Electric Baseboards or wall mount electrics

[Mcbride]

Going to put elctric heat in the house for shoulder seasons, when need a bit of heat, but not going to light the wood boiler.
And as supplemental heat if really cold, and to heat certain rooms etc.
Is it more efficient to use old fashioned baseboard heaters, or wall mount units in electric?
And if either, any particular brands to look for, or to avoid?

Thanks

 

[begreen]

Electric resistance heat is equally efficient whether wall mounted or plug-in. Both are 100% efficient. Wall mounted heaters can be wired to 220vac and if water-filled, like Intertherm heaters, they can be safer.

 

[dougstove]

I have electric wallmounts as backup heat.
I prefer them (somewhat) to the baseboards I used to have. The wallmounts have an air intake at the bottom and air output at the top, giving them a certain chimney effect to move warm air into the room.
Mine also have a nice programmable control system with setbacks etc.
I find the baseboards are more prone to create hot and cold spots.

 

[Mcbride]

Thanks for the help, only had baseboards before, but was leaning towards wall mounts.

Dougstove, may I ask what brand you bought please.

And thanks to the moderator that moved this thread, i got the email notification. Sorry I posted it in the wrong section to start with.

 

[Highbeam]

My current older house was bought by me after the PO converted the baseboards to wall heaters. Wall heaters are noisier and baseboards are more old-fashioned looking. The baseboards take up more floor space where you aren't supposed to put furniture. Both types can be controlled with digital programmable set back thermostats. Both are cheap to buy and install, require no maintenance. Safety on both is similar ever since the cadet nightmares. What's cool about the wall heater type is that they are now sold as "pick-a-watt" heaters and you can adjust the wattage by jumper wires.

I bought one for a recent addition at Lowes. They were made here in Seattle but I am not certain of the brand. I believe it is King brand.

 

[fbelec]

wall mounted that i have bought say 1500 watts might be 150 dollars. the baseboard type is 50 dollars plus 15 for thermostat that is heater mounted. baseboard heat is quiet. wall mounts have fans and some can be noisy. if you are putting them in a bedroom wall mounts might wake you with the fan going on and off. but the advantage go's to the wall mount if you need to heat a big room and don't have enough baseboard room. you can get 4500 watt wall mount units but if you need 4500 watts on baseboard you'll need 18 feet of baseboard to get it. 4500 watt wall mount units are 200 to 250 dollars depending on your location and the brand. baseboard might be 100 dollars less.

 

[dougstove]

Hi;
I installed Convectaire Allegro in a few different sizes.
They do not have fans and they are completely quiet, they operate solely by convection.
In a previous house I had Ouellet Electric - they were good as well, and cheaper than Convectaire as I recall.
If you have kids, Ouellet baseboards have rounded edges rather than the horrible up-turned sharp corners found on many contractor-install baseboards.

 

[jebatty]

I have a 3000W-240V fan, wall mount heater in the storage part of our lower level, and I have baseboards (240V) in the two finished rooms in our lower level. + on fan noise for the wall mount, + on quiet and fine performance of the baseboards.

 

[ChipTam]

We went with wall-mount heaters for our summer-retirement home in Newfoundland and use them when it's not cold enough to crank up the wood stove. We have an 1880-era salt box and didn't want baseboard heaters to hide the nice wide traditional baseboards. We installed 1500 watts in living room and dining room, 1200 in bedrooms, and 500 in bathrooms. Wish we had gone with more wattage in living room and dining room. By the way, I think that the boxes for these units are all the same and that it's possible to add wattage by changing the heating element and we may do that in the future. The fans are pretty quiet but you do hear them at night in the bedrooms. I can't remember the brand name of the units but I believe they're manufactured in Quebec.
ChipTam

 

[Mcbride]

Thanks again everyone.
Going to look into the convectaire type to, sounds nice to have no sound, but good heat.