Where have my energy savings gone to? (Milford: how much, house)

[deneed74]

It’s my first winter in Milford and I starting to feel the pinch. I live in 2200 sq feet bi level house. I use propane heat. On October 1, my gauge read 85%. This morning the gauge read 40%.

When I am home, I keep the temp at 65 degrees. When I am out, and at nights, I keep the temp at 60 degrees. The house appears to be well sealed. I am out of the house five days a week for 15 hours per day. I use an electrical space heater in my bedroom every night for two hours. How could I have used up so much propane?

I don’t have any other devices using propane except for the water heater. I am the only occupant in the house. The artic is well insulated. I do one warm/cold laundry load per week. I don’t have a dryer. Heat from my boiler room dries my clothes. As I said before, I don’t heat the basement at all. Where have my energy savings gone to?

[TomMoser]

Have you checked for leaks in the tube leading from the tank to the house?

[thecoalman]

How many gallons of propane does 45% equal?

[DE_NePA]

A popular tank size for residential use is the 100 gallon (245 pound), which is about 4 feet tall and 5 feet around. But you could have a smaller tank, or a couple tied together. 100 pound tanks look like a scuba tank, but longer. We need to know how big your tank is, do you have more than one, etc.

[johnqpublic]

outside temperature? oct 1 was relatively warm, therefore expanded gas in the tank, now its colder , not as much pressure??????? check your cars tire pressure, same thing, I bet your low on tire pressure too.... an uneducated guess ;-]

[thecoalman]

LOL... I know someone in that delivers heating oil and he parks his truck in garage overnight. Not sure how much makes doing that but I'd imagine it's something.

If it's 100 gallon tank I would have to say you're doing better than average.

[deneed74]

I have two 100 gallons tanks. Amerigas says that my tanks could not be filled to 100% capacity so tanks were filed to 85% capacity. I am not sure how the math works, but Amerigas insist that my tanks had 189 gallons of propane on Oct 1. Amerigas also estimated that my gauge should read about 49% so a 40% reading “is just about right”. I feel that I should not be burning through propane so quickly. There appears to be no leaks (sniff test). A friend suggested that I heat the basement and not the main floor as heat rises and may be sufficient to heat the main floor. Any other comments or suggestions?

Deneed

[John From Scranton]

Originally Posted by deneed74

I have two 100 gallons tanks. Amerigas says that my tanks could not be filled to 100% capacity so tanks were filed to 85% capacity. I am not sure how the math works, but Amerigas insist that my tanks had 189 gallons of propane on Oct 1. Amerigas also estimated that my gauge should read about 49% so a 40% reading “is just about right”. I feel that I should not be burning through propane so quickly. There appears to be no leaks (sniff test). A friend suggested that I heat the basement and not the main floor as heat rises and may be sufficient to heat the main floor. Any other comments or suggestions?

Deneed

Well I can tell you this much. A 100 gal, tank as you say you have 2 of them. Is really a 124 gal, tank. They hold 106, gallons when filled to 85%. So both tanks filled should give you 212 gal's of gas. Also both tanks shoud have gauges on them and both tied in together. Depending on how old the tanks are? One gauge might give you a different reading then the other. But both should be the same.

Question, what kind of heaters are you running the propane off of? I dont think Amerigas, would only set you up with 212 gal's of propane, if that was to be uesed to heat your house? You would have atleast a 320 or 500 gal, tank out in the yard some where.

You also said you knock down the heat from 65 to 60 when your not home. Not a good idea! As it takes longer and more gas to heat back up to 65. Also are they vented heaters?? Or non vented??

Vented heaters take about 5 mins to warm up before you get any real heat from them. Thats 5 mins of propane out the window everytime the heater kicks on! Even if the heater has a built in blower that wont come on intill the heater hits 192 degrees.

Perhaps if you give me more info, on what kind of unit's you have? I might be abale to help you out a bit more.

[John From Scranton]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

How many gallons of propane does 45% equal?

It about 42 gallons.

[johnqpublic]

Commercial propane is provided as a liquid that is normally between 85 and 100 percent propane (C3H8), with the possibility of 0 to 15 percent propylene (propene - C3H6), with up to 2.5 percent butane or heavier compounds. The mixture depends a lot on what the oil refinery is producing at the time. The propylene has slightly lower energy content than the propane, but it increases the pressure slightly.

Temperature Approximate Pressure PSIG Degrees F Propane


-40 1.3 -30 5.5 -20 10.7 -10 16.7 0 23.5 10 31.3 20 40.8 30 51.6 40 63.3 50 77.1 60 92.5 70 109.3 80 128.1 90 149.3 100 172.3 110 197.3
I have provided a table of propane pressures at various temperatures. During cold weather, the fuel cylinders will chill to the outside air temperature during storage. During flight, as propane is used, the evaporation of the liquid propane inside the fuel cylinder chills it, reducing the fuel pressure even more. During warm weather, the fuel cylinder base and top ring absorb heat from the outside air that warms the propane and maintains fuel pressure. In cold weather, these same exposed parts cool the fuel, reducing fuel pressure.