Electric boiler

[Pipestone Kid]

My neighbor is having in-floor heat put in a new shop building. He would like to know if Hydra Shark is a good brand of electric boiler or if there are better ones out there. Thanks for any input.
Jim

[DuckButter]

My knowledge of electric boilers = 0

Any time I get a customer inquiring about electric heat, it's usually due to no gas supply available, then I suggest propane or oil.
I cringe at the thought of how high those bills would be with electric.

[Pipestone Kid]

My knowledge of electric boilers = 0

Any time I get a customer inquiring about electric heat, it's usually due to no gas supply available, then I suggest propane or oil.
I cringe at the thought of how high those bills would be with electric.

Yah, I cringe at the thought of the electric bill, too. But, I don't have to pay it and he wants it,so......

[DuckButter]

Yah, I cringe at the thought of the electric bill, too. But, I don't have to pay it and he wants it,so......
I have several life-long customers that I sat down and broke out the calculator for in situations like this.
Give him a quick comparison on the price differences between the BTU's he'd use to heat and the KW he'd use.
One of the most enticing features of electric water heaters is the fact that they function in the 90%'s as far as energy absorbed to heat the water as well as the fact that they're cheaper to install intially.

I'm guessing an electric boiler has those lures also.

What many folks don't consider is the cost of electricity vs gas.
Do a comparison, he'll gasp, you'll eat a bottle of aspirin and get knots in your stomache at the sight of a calculator, but you'd be very surprised at how few contractors do their homework.

Rule of thumb with water heaters, generally electric heaters cost 50% more to operate than gas, but thats all up to the local utility costs.

I just can't imagine anyone wanting to pay $300 a month for heat when it could be $200.

[Ace Sewer]

My ladyfriend's home is all electric... electric water heater, bizarro asking-for-a-fire-if-you-ask-me electric heat via element coils embedded in drywall, electric electric electric. despite replacing her woodstove with a good one that will hold a fire all night and keeping that "floor heat" (wall heat? ceiling heat?) down to a minimum, the power bill routinely tops $400/mo, and has broken $600 more than once. This is not a small house, but it's not huge. It doesn't help that I can't get the oldest child to understand the concept of lowering the garage door (for pete's sake all he has to do is push the button on the headliner of the car), and there are other things that might be done to reduce usage, but the killer is that electric heat.

[myakka]

Pipestone
Unless your area has REALLY cheap electric rates, DuckButter's assesment is spot on.
Ace Sewer
I remember a type of electric heat from the late 80's that was plastic sheets with black chevrons running through it. the idea was to heat the walls and ceilings, basiclly electric radiant heat. The heating sheets got nailed up before the drywall.It was supposed to be OK if you nailed through this stuff but I think it got recalled because of fires.
Mike