup, those rates are accurate, actually, exact is 1.5 cents, then if you hit over 1000KW, then its 2.5.
Still, cheap munincipal

Also, as for the windows, When I say Im replacing everything, I mean EVERYTHING, lol. Windows will be efficient regular size windows, not sure on exact size yet, but at least half of what they are, as the wife does not like them that low.

So far Im hearing electric boiler with PEX?
Just throwing this out there, wood is plentiful in my area but I've seen a hybrid wood burner/electric.

Ah wait, nevermind, thats forced air.
Central AC would be nice, but we are not looking at it with this remodel, if we did it would be a few years down the road. We will probably just do in wall AC units in the living room and small in windows in the bedrooms.

kenmac

Wow ! that seems real cheep.. They are waiting for you to go all elec. B-4 they raise the rates

h1p1n3

No, your thinking of the assessor

Also, there is some other shared savings type charge, its the difference of my rate vs. what the town gets charged.. usually its not more than like 40 or 50 a month. Typically a winter month of utilities runs about 140 in my current apartment (baseboard), thats heat, electric, and water and sewage.

Yes, dirst cheap, but we have one of the highest taxes in the US ( western NY) and the town likes to take a large piece.

kenmac

If you use the pex.. There is/was a recall on the brass fittings... Something you might want to watch out for...They ( bad fittings) were suppose to be taken off the shelves But you never know

hvaclover

No PEX prob here, all black pipe man.

__________________
Just slow, not stupid.

h1p1n3

Thank you SOO much for that info. I am planning on using PEX, at least for plumbing, and radiant heat when I do the driveway (I need a driveway and I dont want to shovel snow)

So sounds like electric boiler with pex is so far a winner?
Would this work with carpeted floors? also, the ceiliing was lowered downstairs, so to get to the floor joists will be difficult/impossible without adding about another few weeks of work
whats up with these pads I hear? can you put them above hardwood but under carpet?

Joe F

Something's not right here. While efficient (watts in vs. watts out) electricity is a very expensive way to make heat.

Is there really a such thing as an electric boiler?

__________________
If you don't stand behind our troops, please feel free to stand in front of them.

h1p1n3

I found a few, but im looking at efficiency, doing more research Im almost thinking baseboard, as long as I insulate correctly, is going to be the way to go, on top of that, the lack of suggestions here makes me lean towards something that I am comfortable with. Radient heat in the bathroom under the tile though I may still do.

Scuba_Dave

Re-read the thread - he pays 1/10 the electric cost that I do
If I had his rate I'd be using electric too

kenmac

Sure elec, coal, & while I have never seen 1 I'am sure there is an oil fired boiler