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Old 01-08-2016, 06:41 PM
 
169 posts, read 327,158 times
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Hi Folks
we are looking at a property that has propane heating...realtor says its more expensive but more efficient and cleaner...? is that true?

i am so skeptical of this as ive always had natural gas heating and never had to contend with having a proane tank outside and always looking out for the delivery...

is this something so important that we should maybe rework our numbers on how much this place will cost?

thanks
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Old 01-08-2016, 06:47 PM
 
Location: Virginia
10,044 posts, read 6,311,418 times
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Propane heat is efficient and clean, but certainly not any more so than natural gas - and natural gas is a LOT cheaper. I have propane hot water, cooking, and a gas fireplace; however, I usually only have to fill the 500 gal. tank once a year. I lock in my propane price at the beginning of every July - this year's contract price is $3.50 per gallon. If I were heating the house with propane, my winter heating bills would be atrocious. BTW, you can have automatic delivery set up, so you don't need to be home for the propane truck to arrive. However, that wouldn't be enough reason for me to choose propane as a primary heat source - backup maybe, but nothing more than that. Even a heat pump is cheaper where I live, and we had some single-digit weather the last two winters.
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Old 01-08-2016, 06:50 PM
 
169 posts, read 327,158 times
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so how are u heating your home this winter? surely the gas fireplace isnt enough? we are in NY as well so wondering how much did it cost to heat up your home last winter? is there another alternative ( natural gas isnt available). thanks!
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Old 01-08-2016, 06:53 PM
 
Location: Rochester, WA
14,305 posts, read 11,786,350 times
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Is there a big tank? Call a few propane delivery services and get quotes. Understand that this is probably the most expensive time of the year. We have a 500 gal tank and try to fill it before winter price increases... they have summer specials.

If you find out who has delivered before to the property, they may tell you how much the current owners have used in a typical year.

Prices must be highly variable by area.
On edit... in our part of the country, we paid $1.18 per gallon this year, and we bought late... in November.

Last edited by Diana Holbrook; 01-08-2016 at 07:13 PM..
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Old 01-08-2016, 06:55 PM
 
35,309 posts, read 51,988,114 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nidss77 View Post
so how are u heating your home this winter? surely the gas fireplace isnt enough? we are in NY as well so wondering how much did it cost to heat up your home last winter? is there another alternative ( natural gas isnt available). thanks!
An Alternative would be to equip each room with electric base board heaters.
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Old 01-08-2016, 06:56 PM
 
169 posts, read 327,158 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook View Post
Is there a big tank? Call a few propane delivery services and get quotes. Understand that this is probably the most expensive time of the year. We have a 500 gal tank and try to fill it before winter price increases... they have summer specials.

If you find out who has delivered before to the property, they may tell you how much the current owners have used in a typical year.
thanks thats very helpful. also asking the homeowner for thier bills last year.

is it very inefficient to have propane heating? i mean is it really a bother to maintain?
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Old 01-08-2016, 07:28 PM
 
Location: Rochester, WA
14,305 posts, read 11,786,350 times
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Did you see my edit up there? I looked up and added what we paid for our last delivery. Might have been after you responded. Prices may really vary regionally, based on the other reports on the thread, and the only price that matters is the price in your town.

We love our propane fireplace. It heats our main living area, we have hardly used our furnace.

This is all anecdotal, but we had 300 gallons delivered in November, and we have used about 100 gallons of that so far burning our fireplace on a comfortable thermostat, round the clock, in a Western WA winter. It's been a fairly mild winter, but that seems pretty fair to me, not inefficient.
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Old 01-08-2016, 07:45 PM
 
Location: Virginia
10,044 posts, read 6,311,418 times
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OP, my house has a 16 SEER heat pump, which is fairly energy efficient unless the temperature drops into the teens. I have budget billing for my electric service, so I don't have to worry about spikes in the bill for the winter months. My gas fireplace is really intended as a backup in case the power goes out, since everything in the house will then switch over to generator power except the heat pump (too much start-up load, even for a 15 KW gennie.) Of course, with the generator, I can then also plug in electric heaters as needed for individual rooms. If I didn't have a heat pump, I would prefer to have oil-fired hot water radiator heat - it is quiet, clean, and lasts for a while even after the burner goes off. Just my personal choice.
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Old 01-08-2016, 07:50 PM
 
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Propane and natural gas are both clean fuels. A cubic foot of propane has twice as much energy as a cubic foot of natural gas. But propane is more expensive. YYMV based on local costs.

The beauty of natural gas is that it's always there - no worrying about running out.

Also you may be locked into only one propane supplier if they own the tank. You can't shop around if you don't own the tank.
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Old 01-08-2016, 07:56 PM
 
Location: annandale, va & slidell, la
9,267 posts, read 5,071,934 times
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Propane has twice the BTUs per cubic foot, but Natural gas is usually cheaper to use where available.
Not as convenient as Natural Gas, Propane has to be delivered and stored.
Propane is heavier than air so the gas can pool in low areas if there is a leak, creating an explosion risk.
Good luck.
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