eden pure heaters? (floors, how much, fireplaces, furnace)

[campmom123]

We're buying an older home that just has gas wall heaters. hot to the touch, and expensive to run, and not exactly passing inspection, we want to replace them. However, we're not yet sure what to replace them with (probably forced air but maybe gas fireplaces plus a small amount of electric baseboard, hot water heat is too expensive to install here), but even if we were ready to install something else, our pocketbook isn't

So today my husband suggested we just pull out the wall heaters and patch the walls (so we can go ahead and paint to our liking) and buy a couple of eden-pure heaters for now to heat the place. Our electric bills are fairly low while the gas bills are high, so this seems like it would work for us. We would be warm and really the main reason we need whole-house heat like forced air is for re-sale value-- some loans won't approve for a house without heat in every individual room, plus people like and are used to things like forced air heat.

What do you know about Eden Pure heaters, have any experience with them? If we did install something else for heat later, we could sell the Eden Pure heaters? Would this not be a good idea because we'd have no heat if electricity went out? we don't live somewhere that that happens a lot or something, but still....What about when you leave on a trip and you set the thermostat to 60 while you're gone so the pipes don't freeze. Can I trust edenpure to do that? I know it's a secondary heat source, but could I use it as primary, as we only have localized heat now anyway and the house is only 1100 sq ft?

Ok, I've been reading other people's threads about these, looks like people either love them or hate them. I don't need comments like that, because if I had a different heating situation I wouldn't be asking this question. For someone who does not have forced air, baseboard anything, nor the means to install one just yet, also I don't want a woodstove, and nobody does coal or oil around here..... considering this particular situation, could something like the edenpure (maybe a different brand) work for us?

[WatsonWest]

The heaters are NOT for primary heating. They are to supplement your current heating. I use mine on one floor of the house (the main living area) so the heat does not kick on quite as often. I can set my heat for 65-70 and with the heater on (in this weather it has been on high) my baseboard hot water heat only comes on a few times in a day, usually when the temp starts to drop outside and when we first get up in the morning.

They do increase they electric bill, but for me it hasn't been anymore than running my pool pump in the summer. Our electric usage is high with 5 of us & several are home all day. We don't have the oppertunity to adjust the heat for when noone is home. I am actually currently going without it this past month to see how much my electric will be without it since the PPL increase.

Unfortunately I have had some experience with heating my house with them. My furnace went out on a bitter cold weekend & had to wait for parts on Monday. I kept my heater on the first floor & borrowed my FIL's heater (he has one also) for the second floor. It kept us warmish, but not up to the normal household temp.

You do have to realize that it is really just an electric heater & not a primary furnace. I HATE those gas wall heaters & refused to buy a house that only had them, but I had small children at the time & was afraid. I don't know what to tell you for what you should put in instead. I used to work for a HVAC contractor, but we specialized in GeoThermal systems. I have not seen your house & don't know your whole situation, so I have no suggestions there.

I hope I've helped at least a little. I've seen the heaters for sale in the papers, so maybe you could get a used one. I'd definitely want to see it work first. They take a minute to heat up before the fan kicks on, so be aware of that if you look at one. It's not instant on & off.

[Coldjensens]

Eden pure heaters are a ver expensive version of a space heater. You can buy ceramic disc heaters almost anywhere that have the same capabilities for a fraction of the price. The one thing that i like about the Edenpure heater is that it does nto seem to dry out the air as much as some other heaters.

Keep in mind that space heaters do not last long when run all the time. You will end up replacing them in a year or two.

If you are going to buy ten eden pure heaters, you are pretty close to the cost of installing a forced air system anyway.

When you go to put in a permanent system, hydronic (hot water) systems are the most comfortable and healthy, forced air is the cheapest to instal, but less comformfortable, less efficient and less healthey. The hydronic systems that go under your floors are very very expensive, but a baseboard system installed with PEX tubing should nto be too expensive. We used antique radiators (our house is antique and the old radiators are more efficient anyway) with a modern hot water system. It cost about $20,000, but we have a large house and bought a very fancy boiler.

[JimRom]

If you try to use space heaters (which is basically what an Edenpure is) as your primary heat source, you will see your electric bill catch up to your gas bill quickly. On top of this, there is the safety factor. Space heaters cause a high percentage of home fires every year, and are not to be left unattended.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Edenpure heaters. They work amazingly well, but I would never use one as a primary heat source unless the primary heat system went out, and then only for the short length of time it took to get the primary heat system fixed.

What area of the country is the new house in, campmom? This could make a big difference on people's recommendations as far as heat sources go.

[campmom123]

thanks everyone for answering my questions. We are in Wyoming, to give you a bit more background.

The house is 1100 square feet. No way would I buy 10 eden pures or anything else, there are only 2 wall heaters heating the whole house right now-- One in the living room and one in the garage-conversion bedroom.

I would never use just regular space heaters for primary heat (although I have had to do this for a time once), not only would the electric bill be too high but the fire hazard, esp with small kids around.... that's why we were drawn to the EdenPure, since it doesn't get hot to the touch or catch on fire. Right now, since I like to turn the main heat down at night, and the main wall heater in the living room doesn't get to the kids' 2 bedrooms that well anyway, we use small electric space heaters in their bedrooms at night and I hate it! Scares me so bad! but we don't really have an option without putting forced air or some sort of baseboard in there.

Even with doing the kids' space heaters every night, the electric bill is small compared to the gas bill for the wall heaters. Do you think a new efficient forced air set up would be cheaper? But the upfront cost is still an issue.

We got a quote for staple up hot water heat, $18,000!!!! No way this little old house is worth putting that much into.

Any better ideas?

[M3 Mitch]

The Eden Pure heaters are rather expensive for what you get, you need to understand that ALL plug-in type portable heaters have EXACTLY 100% efficiency - no more, no less.

I would recommend any of the simple oil-filled electric radiator type heater, these don't get very hot, they are clean and safe.

Do check out the circuits and recepticles you will be using though. You don't want the plug/recepticle to be heating up, which can happen with an old, worn recepticle. Run your existing space heaters for a while, unplug one and feel of the plug - if it's hot or very warm, you need to do something, probably replace the recepticle. Assuming your wall sockets are wired with 12-gauge wire, I suggest putting in 20-A rather than 15-A recepticles, they grip the plug more strongly.

What about a wood or coal stove? Have a fireplace?

[campmom123]

I was at the store today and saw "oil filled electric heaters" they look just liek something my mom has that DOES indeed get hot....

I agree they're nice though, the thermostat on hers works way better than my little square box space heaters that are basically on or off.

I do not have a fireplace, nor do I want one. I HAD one (wood stove, actually)-- very messy. And when we're gone and nobody's home to load it for a weekend, pipes would freeze. They're secondary heat sorces IMO

So eden pure or other space heaters don't make good primary heat sources.... I'm really looking at putting in forced air asap or living with the wall heaters, aren't I?

[JimRom]

Unfortunately, that seems to be where you are headed. On the plus side, if you do some research you can get a pretty good tax break by going with a high efficiency unit.

[campmom123]

my husband is really dragging his feet about doing forced air, probably because he knows it will only be in our price range if he installs it himself (he has HVAC in his background but wants it to stay there, haha)

Anybody heard of Hydro-Sil baseboard heaters? Or those "cove" heaters I've seen in homes here? I'm off to read about those now....

[M3 Mitch]

Remind us what's wrong with the existing wall heaters?

What fuels are available to you? Natural gas? What are your electric rates, what kind of service does the house have, in terms of how many amps? Many older homes have 100A service, ours does, and it's adequate so long as you use some common sense.