Electric baseboard heating sucks!

[Lucky]

I about cried when I got the bill yesterday. The worst thing about it is that the actual power cost is only $140, the other $160 is made up of taxes, surcharges, cost recovery fees, distribution fees, nuclear operating fees, and other horsesh!t.

Piece of advice: If you live in an area where it gets cold, don't rent from a place with electric baseboard heating. It's enourmously inefficient. And expensive.

(cuddles up under the blanket with 3 layers of clothes on so I can keep the heat at 55 when it's 8 degrees outside)

 

[Modeps]

I believe you mean electrical heat sucks. I've got baseboards for my oil heat system and it's just dandy. Except well, it's cold out right now so my furnace is working OT.

 

[FoBoT]

yes, it isn't a good way to heat space

bummer dude

 

[flamingelephant]

Originally posted by: Lucky
I about cried when I got the bill yesterday. The worst thing about it is that the actual power cost is only $140, the other $160 is made up of taxes, surcharges, cost recovery fees, distribution fees, nuclear operating fees, and other horsesh!t.

Piece of advice: If you live in an area where it gets cold, don't rent from a place with electric baseboard heating. It's enourmously inefficient. And expensive.

(cuddles up under the blanket with 3 layers of clothes on so I can keep the heat at 55 when it's 8 degrees outside)

tell me about your apartment.... I'll tell you how to save on your electrical bill. We just went through the same thing ourselves. Huge bill, did some stuff to make it better and the next one was almost 1/2! It was the same temp both months (-30)

 

[cliftonite]

Gas prices are just as bad, our gas bill last month was $295 electric another $65.

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by: flamingelephant

Originally posted by: Lucky
I about cried when I got the bill yesterday. The worst thing about it is that the actual power cost is only $140, the other $160 is made up of taxes, surcharges, cost recovery fees, distribution fees, nuclear operating fees, and other horsesh!t.

Piece of advice: If you live in an area where it gets cold, don't rent from a place with electric baseboard heating. It's enourmously inefficient. And expensive.

(cuddles up under the blanket with 3 layers of clothes on so I can keep the heat at 55 when it's 8 degrees outside)

tell me about your apartment.... I'll tell you how to save on your electrical bill. We just went through the same thing ourselves. Huge bill, did some stuff to make it better and the next one was almost 1/2! It was the same temp both months (-30)

Not sure what you want to know but I'd love to hear what suggestions you have. Our apt. is the lower floor of a house, 1BR, roughly 900 sq. feet.

 

[flamingelephant]

lower floor of a house eh?
Well, here are some things that we did to help cut our electrical bill (most of which goes to heating)
You will have to accept the fact that you will have to spend money to save money. I know, it sucks because its not YOUR place, but you really dont have to spend all that much, and the savings offset the costs in the first month alone.
The number 1 enemy is drafts. Cold air coming into your place, our biggest culprit was the door. We got the landlord to reposition the weatherstripping on the door. Made a big difference. If your door has no weatherstripping ask them to put some in. If not, then ask if you can do it yourself, because it will save you money. There is still some air coming in the bottom of our door, so we just put a towel in front of it. Makes a big difference. Next, the windows... our apartments weren't that good. So, buy some of that window film stuff from a home depot lowes or whatever and put it on. Helps the windows loose less heat and cuts down on drafts. While you are doing that, feel with you hands around the outside frame of the window.... if you can feel any cold air flowing out of it, tell the landlord that you want them caulked. A 2 dollar tube of caulking will do wonders! Next, since its a house, check the plugs around the place, stick your face or hands up to them and see if you can feel any cold coming out of them. If so, get some foam gaskets (again, big DYI store) and they get installed behind the faceplates. They are really cheap and this will also prevent lots of cold air from coming in.
Turning down the termostat at night will help too, if there are separate ones for each room, leave br one where it is, and turn the other ones down to almost nothing, at least 20 degrees lower than they normally are for nite time, the place won't cool down all that much.
Since you are in a basement look for other places cold air might be coming in, conduits, pipes etc.... tell-tale signs are condensation. Any condensation means cold air is getting in.
ask if you have any questions

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: flamingelephant
lower floor of a house eh?
Well, here are some things that we did to help cut our electrical bill (most of which goes to heating)
You will have to accept the fact that you will have to spend money to save money. I know, it sucks because its not YOUR place, but you really dont have to spend all that much, and the savings offset the costs in the first month alone.
The number 1 enemy is drafts. Cold air coming into your place, our biggest culprit was the door. We got the landlord to reposition the weatherstripping on the door. Made a big difference. If your door has no weatherstripping ask them to put some in. If not, then ask if you can do it yourself, because it will save you money. There is still some air coming in the bottom of our door, so we just put a towel in front of it. Makes a big difference. Next, the windows... our apartments weren't that good. So, buy some of that window film stuff from a home depot lowes or whatever and put it on. Helps the windows loose less heat and cuts down on drafts. While you are doing that, feel with you hands around the outside frame of the window.... if you can feel any cold air flowing out of it, tell the landlord that you want them caulked. A 2 dollar tube of caulking will do wonders! Next, since its a house, check the plugs around the place, stick your face or hands up to them and see if you can feel any cold coming out of them. If so, get some foam gaskets (again, big DYI store) and they get installed behind the faceplates. They are really cheap and this will also prevent lots of cold air from coming in.
Turning down the termostat at night will help too, if there are separate ones for each room, leave br one where it is, and turn the other ones down to almost nothing, at least 20 degrees lower than they normally are for nite time, the place won't cool down all that much.
Since you are in a basement look for other places cold air might be coming in, conduits, pipes etc.... tell-tale signs are condensation. Any condensation means cold air is getting in.
ask if you have any questions

Exactly. The heat doesen't suck, your dwelling's ability to retain it does.

BTW, a bic lighter is indispensible for finding drafts. Just move the flame around where drafts are suspect. By seeing which way the flame goes, you can find both incomming AND outflowing drafts, which are harder to detect.

Check your outlets! If they're leaking, get some of that expanding foam stuff that comes in a spray can & go to town.

If you have a sliding glass door.. most of them are terrible, unless it's a newer double-paned one filled with inert gas. If you can go without using it, mask it off with a sheet of drop cloth plastic. Same goes for any windows that don't need to be opened. It will work better than that film stuff.

 

[laurenlex]

<places additional piece of firewood on genuine wood burning fireplace insert with blower>

I'm glad I live in the Rockies where I can burn wood in the winter. Without it our gas bill would be over $300 per month.

 

[MrBond]

That window film stuff helped a ton in our old house when I was in college. Buy what you need now and stock up in the spring when it goes on clearance.

Call up your electric company, you may be able to get a discount for electric baseboard heating, my parents did when they had that in their house.

How hard is it to install a programmable thermostat yourself? I'd like to get one for my apartment because I like it warm but it's silly to keep the heat high all day when I'm not there. I'm usually too tired to think about turning it down in the morning.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: cliftonite
Gas prices are just as bad, our gas bill last month was $295 electric another $65.

I would be ecstatic with that bill...

 

[Albis]

i'm in a situation similar to lucky

i just keep my room warm with my PC and TV. keep the door closed and keep socks on.

i hate michigan weather

 

[NascarFool]

My combined gas and electric is right at $300 a month. The gas is expensive here in Denver.

 

[aircooled]

baseboard is un-efficient no matter what power creates the heat.