[askme1]

Hi,

I need some assistance as to what kind of basebaord heaters to get in terms of voltage 120v or 240v, hydronics or others, commercial/residential, brand type? What are the pros and cons of each?

I have a 110 electrical circuit breaker box.

Thanks in advance for you help!
Matt

[tkrussell]

Can you provide more info as to what you are planning to do? It would help better to decide what to tell you. You asked for the complete unabridged history of electric heat, and there is a lot to go over.

Simple answer is, for basic residential work:
Be sure you have 240 volts at the panel.120 volt heaters of any good size need too many circuits ,and are not practical beyond a couple of units.

What size amp service do you have? How many spaces are there in the panel?EBH eats up power and space in a panel quickly.

Commercial units are too costly to purchase for homes.

All the resi brands are made the same.

Liquid filled units are costly to purchase, but are great energy savers, and a payback on investment can be realize in a few yrs.

[askme1]

Hi,

I have a triplex apartment building and planning to convert gas heat into electric heat so each unit can pay its own separate utilities. The units are two 1-bedroom and one 2-bedroom units. I assume baseboard heat is the best option for this?

I'm not sure how to read the amount of amp on the box but was told it was 100 Amp... please inform me on how to read the amount of amperage and available space.

Thanks for your help!
Matt

[tkrussell]

You need to do more research to determine if you have the capacity to add electric heat to each apartment.

Need to know the size of the main service entrance, and the size of service for each apt.. Each panel is labeled with its amp rating, however, the feeder may be smaller. For example you may see 100 amps on each panel, but the breaker feeding each panel may be smaller.

You need to look at the breakers feeding each apt panel. The main incoming maybe ore difficuit for you to tell the size.

I do not believe that you have an electric service that can handle the addedload of electric heat.

Can you provide more info on what you have, even provide pictures, and I may be able to help you determine the size service you have.

And then, you will need to size up how much heat each apt will need. This can get complicated, so more info you can provide, such as sq ft of the apts and building can help. There are too many variables to go over without knowing more.

What state are you in? Are you planning to do this work yourself?