http://buyingelectricfireplaces.com/first-home-what-can-i-expect.php Electric fireplaces are becoming increasingly more popular since buying electric fireplaces are more cost effective, cleaner and easier to maintain. Sat, 30 Oct 2010 22:25:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://buyingelectricfireplaces.com/first-home-what-can-i-expect.php/comment-page-1#comment-948 Karen L Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:57:44 +0000 http://buyingelectricfireplaces.com/first-home-what-can-i-expect.php#comment-948 If this is a brand new building, there's no way to find out about previous utility bills but since you say newer windows, I get the impression that the condo is new to you and not newly constructed. If so, you can call the utilities concerned and should be able to find out last year's billings for that address. That will at least give you some idea how much you can expect to pay. However, once you move in, the only real way to reduce costs and to see how much it costs to keep the place how you like it is to experiment with things and see what the bill comes to. Lots of people in multi-unit buildings find they don't need to use a lot of heat. When you have fewer outside walls, you lose less heat. If there are baseboard heaters in the basement, there isn't really any advantage to putting another electric heater down there. If this is a brand new building, there’s no way to find out about previous utility bills but since you say newer windows, I get the impression that the condo is new to you and not newly constructed. If so, you can call the utilities concerned and should be able to find out last year’s billings for that address. That will at least give you some idea how much you can expect to pay. However, once you move in, the only real way to reduce costs and to see how much it costs to keep the place how you like it is to experiment with things and see what the bill comes to. Lots of people in multi-unit buildings find they don’t need to use a lot of heat. When you have fewer outside walls, you lose less heat. If there are baseboard heaters in the basement, there isn’t really any advantage to putting another electric heater down there.

]]> http://buyingelectricfireplaces.com/first-home-what-can-i-expect.php/comment-page-1#comment-947 HalfHand Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:47:30 +0000 http://buyingelectricfireplaces.com/first-home-what-can-i-expect.php#comment-947 This is probably apples and oranges but i was installing replacement dampers and chimney balloons in a condo assoc of 500 units in IL and every last one of these 10 yr old condos had electric baseboard heat (what an ill-conceived notion) and two wood fireplaces. Some of the more vocal owners admitted to spending $300-$500 per month on electricity in the winter months in these 1500 sq ft condos. Granted they also were also the ones trying to "supplement" their heat with the wood fireplace (another ill-conceived notion) . In your case, only use this gas fireplace if it is a direct vent that vents straight through the wall. If it is a gas log unit plug it and forget using it. Even if it is a vent free gas log I wouldn't use it due to NO2 concerns. Personally, I stopped offering vent free for liability sake. Anyway, with Electric heat the cost will be pretty high, but you evidently have gas service for the fireplace so it stands to reason you can get a direct vent fireplace hooked to it if your current one isn't a direct vent already. Using that as your primary heat source would be good and just supplement with the baseboard heating as needed. Any direct vent heating appliance will trump your baseboard heat so you may want to consider one for the basement. This is probably apples and oranges but i was installing replacement dampers and chimney balloons in a condo assoc of 500 units in IL and every last one of these 10 yr old condos had electric baseboard heat (what an ill-conceived notion) and two wood fireplaces. Some of the more vocal owners admitted to spending $300-$500 per month on electricity in the winter months in these 1500 sq ft condos. Granted they also were also the ones trying to “supplement” their heat with the wood fireplace (another ill-conceived notion) .
In your case, only use this gas fireplace if it is a direct vent that vents straight through the wall. If it is a gas log unit plug it and forget using it. Even if it is a vent free gas log I wouldn’t use it due to NO2 concerns. Personally, I stopped offering vent free for liability sake.
Anyway, with Electric heat the cost will be pretty high, but you evidently have gas service for the fireplace so it stands to reason you can get a direct vent fireplace hooked to it if your current one isn’t a direct vent already. Using that as your primary heat source would be good and just supplement with the baseboard heating as needed. Any direct vent heating appliance will trump your baseboard heat so you may want to consider one for the basement.

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