What's The Best Heat Source in 2022? Top 5 Home Heating Methods - LP Electric NG Geothermal Fuel Oil

The best and first thing is to have an truly insulated home.

100% wood heat from the same old woodstove for the last 40 years. No natural gas where I live, and no furnace in the house. Moving air with fans costs some electricity, but it is pretty amazing how well you can heat your house, moving warm air around with simple fan technology.

Hey Ben. I am a plumbing and heating technician in Northwest Montana. Very good / helpful video. I own a 1,300 st ft condo (2 bed 2 bath), open floor plan for the living area. I'm running 45k BTU NG fireplace off of a nest thermostat. Every other room has its own electric wall heater. I spend an average of $1000 a year on my total energy bill. 900KWH max and 40 Therm (gas unit) in February last year. Mind you that $1,000 includes my lights refrigerator all the electricity. I am a happy camper.

This was a very informative video. I like how you broke down the average prices and made it easy to compare

I owe my own forest of hardwood, my house is 1500 square feet not counting the cellar. I use an LPGas direct vent wall furnace as a back up heat source. We have an old 1924 wood burning cook stove that oddly enough is our main source of heat. It is an open floor plan the stove is central so although it is not “airtight” it is convenient to pop some wood in to as you are always walking past it. It has so much cast iron it’s a huge radiator. It was made to burn either coal or wood so it has good metallurgical properties for its age. My house is 10 years old foam & fiberglass insulated and pretty tight. I need to add that I also have a fisher mama bear (airtight) wood stove in the basement. I usually only find the need to fire it up and run it for six days each winter depending on the weather. The basement is poured concrete inside of insulated foam forms. The entire house is in an insulated envelope. So the firewood comes from our 40 acre woods. We burn about 10 or 11 face cords each year. We have an lp gas for kitchen range and wall furnace. We refill the propane tank 3 or 4 times during the heating season at a price of about 75 dollars each refill (we call for refill at 35% left in it). We heat pretty cheaply though I cut & split firewood each spring and fill the woodshed. There you have it.

I was just having a conversation about this the other day. This is a great breakdown of the costs and efficiencies associated. Pretty much what I've always believed the breakdown would be, other than heat pumps I thought would be more cost-effective.

One thing to consider is supplemental heating systems; these can be used multiple ways, 1) to alleviate loads during power outages, 2) to help with extreme weather. 3) assist under certain conditions. Some combinations are hard to beat. For example, having an electric heat pump with back up wood stove is a great combination. A natural gas or propane fireplace that can run without power is great. If you currently have natural gas or oil heat installing a mini-split heat pump to supplement the heating (and for cooling) is a good option. Some of the DIY heat pumps can be self installed saving expensive installation bills. If you are primarily dependent on electric for heat, stand alone Kerosene heaters are a great backup for power outages. They can put out a lot of heat, no electric needed and use very little fuel. Electric resistance heaters are great for when other furnaces fail. There are other systems that can also help. Solar hot air heaters can bring very cheap heating into the house when the sun shines. Other tips that can save a lot of money include having a large propane tank and only filling it in the Summer when prices are cheap. (need more propane, get two tanks...).

I've switched from fuel oil (that's kerosene in Ireland) to a heat pump. At the same time I installed a 6.5 kW solar array. Last year my heat pump used 4.7 MWhs which happens to be what my PV panels generated. Obviously they generate most in the summer so I have a battery and an EV to soak up that juice then, but was amused how the HP and PV panels lined up in terms of usage and generation. My electric bill has gone up (€1,000), but I no longer pay for petrol (€2,500) or fuel oil (€2,500). I spent a lot on getting all this done so the payback period will be around a decade, but there are benefits beyond money. The heat pump (air to water) is so much quieter than my boiler was. The exhaust was near my back door so that being gone is great. It came with a 200l hot water tank which is always hot - not a normal thing in Irish homes. And the heating is more consistent - with the boiler it would fluctuate between too hot and too cold.

Love your videos. Switched from electric to natural gas two months after we moved in. Payed for itself in 4 years. Made sure we had a humidifier installed too.

We pay $4 a gallon for propane! Switching to a heat pump in the spring.

Thanks Benjamin, a very comprehensive video explaining the cost differences for home heating. You left no stone unturned, good job!

Other things to consider is safety, convenience, and space requirements. People rarely consider the time, machinery, and fuel involved with harvesting fire wood, storing it, and stoking a fire day and night. I am happy I chose to go with a mini split to heat the garage in the winter months than to deal with propane.

Hello everybody, I have a 6 kw solar system on my roof of a 1000 sq feet apartment, notice the system was producing more than what I needed (2908 MKW saved on my favor) so I replace hot water tank for a 13 kw tankless, the kitchen range for a electric cooktop and shutoff the boiler and purchase temporary electric heaters for winter and this is going to be my second year so far so good I only pay basic charge for electric and gas, and gas as emergency only for winter time, I think that is the way to beat all this high fuel prices

Make sure you check for discounted electrical rates for heating which are available in some areas. To get the total picture you would also need to include installation and maintenance costs, but this is a good start. If you generate your own electricity?

My set up is solar energy on the roof with net metering in combination with a heat pump. Still burn wood, but mostly for the exercise in my retirement. Location is Charlotte NC . Very useful info here. Thank you

Benjamin, Nice job on fuel-only comparisons. Keep the videos coming. Stay safe & healthy and prosper in 2022!

As an HVAC business owner, and 3 year HVAC college instructor, great job! I agree and respect how you properly addressed this question.

I like that you started by telling us about your insulation. When I bought my home it had zero insulation, Since insulating my home I use 6 times less energy to heat my home than the 1st year without. The 4 months it took and $2,000 was well worth it to insulate. I had to blow in insulation (New Wool)thru 365 - 3" holes inside in plaster walls. Then rewire the second floor so I could insulate the attic and be done up there. I use natural gas in a 96+ furnace. I have 2200 square feet to heat. I save 20% by placing panels inside my 5 south facing windows thus capturing the solar heat these panels radiate. These panels are easy to make out of hardboard / Masonite and aluminum foil painted flat black with high temp paint. I use foil tape at the seams before painting them. I measured the heat in the center of a panel when the outside temperature was 20 below. The panel surface temp was 130 degrees on a sunny day. My home is 5 bedrooms and is 87 years old but it only cost me $960.00 to heat my home and make hot water last year. I keep my heat at 72 degrees. Although I can't see out of any south facing window, I have 3 cameras that see south. So the $30.00 investment in these panels saves me $240.00. My home is fully smart integrated so I save on electricity as well.

Great video! Good info! Here in the Kansas City area the first hvac upgrade we went from Heat pump/gas back up to gas heat, because 1, the heat pump never made the house comfortable, so we ran on "emergency mode" all the time and 2, the compressor finally died. Went to conv. a/c with gas furnace. 80%. After a missing flue cap let rain run into the furnace, and never happy with the cooling capacity we replaced it all last summer with a larger 95% furnace and 2 stage condensing unit. Electric vs Nat Gas here still makes gas a better choice. I have that very same heater, maybe a year or 2 newer (or older) in the back bedroom (over unheated garage) to take the morning chill off. While it is not terribly efficient, that resistive heat with a reflective back is turning every watt into heat for the 5 or 10 minutes I need it .

I use standard heat pumps for my house most of the time. I also use a wood burning stove during cold weather, 30s and lower. We enjoy the hot heat generated off the wood stove on cold winters. We live in SC so are winters are typically fairly mild compared to the northern states .