We love getting the refund. After making a concerted effort to install a heat pump myself and purchase an affordable EV it helps pay for about a month’s worth of electricity each time we get it. We don’t consume any carbon based fuels at our home any longer. So it’s a big bonus for us. Next up is solar panels I think.
I’m aware but I haven’t heard people’s experiences with them. I ask because I’m shopping for water heating right now and debating the expense of getting 240 run to the water heater for a heat pump.
Electric tankless sounds impossible (yes, I know they exist, I just mean they don’t sound like something that should be able to), since the amount of BTUs required to run a gas tankless at peak is absolutely nuts – tankless gas water-heaters run on 3/4" pipe instead of the normal 1/2" since they need to have so much burst heat. That doesn’t sound possible for electric.
What kind of usage do you have? We’ve got a 120v 40 gallons tank at our cottage and it’s more than enough for three showers, worst case it takes about an hour to heat the whole tank. My father in law has an 80 gallons unit and he’s never ran out of hot water even with people visiting.
I don’t understand how people cannot believe that heating things with electricity works well, it’s the norm in Quebec (and anywhere where electricity is cheap really).
My point was more that “Yes, heating your house and water with electricity actually works, the proof is that it’s the norm in many places!”
It might be cheaper in Alberta for now but the consequences of heating with petrol will be more expensive in the long run, so it’s just shoveling the problem forward…
A whole house model will need a 100A circuit to itself. You could install small units in each location that needs hot water but that is also expensive.
Holy crap like 24000W of juice on tap. That is not screwing around. Awesome. A neat option but sounds like something for new builds not retrofitting an older home.
Yeah I love his videos but I hadn’t seen anything about the whole home issue of “omg this is way more power hosue-wide”.
The idea of smart switching sounds neat - that would basically mean “you can’t run your dryer and have hot water and charge your car at the same time”, right? But, like, in an automated way not just “it throws the breaker”.
A pool and a shower are different applications. If the pool takes all day to warm up it is not much of an issue, but you want the shower to be hot right now.
People that cheer about tankless have never had a tankless. They’re awful. They can’t hold a temperature and are a great way to get scalded then frozen. Tanks are very efficient these days and have none of the usage downfalls, besides being a quarter of the cost.
I’ve had a 50A unit in a 1BR apartment, and it was fine. Enough heat for showers and for someone to do dishes in the kitchen, or the dishwasher to run. You’d need the larger unit for a home with two showers and four people, but in some use cases, it’s really efficient.
I have a gas tankless, and it works really well. When we moved in, I needed to turn the temperature down to prevent the issue you described; It was set at 65C.
Tankless systems should be set to 50C/120F, whereas tank systems are supposed to be hotter to prevent Legionnaires’.
You get to offset gas for your car with less expensive electricity. We save about $100 or more a month in gas. Electric baseboard heating would definitely be expensive. Our oil bill was getting crazy bad, and with the recent inflation it would have been that much worse. Our heat pump keeps things comfortable at home in the winter and summer. If it gets too chilly we can use a space heater as we need. Overall per year we are still saving hundreds going electric.
We love getting the refund. After making a concerted effort to install a heat pump myself and purchase an affordable EV it helps pay for about a month’s worth of electricity each time we get it. We don’t consume any carbon based fuels at our home any longer. So it’s a big bonus for us. Next up is solar panels I think.
What do you do for water heating?
Electric hot water tanks are a thing. So are electric tankless systems.
I’m aware but I haven’t heard people’s experiences with them. I ask because I’m shopping for water heating right now and debating the expense of getting 240 run to the water heater for a heat pump.
Electric tankless sounds impossible (yes, I know they exist, I just mean they don’t sound like something that should be able to), since the amount of BTUs required to run a gas tankless at peak is absolutely nuts – tankless gas water-heaters run on 3/4" pipe instead of the normal 1/2" since they need to have so much burst heat. That doesn’t sound possible for electric.
What kind of usage do you have? We’ve got a 120v 40 gallons tank at our cottage and it’s more than enough for three showers, worst case it takes about an hour to heat the whole tank. My father in law has an 80 gallons unit and he’s never ran out of hot water even with people visiting.
I don’t understand how people cannot believe that heating things with electricity works well, it’s the norm in Quebec (and anywhere where electricity is cheap really).
Sure where it’s cheap here it would cost more to move to electricity. Yah Alberta Advantage /s
My point was more that “Yes, heating your house and water with electricity actually works, the proof is that it’s the norm in many places!”
It might be cheaper in Alberta for now but the consequences of heating with petrol will be more expensive in the long run, so it’s just shoveling the problem forward…
A whole house model will need a 100A circuit to itself. You could install small units in each location that needs hot water but that is also expensive.
Holy crap like 24000W of juice on tap. That is not screwing around. Awesome. A neat option but sounds like something for new builds not retrofitting an older home.
If you already haven’t, do check out Technology Connections videos on electrifying, he covers old home challenges quite a bit.
I was reminded of him because he talks about the possibility of making a 100A circuitry workout with some smart switching
Yeah I love his videos but I hadn’t seen anything about the whole home issue of “omg this is way more power hosue-wide”.
The idea of smart switching sounds neat - that would basically mean “you can’t run your dryer and have hot water and charge your car at the same time”, right? But, like, in an automated way not just “it throws the breaker”.
Pretty much yes, a contraption to make sure you don’t surpass your amps without worrying about having it all plugged in
If you have 200a service to your house then it might be an option but lots of houses (including my own) do not have the capacity.
I really need to upgrade to 200a or get gas heating as my 100a is woefully inadequate when temps are below freezing like now.
I doubt that. For a pool you need 40-60amp circuit.
I mean you could look it up
A pool and a shower are different applications. If the pool takes all day to warm up it is not much of an issue, but you want the shower to be hot right now.
People that cheer about tankless have never had a tankless. They’re awful. They can’t hold a temperature and are a great way to get scalded then frozen. Tanks are very efficient these days and have none of the usage downfalls, besides being a quarter of the cost.
A properly sized natural gas tankless works pretty well.
Electric tankless on the otherhand take so much power I can’t imagine anyone actually installs them in a home.
I’ve had a 50A unit in a 1BR apartment, and it was fine. Enough heat for showers and for someone to do dishes in the kitchen, or the dishwasher to run. You’d need the larger unit for a home with two showers and four people, but in some use cases, it’s really efficient.
I have a gas tankless, and it works really well. When we moved in, I needed to turn the temperature down to prevent the issue you described; It was set at 65C.
Tankless systems should be set to 50C/120F, whereas tank systems are supposed to be hotter to prevent Legionnaires’.
Electric
A month of electricity, won’t even cover that now. If I moved to an EV and electric heating my bill would be more insane then it already is.
You get to offset gas for your car with less expensive electricity. We save about $100 or more a month in gas. Electric baseboard heating would definitely be expensive. Our oil bill was getting crazy bad, and with the recent inflation it would have been that much worse. Our heat pump keeps things comfortable at home in the winter and summer. If it gets too chilly we can use a space heater as we need. Overall per year we are still saving hundreds going electric.