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We live in a rural area, and heat with wood for most of the winter. But we have a 1,000 gal propane tank, which we own. We use the propane for back-up heating, cooking, and part of our water heating. Two years ago, we lived in another New England state where we had a FHW oil system. Never again!
We love the propane. We bought our own tank, and have it filled every summer, and no more.
Most propane tanks are rented from a delivery firm. IMO, most propane tanks are too small, which means fill-ups during winter. That can get expensive. I would not turn down this house due to propane. But I would find out who leases the tank, and at the very least, rent (or buy) a larger one. If you buy your own, you can have any delivery company fill your tank.
People in my semi-rural area of NC all have propane tanks. Some are above ground and some are buried. The propane burns very cleanly, deliveries are simple (no one needs to be home), and we have never had a problem. If you get a pre-buy contract, you can save money. You can also request regular deliveries, mine are monthly. My tank is supplied by the propane company, and if it starts to look a little dingy, they come out and re-paint it for you. I have never heard of anyone's tank exploding.
Propane is much more pleasant than electric heat. Electric heat creates static and dries your skin and the air, which makes you feel much colder in winter.
I live in the Northeast too and I completely understand your situation. Where I live only about 40%-45% of the houses in the town have access to natural gas. A lot of the homes in my town are older (a lot of 1950's & 1960's construction) so the most common heating fuel source in town is oil. After that, the most common fuel source is natural gas which is far cheaper to heat with than oil. There's a small percentage of homes in town that do heat with electricity, but my understanding is that heating with electric baseboards would be more costly even than heating with oil. There are some homes around here that have heat pumps. However, here in the Northeast it's hard for heat pumps to function because they're basically pulling whatever heat they can find out of the air outside and pumping it into the house. Some days in the Northeast, there's not much heat to be had outside. My understanding is that the older heat pumps are far worse than modern ones.
I will say when new construction is being built and there is no gas line available propane is starting to become the choice instead of oil. It's cheaper to heat with than oil and allows you the convenience of gas cooking and gas fireplaces. Also, if you ever get a natural gas line on your street generally it's less involved/cheaper to convert your home to natural gas.
Personally if my only two choices are propane or oil, I'm choosing propane every time. Just make sure to find out who owns the tanks. Many times they're leased from the propane company. However, if natural gas is extremely common in the town then I would hold out for a natural gas home unless this is absolutely your dream home.
I specifically sought out Natural Gas during my home search, but I always said that if I had to get a house that had oil and no access to NG, I would have converted to propane in a heartbeat.
OP, as others have noted, propane for heating really isn't a big deal. Where I live there is no natural gas available so if you have gas appliances, they are all on PROPANE, not natural gas. It's a different connection, but when you buy appliances (e.g. gas dryer) they normally come with a conversion kit. It's so common here that plumbers, HVAC contractors, etc. are all familiar with it.
The one weird thing about propane, in my area anyway, is that it's VERY hard to find info on pricing. Each company of course has their own pricing, but even their prices differ depending on how many propane-fired items you have. For example, my house uses propane only for the water heater and the dryer, so my propane costs are ridiculous ($3-something per gallon). The more appliances I have that use propane, the lower the cost. I have been thinking of getting a supplemental heater for my TV room (which is on the opposite side of the house from my fireplace pellet insert, which is typically my main source of heat) -- the heater would be propane, and my rate would go down. For now I just use an oil-filled radiator in that room as needed.
I wish I OWNED my tank so I could shop around for pricing. You CAN switch, but the soon-to-be-former company will charge you a pump-out price per gallon AND the new company of course will charge labor for setting up the new tank etc. -- at least that's the case in my area (southwestern NH). I almost switched to my oil company because they just started selling propane too -- they are about 20 cents a gallon cheaper, but with all the start-up costs the payoff period would be something like 7-8 years. Not worth the bother for me at this time since I don't go through much propane.
There is no natural gas on Bainbridge Island so we opted for a propane furnace. We buried our own tank in the yard, people who use a supplier's tank pay much more for fuel. Loved it.
You really need a gas detector at the lowest point near your fuel line/furnace. That will let you know if there is a leak, require that sensor as a condition of purchase and make sure that your home inspector has a sensitive sniffer to test fittings for miniscule leaks, same with natural gas.
There is no natural gas on Bainbridge Island so we opted for a propane furnace. We buried our own tank in the yard, people who use a supplier's tank pay much more for fuel. Loved it.
You really need a gas detector at the lowest point near your fuel line/furnace. That will let you know if there is a leak, require that sensor as a condition of purchase and make sure that your home inspector has a sensitive sniffer to test fittings for miniscule leaks, same with natural gas.
that is sound advice...thanks will definitely ask this question of the inspector.
wow, all this stuff makes me wonder if we should get into all of this....would any of you forgo a home just because of propane usage?
I owned a home back in the 80's that was propane. Wasn't a problem, except the tank was a bit of an eye sore, but it was well maintained by the company that we bought propane from, painted yearly and checked often. Propane was cheap back then, and I think we filled every fall. I'd be more concerned about a buried tank...but others may have experience and advice.
Check with owners, re: maintenance and routine, cost etc. but if you like this property go for it.
I specifically sought out Natural Gas during my home search, but I always said that if I had to get a house that had oil and no access to NG, I would have converted to propane in a heartbeat.
Fortunately, I got my NG house.
From what I've been told, it would take a long time to recover the costs of converting an oil system to propane because the cost differential isn't as great as it is with converting from oil to natural gas. I know some people who have added a propane tank to their house for cooking and having a gas fireplace but kept the oil tank in the basement for heat and hot H2O.
After the experience we had with renting a house with propane, I would never buy a house that used it. This was back in 2010-2011 in Western Loudoun County in VA. We ran out about a month in to our lease. The tank said it was almost full. The owner of the home was supposed to have it checked before we moved in and he didn't. The gauge was broken and plus it was leaking out. 1100 to fill it up. We spent alot of money in the winter for the propane. Never again.
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