OT - Anyone heating their home with propane?

[wc1934]

Newly constructed homes are offering propane as a heating option. This is totally new to me. I thought that propane was only used for small cabins, not huge 4 bedroom homes.
Is it a cost cutting measure for the contractor - not having to run gaslines etc.
Is it more environmentally friendly?
Anyone using propane to heat their house?
Any thoughts on this type of heating method - pros/cons.
Thanks!

[chuckroast]

We did from 2001 to 2005 when we lived in the country on an acreage (rural Missouri). It was common, everyone had a 500 gallon tank and the local supplier would come out twice a year to fill it.

We used it for heating, cooking and hot water. The appliances looked and functioned the same as natural gas ones and there was no apparent differences for us as end users.

If anything, the local wisdom was that appliances and equipment lived longer on LP because it burned more cleanly than natural gas. Don't know it that's true or not but we had no problems.

[bjf]

I have propane where I live now, because there is no natural gas available here (rural area). My previous home was in the Midwest, and I had natural gas there. I can't directly compare costs, because the winters were much worse in the Midwest, but my rough estimate is that the cost per BTU is about the same.

[merckxman]

There are developments where I live with large, expensive, homes that are on propane (in ground tanks). What I do know is that in most cases the propane tank is owned by the propane delivery company and propane must be purchased from them. There are a few homeowners that purchased their tanks, they can buy propane from any company. Something to consider.

[MattTuck]

I am heating with propane, in cold northern new england. The house was built in 2006, and (I suspect) was fitted with propane to save money because they could do a direct vent without needing to build a chimney. We just have a vent pipe coming out the back of the house about 18 inches above the ground.

It is pretty expensive here (in NH) and way more than heating oil on a per BTU basis. If I were doing new construction, I'd probably go for oil personally. It seems to be a deeper market and less prone to fluctuations that propane seems to experience.

The one benefit of propane (aside from not needing a chimney) is that it is a cleaner fuel than heating oil. So, if we ever do implement a carbon tax, there may be some additional parameters that would factor into the decision.

Not sure where you are, but if you want me to pull up some details on cost and gallons used for the temperatures we had this winter, I could. We have 2400 sq. ft. Just PM me.

[Hilltopperny]

In the Northeast it is quite a bit more expensive than heating oil and natural gas. It is also much easier to set up as you can just run a line from the tank to the furnace with minimal labor.

I have a set up like this at my cabin in the Adirondacks and decided to get rid of it and just run a wood stove as it was much cheaper.

Sent from my LGL423DL using Tapatalk

[Burning Pines]

make sure to purchase the correct propane accessories

[speedevil]

Our home is heated with propane. We have a 1000 gal tank, buried, near the road. We usually fill it in late summer, and last winter added more in late January. Our home is 7500 square feet, with 4 separate furnaces. It works just fine.

Be aware that if you start out with propane and later decide to use natural gas, you will have to change the orifices in the gas appliances as the natural gas is a lower pressure system.

[oliver1850]

My house has a propane boiler, 1000 gallon tank. Natural gas is much cheaper here but most houses in the country don't have access. I don't know how the cost of LP compares to fuel oil but most folks here that don't have natural gas access heat with LP. We dry all our corn with LP as well. There's no problem with BTU output of LP furnaces, but it may not be the most economical fuel.

[5oakterrace]

We lived outside Boston, older home with propane heat, cooking and hot water. Very, very expensive and difficult to service as the area had fewer homes with propane so service folks did not have much experience with it. This was a major pain. The area was not serviced by natural gas. We kept the place around 55 to save money but still spent over $4k a year on propane. We actually used an electric space heater for the room we spent the most time in, to save money. We moved to rural NH. Smaller home but lots of plate glass. I do not know how to compare insulation. Now we have a pellet stove with propane back up. Our cost: less than $2k a year and we keep the place over 65 degrees.

