I want to know what it takes (if its possible) to add heatstrips to a gas furnace, and only use the electric heat and shut off the gas?
No it is impossible, because the way Gas Furnaces are designed is to apply direct flame from the gas burner to the Heat Exchanger. Converting this process to an electric, required using Heating Elements or strips attached to the Heat Exchanger and controlled by a thermostat. Heating Elements can heat water but not Exchangers, strips might do it, but they are slow, however when we take a hot shower, we use hot water from the water heater which will automatically turn on the heating element for heating the water again, is it slow, but we don’t notice that, because we don’t use all the water heated at the tank. Using this way for a furnace will not work, because Heat Exchanger will lose a lot of heat when it radiates heat to the apartment or home, and the electric element or strips will not follow up with heat loss caused by radiation. It will require at least 20K watts worth of elements or strips attached to the Heat Exchanger in order to follow up with the lost heat, which will cost you more than the gas bill, and will be very slow to heat. If you are trying to lower your gas bill, you need to insulate your home very well; you also can use electric space heaters for each room, 3K Watts worth of heaters for an average room size will do the job, good luck….
