[sweetvelocity]

I am so ready for winter to be over. In one month I have spent $800 on propane. And this has been an easy winter

We are house hunting. Hopefully we find something that is not so terribly expensive to heat. The 900 sqft trailer we rent obviously leaks like a sieve

[Retroit]

Gulp!

(Natural gas customer.)

[michigan83]

I am so ready for winter to be over. In one month I have spent $800 on propane. And this has been an easy winter

We are house hunting. Hopefully we find something that is not so terribly expensive to heat. The 900 sqft trailer we rent obviously leaks like a sieve

I hear ya. I live in an older farmhouse, up on a hill, and the wind is constant in the winter. This was my first year in the house, and I'm thankful that we had an easy winter. Luckily (I think) the house doesn't have heat upstairs, so I was able to close it off for the winter and only heat the main floor. This seemed to be a big help, because I didn't start doing it until January, and the furnace seemed to run a lot less often. Also, it is not a very big house and seems to be well insulated, which I am thankful for.

My tank was at 65% at the beginning of winter. I filled it up in January for $600, and it is just now getting down to 40%. According to my math, I've used 425 gallons of propane this winter. At $1.99 per gallon, I've used $845 worth of propane this winter. I could barely afford that, so I feel terrible for people who have to heat bigger houses, drafty houses, etc.

[Bydand]

Oh wow, I didn't know propane was so much more $ this winter. I've had it in the past, but that was quite a while ago. Good luck finding a place!

[Perferator]

Pellet stove.

[stanman13]

Almost everyone I know that would have to rely on propane for heat has installed an outdoor woodburner. I feel for you, that's pretty expensive.

[sweetvelocity]

We are looking at homes with natural gas. From what I understand those are not as expensive.

[Dave Wojo]

Originally Posted by stanman13

Almost everyone I know that would have to rely on propane for heat has installed an outdoor woodburner. I feel for you, that's pretty expensive.

That really is painful.

We also opted for a wood boiler. Compared to heating with propane, the wood boiler will pay for itself in 3-5 years...depending on how much dead wood I'm able to take from our land vs. paying to have it trucked in.

After talking with quite a few folks we knew that staying with the existing LP boiler wasn't the way to go. We explored all available options, even looking hard at geo-thermal as a way to keep costs down, but it just wasn't feasible. The purchase and installation cost was double that of the wood boiler, ROI would have been 15 years, and the life expectancy is estimated at 15-17 years. Just when I'd reach a return on my investment I'd be paying for a new unit. I probably wouldn't be sinking lines again, so the cost for the replacement wouldn't be as high. Still, I'm 46 now so I'd be a ripe old age before I ever saw a return on my original investment. It sure made the 3-5 years with the wood boiler look MIGHTY darn attractive.

We had our wood boiler installed this past fall, so this was our first winter with it. We heated the house and our hot water entirely from dead trees on our property. This next season I'll have to buy wood, but I'll still be far ahead of where I'd have been had I stayed with propane. We did keep the LP boiler, tying it into the wood boiler system with a heat exchanger. This gives us a viable back up should something happen to the wood boiler.

I know that the investment up front can be intimidating, and depending on where you live this might not be a viable option. If it is and option where you live, and you are able to swing the up front cost, in the long run you'll come out much further ahead.

Sorry for the long rant. Having just gone through it, it's all still very fresh in my mind.

If you're interested, here's a link to our blog that shows our setup. How It Works: Wood Boiler Edition

[greatblueheron]

Oh I know first-hand your pain... the last few years, my propane bills for my home were astronomical. I actually got teary once when a bill arrived...

FYI: I sold my home, moved further south... the new owners were very thorough in checking everything out...but never asked for heating bills to review... so I didn't share them!

[PJ1252]

I certainly can relate to the propane issue. I moved into a mobile home that heats with propane which I had no experience with before. I thought it was going to be less expensive that my old place which was all electric. My worse winter month with all electric was 350.00 for the month. As you said it has been a very mild winter and thats true here in Delaware my highest propane bill was about 275.00 for a chilly but not a real winter month. I almost fainted when I saw the bill. I have to think about what I'm going to do next winter when I might not be so lucky with the temperature.