I try to steer most of my clients for new homes to radiant in-floor heating. However, with oil prices growing each day and my desire for a cleaner source, I’m interested in persuing electric boiler options. Has anyone used electric boilers as their source for in-floor heating? Are there any disadvantages to going electric? What brands are out there? I’d appreciate any help I can get here. Thanks.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story

Look closely at these common locations for hazardous materials in older homes.
Featured Video
How to Install Cable Rail Around Wood-Post CornersHighlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Fine Homebuilding Magazine
- Home Group
- Antique Trader
- Arts & Crafts Homes
- Bank Note Reporter
- Cabin Life
- Cuisine at Home
- Fine Gardening
- Fine Woodworking
- Green Building Advisor
- Garden Gate
- Horticulture
- Keep Craft Alive
- Log Home Living
- Military Trader/Vehicles
- Numismatic News
- Numismaster
- Old Cars Weekly
- Old House Journal
- Period Homes
- Popular Woodworking
- Script
- ShopNotes
- Sports Collectors Digest
- Threads
- Timber Home Living
- Traditional Building
- Woodsmith
- World Coin News
- Writer's Digest
Replies
electric is cleaner and more efficient....
but....
costs more per BTU to operate becauce of the proice of a KW of electricity..
Thanks IMERC. I'm in SE Alaska where heating fuels are running close to $3 bucks a gallon and our electricity source is hydro. I'm not sure what our KW price is, but I like the idea of not burning fuel. You said electric is more efficient. In what way? Is it worth researching?
Thanks again.
study the cost of electric....
BTW it is worthless in a power failure....
have a plan "B"....
Depending on the load, you could consider a back-up generator to power the
boiler(s), a few lights, and the fridge.If you haven't drawn blood today, you haven't done anything.
that you could...
make it a big one...
" You said electric is more efficient. "Efficiency is a very specific term that misused more than it is used correctly.Efficeincy is the percent of usefull energy that you get out of a system divided by the energy that you put into it.In the case of the an electrical boiler it is 99.9%. The only losses are the very small resistance in the wires from the meter to the boiler and if those are with in conditioned space then it is not a loss anyway.In an oil boiler 10-30% of the energy in the oil goes up the flue in terms of heat.However, it is ABSOLUTLEY MEANINGLESS for your purposes.What you need to find out is what the cost of a BTU of usefull heat is. Now you will need the eff to make that calculation.But looking at efficency for efficency sake is only meaningfull in compare two pieces of equipment that use the same fuel.
Weil-McLain makes 3 different series of electric boilers, the CE, the PER and the CER, with the PER being the smallest (51 to 85 MBH) and CER midrange (82 to 137 MBH). Lochinvar makes a few versions as well, and these are just the 2 catalogs on my desk. Most manufacturers offer electric versions of their boilers.
The primary disadvantage of going electric is that the cost of electricity, in most areas of the country, is twice that of other "fuels". Running 00 wire for a 120A circuit is not typically a DIY project, and all other things being equal, might require a bump to the next level (400A ?) of service from the electric company because the standard 200A service probably won't cut it.
Electric is dirt cheap where I live, and everyone heats with KWs. There has been so much building, though, that the town put a moratorium on the use of electric boilers for radiant heat.
I've done two jobs using electric boilers, both completed before the ban, and have experience with Argo and E-F-M brands. IMHO, the Argo is superior.
BTW, our KWH cost is about 4 cents.
I know about the expansion thing because my brother didn't follow the diretions when he put them up and a twelve footer tore some brackets out of the wall when it expanded. After he cursed, scratched his head, read the directions, rehung them, patched the walls, touched up the paint, and told the story to somehow make himself sound like a genius for figuring it out, he likes them. In fact he brags about them like he is some kind of genius for buying them. Brothers.
Oh, and Q-mark makes a similar product that lays into a 2x4 grid ceiling and one that is basically a portable space heater. (to replace the noisy one under your secratary/wife's desk.If you haven't drawn blood today, you haven't done anything.