A few questions....Hollis and Propane Heat (Amherst, Brookline: house, water heater)

[MA2NHFIDORelo]

Good Morning,

I've been a long time lurker/searcher of these forums and I have found them very helpful....so thanks.

We are considering putting a bid in on a 2500 sq ft house in Hollis that was built in 1999. The heat, hot water, stove, and clothes dryer all work off propane. The only thing I've ever used propane for is for a gas grill. What am I looking at for propane costs? We are a family of 4 and my wife will keep that heat @ 68 for a minimum.....even though she says she won't. I've searched these forums, as well as the web, and the answers seem to vary wildly. I figured someone in the general area would have a better idea. Thanks in advance for any help.

Also, for those that know Hollis, how busy a road is West Hollis Road? Just wondering if it's a "high" traffic road/very busy. Understood this road is in Hollis and all things are relative. We were only there on a weekend morning so it's tough to gauge. The few cars that went by were moving pretty quickly.

Thank you.

[seamusnh]

We have propane for heat, hot water, cooking, and the dryer. 3200 sq ft. I'd say the propane bill averages $1500 per year.
It is actually good to have propane for hot water, cooking and dryer, as electricity rates in NH are higher than average. Propane for heating does not seem to have the same price swings that oil does...
West Hollis Rd is going to be rather busy. It is rt 130, isn't it? When we were in the market for a house 15 years ago we looked in Hollis alot but could not find much that was in a neighborhood. The kids were small at the time. We did find more neighborhoods in Amherst...

[BF66389]

I'll add to seamusnh's post:

On price swings: Propane tends to have a price swing that's delayed about 3-4 months after Oil. So if the cost of Oil shoots up, you'll see the cost of propane go up a few months later.

On efficiency: With modern oil burning technology (condensing oil furnace) the efficiency benefit of propane is largely negated (oil also has more energy per unit of fuel). That said condensing oil furnances cost more and are not the norm yet...so the "average" propane heated home is far more efficient than the "average" oil burning home.

On safety: propane can leak/explode; oil is "hard" to burn. That said I feel the "risks" are over-rated and not really any greater than if you had natural gas coming from the street. Just make sure you aren't randomly losing gas, put a detector near water heater/furnace in basement, etc.

On benefits: I prefer to cook with gas; easier to regulate heat. Some people prefer electric glass cooktops for ease of cleaning. To each their own. One BIG benefit though is that you already have the tank installed so adding a whole-house NG generator would be fairly easy. That said whole-house NH generators certainly chug the NG.

In short, I think for a home built in 1999 with decent insulation/decent equipment- "heating costs" would be kind of a non-issue vs. homes heated with oil. I wouldn't really let it influence my decision either way. Granted I WOULD have the tank/lines inspected before purchase to make sure there are no leaks and all is well.

As for traffic- West Hollis is not Route 130 and of the "busy" roads in Hollis would probably not be too busy (it links Pepperel & Brookline). That said the traffic that is there is probably moving faster than other more secondary roads. My suggestion is to check it out at different times of day. I find the heaviest traffic is weekday evening rush-hours and the most dangerous traffic is on weekends when out-of-town visitors are heading to the farm stands.