Posted on

Even With a 40% Increase Natural Gas is Still a Steal

natural gas in ontario

News outlets around Ontario are all reporting the outrage that Natural Gas will increase by 40%.

Even with a 40% increase Natural gas is still a steal for home owners. Here is Why.

Home owners in Southern Ontario who have natural gas heat their homes cheaper than anyone. Propane, Oil, Electricity are the main alternatives and they are easily all 5-8 times more expensive.

  • Fuel Oil – A lot of homes still use fuel oil as a heating source. It’s an older source and more and more homes are migrating away from it. The January 2014 cost per liter is roughly $1.37. Most homes use between 3000 and 6000 liters of fuel oil per year. That’s over 4000$ a year for heating.
  • Propane – Most homeowners that migrate from fuel oil switch to propane in hopes if reducing home heating costs. Unfortunately propane prices spiked this year and it is now just as expensive. Prices have gone from around 60 cents a liter to over a dollar, basically doubling. Home heating with propane can cost anywhere from 3-6 thousand a year, and even more in cold winters like this one.
  • Electricity – The true cost of electricity is much higher than the 8-12 cents your bill says you’re paying. Deliver, debt retirement, line losses, taxes all add up to a significantly higher cost. If you think you’re saving money by heating only certain rooms in your house with an electric heater you’re sorely mistaken. Some homes also employ electric forced air furnace systems, home owners with these systems easily receive $500+ a month bills.
  • Natural Gas – The biggest part of your natural gas bill probably isn’t even the natural gas you have used, it is the 20$ customer fee that Enbridge charges customers every month. Natural gas is charged by the cubic meter, and current prices are roughly 11-12 cents per cubic meter. Most customers are paying roughly 50-100 dollars a month; this is so much less than any other home heating source. Add that 40% increase that has been proposed… you’re still paying less than half of any other fuel.

 

 

Are you thinking about switching?  I would seriously consider thinking again.

Posted on

Home Heating With A Tankless

home heating tankless

We have a roughly 2000 sq foot home just North of Toronto.  Our combined average costs for heat and hot water are only $20 per month, a figure we credit to tight construction, increased insulation, programmable thermostats, and the efficiency of our Rinnai tankless water heater.

Yes, most radiant systems get their hot water from either a normal water heater or a boiler, our homes hot water and heat are both provided by a high efficiency Rinnai  — or “on demand” — tankless.  The Rinnai RU98i uses considerably less energy than a tank-type heater and costs less to install than a boiler with a heat exchanger.

Heating With A Tankless

Tankless water heaters are a proven technology with a long track record for heating domestic hot water in Southern Ontario.  Unfortunately few contractors in our area  have experience using them for radiant or home heating with a tankless, and thus information about reliable system design can be hard to find.

We consider our home system more than worthwhile: During the three years we have had the system, heat and hot-water costs for two people have averaged around $20 per month.

It’s important to note that we have added additional insulation (R-35 walls, R-50 to R-60 in the roof) and our large windows help us take advantage of excellent solar thermal energy. When the sun is out, which it often is here, we barely need any heat at all during the day.  On occasion we also supplement our homes heating with a wood stove, which we enjoy for both comfort and ambience.

Finally, we use a programmable thermostat that limits the temperature to 62°F in the middle of the day and at night, and 70°F from 6 to 8 a.m. and 6 to 10 p.m.

Why Tankless?

Tankless water heaters take up very little space, are extremely efficient, and offer endless hot water.

Despite the fact that the units are not commonly used for home heating, they’re an ideal heat source for this application because their output temperatures can be easily matched to the needs of the radiant or hydronic system. With a heating controller the Rinnai tankless can provide water of up to 180°F, which is more than sufficient for the 110°F to 120°F needed to run radiant system.

The economics of using a tankless water heater to supply both hot water and home heating are also quite attractive. Total cost for a system like this is around $5,000, this includes a tankless, labour, the PEX tubing, and various components, controls, and fittings.

You can use a tank-type water heater for a little less cash upfront but the extra cost of the tankless model will more than offset extra cost with its energy savings. Energy efficiency of a heating appliance is expressed as a decimal called its energy factor, or EF.  A tankless water heater has an EF between .82 and .97, which means it converts 82 percent to 97 percent of its energy input to heat.  Conventional tank type units have an EF around .59, so a good 40% of money you spend on heating is simple pumped out the exhaust pipe.