Why Is Electric Resistance Heating So Energy Efficient?

Electric resistance heating functions by using electricity to produce heat. It’s considered one of the most energy-efficient processes and can work effectively based on your home’s heating needs. However, it may not always be the most suitable choice for your home, so it’s important to know when you should use it over other traditional forms of heat generation, like using gas furnaces or heat pumps.

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How Does Electric Resistance Heat Work?

Electric resistance heating is the process of turning electricity into heat by passing the electricity into a material like metal, which resists it. By resisting, the material will begin to heat up and produce heat, allowing the system managing it to transport the heat created from the process elsewhere.

What Are Some Different Types of Electric Resistance Heaters?

A home can use different types of electric resistance heaters and might use multiple depending on specific heating needs. The most common types of electric resistance heaters are electric furnaces, electric baseboard heaters, electric portable space heaters, and electric wall heaters. There are other types, like electric thermal storage systems and radiant floor heaters but they are less commonly used.

Electric Furnaces

Electric furnaces are one of the more popular electric resistance heaters but also some of the more expensive appliances to operate. Since furnaces rely on ducts to distribute the heat, there is inevitable heat loss as a result of air leakage. As the heat traverses the ducts, heat will inevitably be lost, and more energy will be required to heat up your entire home. Maintenance like switching out or cleaning air filters and cleaning the blower motor and the heating components of the furnace is needed to keep things working efficiently.

Electric Baseboard Heaters

Electric baseboard heaters are less expensive to use and quite efficient since you can install them in areas of your home that need the heat the most. Instead of heating your entire house, including rooms that aren’t as frequently used, these zonal heaters only warm up the most used spaces. Electric baseboard heaters use heating elements located in the metal pipes that run along their entire length. The cooler air in the room is collected from the bottom portion of the heater, and the treated warmer air is released from the fins near the top. They’re typically controlled by a thermostat in the room they’re located in. While furnaces work as a central unit responsible for the entire home, electric baseboard heaters act individually for their specific zones. The only negative point is that they aren’t the best option if you want to heat up a large space and you need to clean their fins to maintain their efficiency and reduce fire hazards.

Electric Wall Heating Units

Electric wall heaters are installed on the walls and use a built-in fan to move air rapidly into the heating element. Using the fan helps increase the temperatures of the room faster compared to using electric baseboard heaters or electric furnaces. They also take up less space than other heaters. The downside is that, like electric baseboard heaters, they aren’t suitable for warming up large spaces and make more noise than their baseboard counterparts.

Portable Space Heaters

Portable electric space heaters are appliances you can buy from local hardware stores and move from room to room when needed. They use the same heating process of passing air through a heating element and then releasing it to warm up a room. They have similar disadvantages as wall heaters as they can be noisy, be a potential fire hazard if placed near curtains, and can’t warm up large rooms. But they’re convenient for heating up small areas when needed.

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Why Are Electric Resistance Heaters So Energy Efficient?

Electric resistance heating is considered 100% energy efficient since it uses all the energy from electricity for heating. This is in comparison to other systems like gas furnaces that burn fuel to generate heat. They aren’t fully energy efficient like electric resistance heating since some of that energy is lost through flue gasses. One of the downsides of electric resistance heating is that while it’s very energy efficient, its way of creating heat isn’t the cheapest.

It typically costs less to burn fuel with a gas furnace to generate heat than to use electricity to create the heat with an electric heater. Similarly, heat pumps can use up to 50% less electricity than electric resistance heaters, according to the Department of Energy. This ultimately means that you’ll pay less if you use a heat pump or a gas furnace to heat up your home over an electric resistance heater.

Heating With Electricity: When to Use Electric Resistance Heating Systems

Electric resistance heaters are best suited for homes without ductwork since you can always use electric baseboard heaters and installing ductwork can be expensive. They’re also suitable for zone heating, where your main priority is heating only certain rooms in your home over the entire house. This can offer energy savings of up to 20% when compared to heating your entire home, per the Department of Energy. It’s also a good choice in areas where cold temperatures aren’t as common, meaning heating systems aren’t used as much.