robhan,

Roughly where is your home located (city)?

I take it you don't have central a/c.

What factors are important to you? operating costs? Installation costs? comfort? appearance? Why do you say no to baseboard units?

Hi Jake,

I'm in the Pacific Northwest - don't really need A/C up here :)

I've just never liked the look of baseboard heaters. Those ceramic wall heaters LOOK nice enough, but I'm not sure if they'll reliably heat the house on a cold winter night.

I suppose the most important factor is getting rid of the ducts in the basement. A ductless heat pump seemed the logical solution, but $15k for a system that will last 12 years just seems off somehow.

Are there any other options that I don't know of?

Thanks!

maybe the ducts can be re-routed?

I'd really understand what I was doing before
removing ductwork for space heaters.

best of luck.

Do a Manual J heat loss calculation on your home. There are many online tools to help you with that.

As a reality check, compare that to the heat output of your existing furnace just to be sure you're in the right ballpark.

Then look at the ceramic wall heaters and see how much heat they put out.

A note about efficiency: All electric resistance heat is almost 100% efficient... so the wall units are going to cost about the same to run as the furnace as the electric baseboard. You might realize some savings by not heating unused rooms if you have wall or baseboard units.

Electric resistance heat is also the most expensive form of heat to operate.

A heat pump would be much less expensive to operate - but more expensive to install. Your $15k price tag seems high - but I also don't know any of the specifics.

robhan,

One other thing to consider might be an Propane condensing boiler and wall mount radiators.

Condensing Boiler:
http://www.rinnai.us/boiler/product/q175c

I'm not specifically recommending either of these products, just using them as examples.

Here is a link that might be useful: residential radiator

I hadn't thought of putting in a boiler - I'll look into this.

Thanks for all the replies!

Check out Rinnai Energysavers. I have heated my homes with them since '91