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all fuel heat is a scam. natural gas is the absolute best and cheapest. not to mention 0 hassle. you turn on the heat and it's there, all the time. no contracts, no COD. but no one wants a pipeline here.
Installing a new high-pressure Natural Gas pipeline across Southern New Hampshire has no connection to the difficulties of running local gas lines to housing developments. Liberty Utilities admits that having a pipeline would increase their profit margins for NG service, but isn't a prerequisite to hooking up more homes.
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Originally Posted by Northeastah
My parents have oil heat, with a burner that's only a few yrs old and they still get clogs all the time. I would really rather not deal with oil. Propane is also more efficient. so it probably reconciles the higher cost. All the new homes are built with propane for heat.
At current prices, the difference in efficiency between even a brand new propane furnace and 20-year-old oil burner doesn't even come close to wiping out the huge difference in dollars-per-million-BTU. A 94% efficient propane burner gives you about 86K of usable BTU’s. An oil burner will give you about 120K BTU’s at 85%-87% efficiency, and if you install a brand new oil furnace, you can get 95% efficiency with oil.
Not all new homes are built with propane heat. It's popular, but 100% market share.
ETA: still haven't gotten an answer to my initial question lol
does anyone know how much it costs to convert?
So far, it seems that none of the active NH have done a conversion from oil heat to propane gas to their homes. Only YOU seem to want to do that. Why don't you ask several NH heating contractors? Google them up and call them up by phone.
Otherwise, most here (including myself) have started out with oil heat and then added a wood or pellet stove. For my household, it was a very cheap addition since we sourced a used wood stove off of craigslist and my boyfriend (after much internet research) did the install himself, including putting in the liner inside the fireplace's chimney flue.
My parents have oil heat, with a burner that's only a few yrs old and they still get clogs all the time. ?
If your parents are having problems with oil then a good technician should be called. And have the oil burner nozzle replaced. It should be part of the annual maintenance.
Apparently no one is going to convince you that oil is better in the long run.
But back to the cost of conversion.
If you are seeking a high efficiency propane furnace or propane boiler - the unit has to be vented to the outside. And a double vent for many. There is a cost right there.
A propane furnace retail cost is between $1,000 to $2.000. Those are retail prices. I purchased a new 100,000 propane furnace for $452.00 but that was wholesale.
Where the contractors get involved in the conversion can be another $2,000 or more.
But you don't provide enough information. No one can provide an accurate estimate here without further specific information as to what you have presently. Hot air? Forced hot air? Hot water heating? Chimney? And on and on.
Propane does not produce more heat then oil does. Propane is worse.
No one has mentioned brands. There are Ford and Chevrolet brands and then there are some expensive high efficiency unknown brands. Me, I got the Ford or Chevrolet brand as replacement parts are easily available.
The ignition type used on any propane furnace/boiler also plays a factor. There are two types of ignition. The days of the standing pilot are long gone. I have my propane furnace serviced every year and I have the ignition unit replaced on a yearly basis. As the ignition unit usually fails on a cold winter Sunday night.
Your best bet is to call 3 installers and get a price. Then post here.
At our Historical Society in Hancock, we just converted to propane from oil. We own the buried 500 gallon tank and pipe the exhaust out the building in a pvc pipe. It was installed by a Wilder Plumbing and Heating, they did a great job. Since we own our tank we are able to shop for pricing on propane. I know we paid under $1.50 per gallon, but I don't have the exact price.
Since we own our tank we are able to shop for pricing on propane.
It's a tad more complicated then just shopping for a better price.
Each company - you have to open an account. To open an account - the propane company has to come to house and examine every propane/gas appliance. And write down and record serial numbers.
You don't just call around for a lower/better price - and voila - they show up with propane. It just doesn't work that way.
I can understand switching to propane if you are thinking about getting a standby generator, as they usually run on propane and you can use the 500 gal tank for heat/hot water and the generator. Otherwise, I don't see the benefit of switching.
Another problem with the OP's question is that he doesn't even have his NH house yet! And not even a particular home that he is thinking of actually purchasing.
I think that he should find the NH house he wants to buy first, then before making an offer on the house, he can get some quotes from heating contractors to make the propane conversion. Once he gets those quotes, he can formulate what he wants to offer to buy that home for.
And whatever the price he is quoted now for a conversion will change if the conversion is done in the future, like next year as materials and labour costs only tend to increase over time.
Also, this question might be best posted in the home improvements forum on C-D. BTW if I were to add a propane tank to my property, it would only be to cook with.
Converting from oil to propane seems like a very expensive solution. Propane is a less efficient fuel than home heating oil and will cost you far more in annual operating costs at current prices. If natural gas was available where you are considering purchasing, that would be a much better conversion with a reasonable payback.
As an example of costs, I converted my 60 year old oil heat system to natural gas last year and we paid $11,400 for the complete installation and then we received a total of $2500 in rebates from the boiler manufacturer and the gas company, for a net price of $8900. This was for a 2300 sq ft home with 3 zones of baseboard forced hot water heat and an external 40 gallon water tank. Costs for propane equipment would be similar but I don't know if you get the same kinds of rebates. A forced hot air conversion would be less expensive.
As for the savings with natural gas, my oil costs for the period of July 2013 - June 2014 were $4600. From July 2014 - July 2015, I spent $1100 on natural gas. Oil prices were down last year so my oil costs would have been less but even at half the price, I would still be saving over 50% with natural gas. Propane will never get you that kind of savings, and at current prices, will cost more than oil. As mentioned above, converting to a newer, high efficiency oil system, or even a combination of electric mini-split systems is a better solution.
ETA: still haven't gotten an answer to my initial question lol. does anyone know how much it costs to convert?
Quotes are free. Call a local heating company. They will need to look at your equipment, and give you a quote. Everyone has a different house, different equipment, different chimneys, etc.
Any guess people give you here will be completely wrong.
Personally I looked into changing from oil to gas and it was $13k. I stuck with oil.
Geothermal heat pumps sound great, but are crazy expensive to install
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Another problem with the OP's question is that he doesn't even have his NH house yet! And not even a particular home that he is thinking of actually purchasing.
I suspect OP had a bad experience with oil heat, and just doesn't want to have to deal with it in his NH house.
I primarily use oil for forced hot air heating, but also have propane hooked up, and have a direct vent wall furnace so I have the option of getting much of my heat from propane, if they price comes down. I also have wood stove, which I only use during the coldest part of winter or power outages (these two events often overlap).
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Originally Posted by 399083453
Personally I looked into changing from oil to gas and it was $13k. I stuck with oil.
Ouch! You could get a good heat pump for that kind of money.
Once oil does become prohibitively expensive, I will start looking much more seriously replacing my furnace and AC with a some sort of heat pump, but keep my other heat sources as backup.
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Geothermal heat pumps sound great, but are crazy expensive to install
