Usually the cost of generating heat with electricity is much more than the cost of doing so with natural gas or propane gas. Also, you can't get as much heat from a wall outlet as you can get from your gas heater.
The only scenario where an electric heater would have an advantage, is when you want to only heat one room, rather than your whole house. In that case, it may be more 'efficient' because you don't throw away as much heat in rooms you aren't using. A case in point is when you use an electric blanket, where you only heat up your bed.
But since you bought it up, I will point out something about the so called 'efficiency' claims made by electric heater manufacturers. The efficiency of electric heaters (quartz, oil filled, heater wire types) IS THE SAME! The conversion of electricity to heat for any electric heater is almost 100.00% and it doesn't matter how it's built (After all, where else would any power go, other then into heat?).
It would be interesting to compare your actual costs. Computing Kilowatts to thermal energy is simple, but doing so for natural gas (to actual heat produced at the register) requires knowing the efficiency of the heater, since so much is lost in the flue.
The only scenario where an electric heater would have an advantage, is when you want to only heat one room, rather than your whole house. In that case, it may be more 'efficient' because you don't throw away as much heat in rooms you aren't using. A case in point is when you use an electric blanket, where you only heat up your bed.
But since you bought it up, I will point out something about the so called 'efficiency' claims made by electric heater manufacturers. The efficiency of electric heaters (quartz, oil filled, heater wire types) IS THE SAME! The conversion of electricity to heat for any electric heater is almost 100.00% and it doesn't matter how it's built (After all, where else would any power go, other then into heat?).
It would be interesting to compare your actual costs. Computing Kilowatts to thermal energy is simple, but doing so for natural gas (to actual heat produced at the register) requires knowing the efficiency of the heater, since so much is lost in the flue.
