Time, trouble & cost to convert all electric house to gas

[K'ledgeBldr]

Originally Posted by TwinbrookNine

I guess you'd have to trash the heat pump, too.

A heat pump has nothing to do with fossil fuel/electric “heat”- other than saving the use of such fossil fuels.

[gentlearts]

We have both gas and electric. Gas is for the water heater and furnace. We just replaced our HVAC, and we were told that heating with gas is always cheaper than only electric. If you have gas lines in your neighborhood, and the cost of heating with a heat pump is high, that is the only reason I would switch.

We might switch to a gas range, if we need to replace the electric one, since the gas is already in the house.

I would not run a gas line only for a preference for gas appliances. In fact, I would not want a gas oven or dryer anyway.

Our AC runs 9 months a year, and our monthly electric cost is $140. Gas is $25. most of the year and about $75. in Jan and Feb.

[Larry Caldwell]

Thanks to varied electric rates, it's hard to compare utility costs. My home 1740 sq. ft., all electric, including a heat pump, water pump, a 2160 sq. ft. shop with office and half bath. We just got the August electric bill, and used 900 kwh. August is by far the hottest month, with typical temps in the 90s every day. I feel that our electric bill (~$90) is low enough that further utility fiddling is not warranted.

[Coldjensens]

I did this in a house in California. It was not too hard because the kitchen, laundry, water heater and downstairs furnace were all pretty close to the gas main. The upstairs furnace was a little more challenging, but not too hard. It took a weekend, and then another weekend to find and correct any leaks. Seems like it was not crazy expensive, however I had several hundred dollars worth of pipe and fittings that I did not end up using and had to return. (in some cases because I got the wrong fitting or pipe length and had to go back and get the right one. I did not bother returning anything until I was done.) I had some flexibility as to the location of the gas valves for each item, so I was able to use only pre-made pieces. I did not have to cut and thread any pipe myself.

There really re not that many lines to do. One for the stove/oven, one for water heater, one for dryer, two for furnaces.

At our current house, we have a big boiler (210,000 BTU), a NG powered Generator, tankless water heater, and a big pool heater, in addition to the range/oven and dryer; so we had to get a very large gas service and many of the gas lines are larger than what you can buy at home improvement stores. Also we had some pretty substantial distances. I did not attempt to tackle that myself. I do not know how to do the calculations for size of pipe needed for distances.

[ImmerLernen]

UPDATE: DH called the gas company for the house in question and confirmed they could run gas to the house. The connection in the 'hood is across the street from the house. They will run gas from their line to a meter at the house (located anywhere on the front or either side of the house, but not in back) for FREE -- including any trenching and road repair -- as long as it is no more than a distance of 150 feet (in this case it is).

We passed on the house though. Too much of a fixer and too many compromises (for us) for what the seller was asking.

[wankel7]

On the bright side you have a way to cook and heat water if the power fails.

And you know have extra room in your panel for running a sub panel to your garage for stuff like charging an electric car or welding.