Do not think that heating a house or apartment using electric boilers, convectors or other heaters of this type is the cheapest way. Undoubtedly, in this respect gas is a cheaper and more efficient energy carrier. And the point here is what. To heat the water with an electric heater, the energy required is much more than gas. Just in practice, there are cases when there is no gas and there is nothing else to do but use electricity.
There are several ways to organize electric heating in your home: an ordinary heating system that uses electric, programmable convectors installed in each room instead of a gas boiler, and, of course, all kinds of infra-red and electric warm floors. All of them have their pros and cons, the effectiveness of their work is not in doubt, the difference lies only in the feasibility and economic feasibility of using one or another method of electric heating, in certain operating conditions. It is from this point of view that one should approach the issue of choosing an electric heating system for a private house or apartment.
The smallest electric boiler consumes 12 kW of electricity per hour of operation - you must agree, this is already a lot and, if counted in terms of monthly energy costs,will not be weak. We look further - such a boiler is able to heat a room with an area of up to 120 m² - and from the heated area, the electricity consumption decreases insignificantly. So, think about whether it is worthwhile to set up a small system to heat a small room.
Take into account all: both the cost of material, and the cost of installation work, and even the connection to the house of powerful power input. In the end, you get a system that does not pay off throughout your entire life.
There are some ways to reduce energy consumption for the operation of an electric boiler. As always, this is a whole complex of measures for warming the building and, of course, installing a two-rate electric meter. Are you surprised? At night, electricity costs ten times cheaper. That is why a two-tariff meter is simply necessary for the owners of electrical heating systems.
Do you know what an electric convector is? This is a kind of fan heater, in shape resembling steel batteries. Inside the convector there are heating elements and a fan, which accelerates the spread of warm air in the room. Each such convector consumes no more than 2 kW of electricity per hour - one is enough to heat a room in an apartment or a cottage. This is to the fact that if there are no more than six rooms in your dwelling, the installation of electric convectors will be more than justified in comparison with the installation of an electric boiler and a full heating system.
Such heaters for home - convectors - are equipped with thermostats that react to the temperature of the air in the room. It also helps to save enough electricity - about one-third of the time, compared to if the convectors worked without stopping.
What is remarkable about such an electric heating system is that it is not necessary to lay any expensive communication pipes. It is enough to conduct to each convector a separate branch of a powerful electrical cable with a cross section of at least 2.5 squares and protect it with a separate circuit breaker.
To be honest, many are tormented by vague doubts about the possibility of using such systems as electric floor heating and infrared radiation as the main heating in a house or apartment. Although the manufacturer provides such an opportunity, but still heating up - there is heating, and when the window is -30 ° C and more, the heat emanating from the floor will not be enough.
In the off-season, when to achieve a comfortable temperature in the house requires a little heating, such systems will do just fine - but no more!
In general, draw conclusions and decide which electric heating is more acceptable for you. If to be short-lived, the electric boiler justifies itself when heating large areas, and convectors can be called an apartment option, which recently is quite often found in small towns, where old central heating long ago failed and restore it to no one's reluctance.
Author of the article Sergey Golikov