An electric furnace is a type of heating system which utilizes electricity to heat the home, often using a fan to provide forced-air through the home's ducts. It is generally more expensive to heat a home using electricity rather than natural gas or other sources of fuel. The cost of running an electric furnace varies significantly depending on the size of the home, the type of electric furnace used, cost of electricity, and the climate. Electric furnaces range from 10 kilowatts to 50 kilowatts, we estimate that a 2,400 square foot home using a modern high efficiency electric furnace uses 18,000 watts for heating when the furnace is being used. In colder climates heating is required 6 to 8 months of the year, with a furnace running 4 hours a day during the colder months.
Click calculate to find the energy consumption of an electric furnace using 18,000 Watts for 2 hours a day @ $0.10 per kWh. Running 2 hours a day is the same as running 4 hours a day for 6 of the colder months when a furnace is typically used.
Hours Used Per Day: Enter how many hours the device is being used on average per day, if the power consumption is lower than 1 hour per day enter as a decimal. (For example: 30 minutes per day is 0.5)
Power Use (Watts): Enter the average power consumption of the device in watts.
Price (kWh): Enter the cost you are paying on average per kilowatt hour, our caculators use the default value of 0.10 or 10 cents. To find an exact price check your electricity bill or take a look at Global Electricity Prices.
Heating a home is expensive, using electricity to do it is often more expensive in most areas compared to other sources of heating such as natural gas. The advantage to using an electric furnace is generally the low setup fees and higher safety. Electric furnaces do not require pipes running gas or other fuels to operate, which increases safety and lowers initial setup costs. However because electricity is generally more expensive, you end up paying more over time if you heat your home using electricity.
If you are interested in saving money on energy, heating is a very significant source of energy use and we recommend you do more research in your local area to find what heating options are available to you. A simple method to reduce heating costs is to insulate your home efficiently and to reduce the temperature by a few degrees during the colder months. Consider wearing an extra layer of clothing instead, it could save you money.
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