Electric versus gas heating?

runswithascript

Which is cheaper for heating your home?

rubadub

Usually gas, if you heat your house wisely.

runswithascript

Can you elaborate?

Surely the price it costs to heat a radiator by gas in a wisely heated home is the same as in an unwisely heated home?

biko

Are you thinking of converting a house to gas or just generally wondering?
Will it decide where you move next?

Gas is traditionally a bit cheaper.

the_syco

LA3G wrote: »

Can you elaborate?

Surely the price it costs to heat a radiator by gas in a wisely heated home is the same as in an unwisely heated home?

It's wise not to heat rooms you don't need. It's also wise to not leave all the heat escape through open doors into said unneeded rooms.

Finally, having the heat come on 30 minutes before you get out of bed, going off when you "normally" leave the house, and coming back on in the evening is wise. It being on all day is unwise, as the heat is wasted, as no one is there to be warmed.

runswithascript

biko wrote: »

Are you thinking of converting a house to gas or just generally wondering?

Just generally wondering, it was actually my mother who was asking me.

She heats it by gas at the moment.

the_syco wrote: »

It's wise not to heat rooms you don't need. It's also wise to not leave all the heat escape through open doors into said unneeded rooms.

Finally, having the heat come on 30 minutes before you get out of bed, going off when you "normally" leave the house, and coming back on in the evening is wise. It being on all day is unwise, as the heat is wasted, as no one is there to be warmed.

Yes, but surely the above applies to gas and electric heated homes. I was wondering how wise heating would affect the cost efficiency of electricity versus gas.

preilly79

LA3G wrote: »

Yes, but surely the above applies to gas and electric heated homes. I was wondering how wise heating would affect the cost efficiency of electricity versus gas.

When converting energy from one form to another, ie: lectricity to heat, gas to heat etc, there will always be a loss somewhere. In other words, putting 100w of energy through a heater will not produce 100w of heat energy.

Gas in generaly accepted to be more efficient in this regard, or rather, there are large losses of energy when converting electricity to heat (a large percentage is turned into light energy (the glow).

This might make more sense: http://www.alternative-energy-guide.com/articles/bio-hydro/Ennercy-effiecincy.htm

311

I've converted loads of houses/apartments from electricity to gas heating .
Of all the jobs people have said that the dirt/dust was terrible from the electrical heaters. Not very good for an elderly person's health.

runswithascript

preilly79 wrote: »

When converting energy from one form to another, ie: lectricity to heat, gas to heat etc, there will always be a loss somewhere. In other words, putting 100w of energy through a heater will not produce 100w of heat energy.

Gas in generaly accepted to be more efficient in this regard, or rather, there are large losses of energy when converting electricity to heat (a large percentage is turned into light energy (the glow).

This might make more sense: http://www.alternative-energy-guide.com/articles/bio-hydro/Ennercy-effiecincy.htm

Thanks.

Was just talking to the old woman there, she says the house uses gas heating but she's wondering if it would be any cheaper if she got a plug in electric radiator to just heat the one room?

Red Alert

Probably not - it'd be cheaper to fit a zone valve on the heating system and a new two-zone clock. Electric heaters aren't as powerful either as most gas systems per room.

runswithascript

Red Alert wrote: »

Probably not - it'd be cheaper to fit a zone valve on the heating system and a new two-zone clock. Electric heaters aren't as powerful either as most gas systems per room.

Could you expand on that a bit please?