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Andy

wrote:
I'm looking for advice on heating my 100+ year old 3-flat (no tenants,
just me and my sister).

Andy writes:

While combustion heaters ( gas/oil/kerosene) usually cost less in
fuel for each BTU generated, it must be remembered that the combustion
products MUST be vented from the house. In "ventless" heaters, the
safety feature is an "oxygen depletion sensor" that cuts off the fuel
when
the air becomes dangerous. Therefore, the house must be "leaky" enough
to get rid of the hot gasses on it's own.... Many houses are.

Vented heaters send the hot gasses up a chimney to the outside....
But, in either case, the hot gasses leaving the house must be replaced
by air coming INTO the house from the outside. So, if you are runnin
100 degree gasses up the chimney, and replacing it with 25 degree air
in thru the cracks, the efficiency isn't very high. For instance, a
good
roaring fire in a chimney may heat the immediate vicinity, but the
rooms where the draft air comes in at will be COLDER....

Electric heat does not require any re-circulation. And it is
100% efficient as every watt-hour you pay for is converted into about 3
BTUs of heat, without combustion products..... However, Electric
heat costs more per BTU generated that fuel heaters..., generally.

So, it depends on how well insulated, and draft free your house is.
The tighter your house, the less "cold" can come in from the
outside. In fact, some houses have been built so "tight" that
combustion heaters must have a special "intake air" pipe to
provide the "draft air" for the gas flow......

Personally, I like electric heat. I can heat the bedroom at night
without wasting power on the kitchen. And vice versa in the
daytime..... In the summer I use fluorescent lights ( the edison base
screw-in kind) in my fixtures, since they produce less heat for the
same light and saves on air conditioning. In the winter, I put in
100 watt bulbs in all the fixtures, since all 100 watts for each bulb
ends up as heat in the room, the same as dedicated electric
heaters....

But the choice of electric is not shared by my wife. She wants the
entire house warm or cool ALL THE TIME. and doesn't want to bother
with efficiency or lower bills..... You may have this preference also.
But the ability to "zone" the heat can halve your bill if you get into
the habit of it....

Just some observations that I haven't seen posted here yet.

Andy in Eureka Texas (licensed PE)