Propane house

[Gunslinger1911]

I'm buying a house outside town. Has propane for heat. I don't really like electric stoves, but I figure running a propane stove really eats into the tank. Thoughts ?

[blademasterii]

I run a gas stove off of a 60 gallon tank. I cook almost every night and one tank full lasted me almost a year and a half.

[bandsmoyer]

You'll hardly notice what the stove uses.

[markshere2]

My house had a propane furnace in it when I moved in. I switched from electric dryer, hot water and stove to propane.

Two biggest money savers withe propane:
BUY YOUR OWN TANK!! Propane companies will " rent" you a yank, but insist that they and they alone re-fill it. When filling their tank, they charge a higher per gallon rate. When you own a tank, you can call around and play the other companies rates off each other.

BUY A BIG tank so a summer fill (when prices are low) will last a year. The expense adds value to your home, so it's an investment with some future return ( when you sell.)

Beyond that, go with high efficiency appliances.

Follow those rules and your costs plummet.

[GhostHawk]

In the long run you might want to reconsider.

Is it better to be

A Outside of town, away from people, able to shoot off my own porch?

B Inside of town, full range of services including natural gas. Can't shoot off my porch but I can build an airgun range in my basement.

Propane is the more expensive option.
Points made above are VERY good.
When you buy a tank, don't undersize it.
Buy your propane in July for the entire year. Historically that is when prices are lowest.

[TCLouis]

Trust me a propane stove will not use the gas the heating system will.

That said one is going to pay for heat, hot water and cooking one way or another no matter the energy source.

Gas stove is infinitely variable heat level unlike electric. Gas broiler in an oven is worthless.

[MT Gianni]

One gallon of propane contains 92,000 btu's. One range burner is about 9,000 btu or ten hours of cooking. Average oven is 22,000 btus or 4 2/3 hr of constant on. Ovens reach a temp and cycle so you will not have a constant on. Get a pilotless one or turn the pilots off and use a lighter for the top burners.

[dragon813gt]

Stoves barely use any gas. If you look around you will see a lot of places that are all electric but have a single sixty pound propane bottle. Most of those bottles will last them a year or two depending on use.

As said above, buy your own tank so you can shop around. Otherwise you are locked into one company and are stuck w/ their price.

[Adk Mike]

I have an all gas house. Not very big. 1/ thousand gallon tank 2 deliver s per year.
A modern stove with electron ignition hardly any usage.
Unlike like the others. Own the tank set up your supplier in the summer. Get a contract for any winter deliveries. Stay with that vendor for a year. Propane gets tight in the winter and the company's won't know you in bitter cold .
Any house 3000 square feet and under a 500 is fine. 3 or 4 delivery s per year of 300 gallons.
One supplier for the season with a pricing agreement and you'll be happy. .
I've been in the business for 30 years and this is what I tell people every day.

[rockrat]

Yep, BUY your own tank(s). I had one I bought and one I "rented", although, if you fill it 2X a year the rent was free. Company was bought out by a national company, and gas price doubled. Called around and found refurbished tanks, and bought one. Newer local company delivered tank, set it up and checked my regulators(fee of course), then called national company and told them to come pick up their tank.

Alot of companies have a "pre-buy", where you pay for X amount of gallons up front, and then in the winter, you get it delivered, and you don't pay the high winter price. I usually fill up in August or September, do my pre-buy, then have enough to last me till the next Summer.

Winter prices can normally be twice summer prices.

[alrighty]

Not much to add except one thing to look out for before doing a summer price contract.The propane companies here have in their contract that they can cancel at any time for any reason.So last winter when the cost of propane doubled they would not honor their contract.

[Handloader109]

I had electric heat and water heater in my MS home. Wife hates electric range, we installed a propane range way back in 1991. We averaged well over a month, usually two off of 20 lb bbq grill sized tanks. About $10 a month at current prices. Last couple of years I upgraded to rv sized tanks and went to twice a year changes. Cheap

[Love Life]

Propane sucks. I had it at the old house I owned in NC, and have it at the house I rent here in Nevada. I really despise is. I would much prefer all electric and a wood stove.

A) Make sure it is a large propane tank so a fill up lasts through a winter.
B) Fill it up in the summer.
C) Play the "I'm poor" card, as I do it and can usually get some knocked off the price per gallon.

I have found that not much money at all is saved with propane and electric combo and that it is just a plain old hassle.

[fouronesix]

My house had a propane furnace in it when I moved in. I switched from electric dryer, hot water and stove to propane.

Two biggest money savers withe propane:
BUY YOUR OWN TANK!! Propane companies will " rent" you a yank, but insist that they and they alone re-fill it. When filling their tank, they charge a higher per gallon rate. When you own a tank, you can call around and play the other companies rates off each other.

BUY A BIG tank so a summer fill (when prices are low) will last a year. The expense adds value to your home, so it's an investment with some future return ( when you sell.)

Beyond that, go with high efficiency appliances.



Follow those rules and your costs plummet.

That's it in a nutshell!!!

