No Natural Gas Line in Lancaster County? :-( (Bradford, Derry: for sale, real estate)

[soulsurv]

As I search Zillow and other RE sites to get a feel for price and neighborhoods, I keep coming across electric and/or propane heat. I will NEVER have electric heat again and am not at all a fan of propane tanks. Are there no areas in the county that have natural gas lines? Would county government know or perhaps individual townships? I would have to start investigating as this would be a deal breaker for me, and I don't know anyone who lives in the county...ANYONE HAVE ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THIS? Would be much appreciated. Thanks,
Sandy

[thecoalman]

Sandy I know this may sound crazy but coal is always an option. If you are interested in learning more and have any questions just ask.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQT6CVC2sOc

[soulsurv]

Thank you, Coalman - Is that you in the video? At this point in my life, I want something that takes no maintenance and has no mess. I've had oil (smelly), electric (deadly drying and expensive), and in my mind nothing beats natural gas - just keeps coming with no drying effects and the BEST with which to cook.

SO....would you be able to inform me whether or not the County has any access and usage of lines - or no?

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by soulsurv

Thank you, Coalman - Is that you in the video?

Nope.

At this point in my life, I want something that takes no maintenance and has no mess.

Maintenance on these usually consists of taking off the flue pipe and cleaning out the fly ash, you'll have to do that once a year. Little oil on the motors if needed and nothing really more to do. If they are not going to keep it lit through the summer some people will use a baking soda and water solution to wash down the flue pipe and insde the stove, this helps with corrosion while idle. The boiler in that particular video does hot water, the fuel cost to run it though the summer is usually a wash. The bigger point is it will add decades of use. That particular unit is once in lifetime purchase if properly maintained but is very expensive at about $9K on a pallet. They have cheaper units for "supplementary heat" as low as $2K, supplementary heat is in quotes becsue they are about 90K BTU which could take most of the heat load in 2000 sq. ft. home.

The larger amount of work is daily, you can figure about 5 to ten minutes work each day during the coldest weather. Once a week in the summer.

Dust is certainly an issue but compared to other types of solid fuel heating like pellets or wood it's about the same. If you have setup like the video it almost becomes non issue.

I've had oil (smelly),

The only smell you'll get from this really depends on your chimney height and the weather. On warm and humid mornings you may get the occasional whiff of sulfur.

and the BEST with which to cook.

I like to cook myself, wish we had gas just for that. We're getting an induction stove which is comparable to gas.

SO....would you be able to inform me whether or not the County has any access and usage of lines - or no?

Sorry no, just offering an alternative. If you end going with house that does not have gas perhaps you may even want to consider small used stove for a small investment. Most people get hooked quick.

[flyonpa]

UGI - Gas Availability Inquiry

UGI is the Natural Gas Company, The link above will check to see if there is a Natural Gas Pipe Distribution Line in the street.

If you are looking very rural, then odds are there is no NGas. Urban parts of Lancaster, Will have NGas, and moving out from the main lines, Sub/Div off a road with a main line will have it, but as you get to older area that never had NGas, Even if there is a line near by most of the street/area has to Opt into it for them to run a line, Alot of this was done back in the 50/60's and no real effort is done to go back and do it again.

When you are house hunting look for NGas Meters on other houses in the area, that is also a good indication of gas availability. If there is no gas to the house, but in the street, talk to the NGas company to see what it will cost to bring NGas line to the house, They will have minimum usage requirements, so you really need to replace the furnace to gas to make it worth while, Hotwater/Stove don't pull enough gas for them to make it cost effective to run the line.

KRSL Russell Radio - Category: Local News - Image: Natural Gas Meter - KRSL Russell Radio

[soulsurv]

Fabulous! Thanks so much - I was afraid it was a completely non-gas county. MUCH APPRECIATED!

[Wells5]

Why do you want to relocate to Lancaster County? If you want a rural property with natural gas availability, the best places to look would be Potter, Tioga and parts of Bradford counties. Those areas were served by the old North Penn Gas Co. (now UGI), which ran gas lines to the remotest locations.

Click below for an example. Note: TooBusyToday, please don't delete the link. I am not a real estate agent and the property linked is just an example of a rural property with natural gas heat in Potter County.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...5_M49033-98677

[ki0eh]

In southcentral PA there are even row home areas with no natural gas availability, and no apparent plans to extend gas mains generally. This surprises many from other areas where gas distribution is commonplace.

I personally see the extension and rehabilitation of gas distribution in these areas as a significant infrastructure concern, and an opportunity to use this new PA resource busily getting piped elsewhere, but it is apparent to me that no one else does.

I can get UGI to serve my cabin in northern Tioga County but I cannot get them to serve a tract house in Derry Twp, Dauphin County.

So I load my pickup truck every so often from an anthracite breaker in Dauphin County to have an alternate non-electric heating means in our house. When my wife nixed pellets or propane she agreed to bag up the ashes for trash pickup (which, fortunately, they do).

[soulsurv]

Originally Posted by Wells5

Why do you want to relocate to Lancaster County? If you want a rural property with natural gas availability, the best places to look would be Potter, Tioga and parts of Bradford counties. Those areas were served by the old North Penn Gas Co. (now UGI), which ran gas lines to the remotest locations.

Click below for an example. Note: TooBusyToday, please don't delete the link. I am not a real estate agent and the property linked is just an example of a rural property with natural gas heat in Potter County.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...5_M49033-98677

Hi, Wells. I am seriously considering Lancaster County because my dear friends (who have sort of adopted me as a part of the family) are moving out there, my house is up for sale, my job in Aston in highly tenuous and I probably need to start looking for other part-time work. I do not really want "rural" but a nice, quiet suburb with decent housing and amenities such as public water and sewer, a hospital with a good reputation and cutting edge veterinarians. I have no real interest in "nightlife" and mega shopping everywhere. Give me one anchor store within 10 miles and some Farmers Markets, and I'm happy.

[ki0eh]

I think sometimes people equate having no gas available to being rural. But in southcentral PA you don't have to be rural to not have gas, due to how spotty the gas lines are.

In PA it's not uncommon to have public sewer lines without having public water (an artifact of a state mandate, Act 537 of 1966, for municipalities to plan for sewers, with no corresponding requirement for water). Since foot per foot water lines are cheaper so most places might have water with no sewer, this can be a headscratcher for people from other states.

In northwest/northcentral PA it's not uncommon to have gas without either sewer or water. Most likely the pre-WW2 historic availability of natural gas in these areas, compared to southcentral/east PA coal, explains part of this regional difference.