[Brian Smith]

For new construction, assuming a typical lot size, propane is a low cost and simple way to go, but might not be the best. Development costs for heating with natural gas can be high, even in the fortunate situation where natural gas service is nearby but needs to be run on new streets. These are significant costs to the developer of the NG choice, the costs are not the "nuts and bolts" inside the house. Replacing the delivery apparatus the developer pays for with a tank truck that the dweller pays for is for them a savings.
Another option that is gaining traction are heat pumps, with or without resistance backups. Whether air-source, typically in mild climates, or ground-source which can be especially cost-competitive for new construction site design, a heat pump affords the opportunity to shift the heating load from an on-site combustion process to an electrical load, and to one with a very different emissions profile.
The long march to electrify home heating loads and to green-ify the grid(s) has a chance, in new residential construction, to skip a retrofit step - at or below cost parity - in increasingly worthwhile instances. Perhaps if you're in the market for a new home, the heating system options on offer, and the future ramifications of those choices, may be a relevant concern.

[oldpotatoe]

Our home is heated with propane. We have a 1000 gal tank, buried, near the road. We usually fill it in late summer, and last winter added more in late January. Our home is 7500 square feet, with 4 separate furnaces. It works just fine.

Be aware that if you start out with propane and later decide to use natural gas, you will have to change the orifices in the gas appliances as the natural gas is a lower pressure system.

Yikes..how many bathrooms??:)

[Hardlyrob]

we've been running propane since 2003 - 2400 sf 4 bedroom house - it works great. High efficiency furnace (ours is all Rheem), hot water heater, stove and fireplace. I can't compare before and after costs - old house old furnace, no insulation etc. when we moved in.

We buried a 500 gallon tank that runs the house and the barn (really garage / office space). We get a $400 +/- delivery every three weeks or so in the winter, and a final one in May before the fall. We bought the tank - so we can use whoever we want - including joining a purchasing group / co-op to get better pricing on propane.

I prefer one fuel source for the house vs oil for the furnace, electric or propane for the HW heater, and propane for the stove / fireplace - it's simpler, propane burns more efficiently, and cleaner than oil. Oh - we're north of Boston with low house density - National Grid will not run a gas line for us - they laughed when we asked.

[David Tollefson]

In November of 2017, we moved into a geodesic dome house that uses propane for hot water, cooking, clothes dryer, and runs a boiler that feeds the in-floor radiant heating (we also have a wood stove on the main floor). Does very well. The 500 gallon tank is filled about twice a year. The house was built in the mid-ish 80's.

[bigbill]

What others have said. We had propane heat, water heater, and stove in our home in rural Washington State. Best advice I got was to buy my own tank so I'm not locked into a provider if I had leased it. Prices vary throughout the year and if you have a large tank (1000), you can have it filled when prices are lower and shop around with different suppliers.

Another advantage is if you want a backup generator, you can run it off your propane tank as well.

[speedevil]

Yikes..how many bathrooms??:)

Five. We're on Lake Barkley in western Kentucky.

[alancw3]

propane. clean and expensive. but that being said I would choose over oil any day of the week having had oil heating systems for many years. to me the best is natural gas, which currently have.

[daker13]

including joining a purchasing group / co-op to get better pricing on propane.

Matt, you should look into doing this... My mom does it, buys in the summer and locks in the price with the coop pre-buy.

[ultraman6970]

In south america is used w/o problems, in europe aswell. The only thing I advice you is to get a good heater, and please dont leave the match box on top of the heater.

Second thing, if you can leave like a ceramic like container with water so the environment doesnt get too dry, besides that you should be ok.

The other advantage of them IMO is that you can move them (the heater) from room to room instead of heating the whole house. For some people could be a disadvantage but at the end the purpose of gas heaters is that you save in heating costs.

There's a japanese heater that uses paraffina (in english is called different, cant remember the word, is not regular fuel gasoline but they sell it in the gas stations, not diesel either just in case)... those heaters are round, like a cilinder and irradiate in 360 degrees, are tad expensive but they work really well.

Hope this helps.

Hope this helps.

Newly constructed homes are offering propane as a heating option. This is totally new to me. I thought that propane was only used for small cabins, not huge 4 bedroom homes.
Is it a cost cutting measure for the contractor - not having to run gaslines etc.
Is it more environmentally friendly?
Anyone using propane to heat their house?
Any thoughts on this type of heating method - pros/cons.
Thanks!

[Mark McM]

There's a japanese heater that uses paraffina (in english is called different, cant remember the word, is not regular fuel gasoline but they sell it in the gas stations, not diesel either just in case)... those heaters are round, like a cilinder and irradiate in 360 degrees, are tad expensive but they work really well.

What is often referred to as "Paraffin" in other parts of the world is known as "Kerosene" in North America.