On Tue, 30 Oct 2018 22:28:20 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder
wrote:

On Mon, 29 Oct 2018 13:27:49 -0400, wrote:

A lot depends on where you live but the 45 cents screams California.

Propane is more expensive elsewhere, I'm told.
Much cheaper here.

Car insurance is more expensive elsewhere, I'm told.
Much cheaper here.

Yet...

Gasoline in California is super expensive compared to other US states.
As is electricity.

Why?
I don't know why.

(North or South?)
Silicon Valley.

Here in Florida my power is around 11 cents a KWH
and we have toaster wire heat in the central system so it makes
perfect sense to run a 1440w heater in the room we are in and leave
the central system off. We just let it get cold at night and snuggle
up under a blanket but cold is a relative thing. Pipes don't freeze
here and the heating season is days, not months.

In general, is the heating of a room better than the heating of a house?
The comparison assumes a whole-house heater with ductwork that can be
closed off of course to the non bedroom rooms.

I don't know if that ductwork closing off really makes any difference in
costs. I don't know how to tell. The furnace seems to run the same amount
of time per cycle as far as I can tell from memory (it's not yet winter)
whether the pushers are closed or not (I don't think the pullers have
closure tabs).

If electricity were dirt cheap like you have at 15 cents or below, that
would make things easier but here it starts low like that but it ramps up
really fast.

Every house gets the same quota if it's gas heated. It doesn't matter how
many people or how big or small the house. The quota is exactly the same
for every house they tell me. So you use up that quota of 15 cent
electricity in the first week or two. Then it ramps up such that by the
last week, you're at 45 cents or more.

Then there is the time of day stuff. So it's complex.

I just want to know, in general, what most people feel are the tradeoffs.
The math is too hard because the data is not there for usage.

In general, is the space heating more efficient than whole house
(assuming that you have to heat the space a lot in that case).

If you are only heating one room and only while you are there, maybe
an IR heater, it is definitely cheaper than running the whole house
system. Even trying to duct off unused rooms is still not anywhere
close to just doing the rooms you are physically in. Furnaces are most
efficient moving all the air they can. Choking it off hurts efficiency
and could hasten burning out the heat exchanger unless you are also
dialing back the burner.

One option you might look at is a mini split heat pump. As I recall it
really doesn't get that cold there so a heat pump might make sense.