[jmort]

When you live in the sticks, it is the only reasonable option, other than wood and electric/solar. I use it for hot water and the stove. I quit using propane for heat and find a couple few space heaters are a better deal, but in Ohio, I doubt that would make sense. Ditched the 250 gallon tank for two 7 gallon tanks on a regulator which switches over when one tank is empty. I then refill when one tank is empty. I go to the "dump" every week, so it fits well into my routine.

[Gunslinger1911]

Wow, I love this site !!!!!!
Thanks guys, great info.
I "assume" the tank isn't rented, have to find that out. It's huge, to me at least. Maybe 5' long and 3' dia.
I figure that will last a good while for the fill in summer idea.
House has 2 fireplaces, and I'm thinking possibly getting some kind of wood burner to supplement the heat - wood is not a problem.

[Three44s]

By all means, heat the house with wood when that's an option!

But a propane cook top is only bettered with natural gas (cheaper).

All the other good points are spot on ........ big tank, buy when it's priced at it's cheapest, own the tank! We get 9 months out of a 25 gallon tank (20 gallons usable) through our cook top.

One thing however is not so great about gas cook tops: It's hard to get most of them low enough for a real low heat option with some cooking!

Some will ..... look real close at having at least one burner that has a super low setting. Otherwise you have to use a deflector plate to reduce the heat for those real delicate cooking jobs.

But for the bulk of your cooking ......... gas, either variety can't be beat! You turn it on and you are cooking in seconds compared to electric. You don't run off from gas ....... you stay there and mind your P's & Q's until you get things feathered out .........

Best regards

Three 44s

[oneokie]

Wow, I love this site !!!!!!
Thanks guys, great info.
I "assume" the tank isn't rented, have to find that out. It's huge, to me at least. Maybe 5' long and 3' dia.

That sounds like a 500 gallon tank.
One thing to keep in mind if shopping for a propane tank, if it does not have a data plate affixed, you will not find anyone who will fill it.
There are new regulations that propane companies have to comply with now.
First is making notes of the information on the data plate, second is inspecting any appliances connected to the tank, third is checking the date on the regulator attached to the tank. If the regulator is out of date/single stage, they will replace the regulator. Usually done for no charge.

[Gunslinger1911]

Just something cool - walking the 2 acre yard, came upon this cute little critter taking a nap (baby deer - cell pic)

Attachment 106781

[Cornbread]

I have run the gamut of heating sources over the years living in the sticks.

If you live in the sticks and live anywhere close to a coal source, heating your house with coal and a coal burning stove or furnace is dirt cheap. In the Dakotas where my brother lives you can buy enough coal to heat your house through an entire winter(8 - 9 months with many -30 or lower days) for $300 or less. My brother can heat his place for roughly $30 a month with coal. I wish I had a coal source close enough to do that. Check your local laws on burning coal too, some places are pretty strict about it. In MT, WY, and ND, and SD so long as you are outside a town most places don't care what you do on your place but you have to live close enough to a source to be able to get a ton on your own at a time or have it delivered cheaply by the ton. My brother gets his by the dump truck load from a mine near his place. Cost him about nothing.

Next cheapest is firewood if you live in an area where you can cut it yourself like I do here in Montana. I cut 12 - 14 cords a year for 8 months a year of needing to run the heat at least part of the day. It runs me $60 - $80 a year in wood cutting permit fees plus diesel to and from the forest, plus saw gas, plus bar oil, plus chain saw chains, plus two stroke oil, plus protective equipment, plus skidding cable, plus winches, plus truck tires etc...... you get the picture. In the end it is more expensive than heating with coal but I can't get cheap coal here and it is still less than $70 per month of heating cost....but it is a TON of work!!! You can pretty much kiss every Saturday you have in spring and summer and early fall goodbye unless you have help and can get 2 or more cord at a time. Then you have to split it too. I do all my splitting by hand with a maul. I spend a lot of time "saving" money by using firewood. So it saves money only if you have time to devout to doing it. Also if you need to lose weight, this will do it.

Next cheapest is buying firewood. Out here it runs $120 a cord un-split. So your heating bill averages $180 per month as most people burn an average of 1.5 cord a month over 8 months. You still get the "joy" of splitting it and hauling it all into the house but you have more time to yourself.

Propane is the next cheapest but you MUST own your tank or it doesn't pencil out any better than electric. Get the biggest tank you can find. Here in Montana you want a 1,000 gallon tank. If you can find a refurbished one they are often less than half the cost of a new one. Buy one tank full per year in summer and you are set. Not as cheap as firewood but you also get all your weekends to do whatever else you want to do and you don't have to split it and carry it into the house.

Also propane stoves to cook on are the BEST!!! If you have any other heat source it is worth setting up a small tank and using it just for your stove if you or your wife cooks a lot. Your wife will love you for this if she likes to cook. Cooking on a wood stove is an art and is really hard to pull off and electric is set to a few settings and doesn't allow you to vary your heat appropriately for precise cooking. Oven wise electric is fine, it is the range that matters for gas or electric cooking. If you are off grid obviously wood or propane are your only oven options out here as solar ovens don't work here in our dark winters.

Electric heat out here for a regular house will run you about $300 a month. It is the most expensive form of heat that is still affordable.

Heating oil is the one heating source I have not tried. It is far too expensive where I live to even consider it.