Propane Cost???

[ovrszd]

If you are going to be building a new house, then the number one priority is to make sure it is highly energy efficient. It is many, many times easier to build energy efficiency into a new house that trying to do that with a leaky, poorly insulated old one.

Truer words cannot be spoken. My saying is "The cheapest heating system is insulation". I heat 2000 sqft all electric. Highest bill this Winter was $283 for a month.

 

[ovrszd]

Just ordered propane this morning. They are back down to $2.19/gl. Sure am glad I didn't have to fill up earlier in Jan when they were at a high of $3.79/gl.

That's encouraging. We peaked at $4.99, was down to $3.09 a couple weeks ago. Not sure where we are now.

Still depressing to be excited about $2.19 when our low last Summer was .99.

 

[dragoneggs]

I am curios about this too. I will be building in the spring and my only option gas wise is propane. I am thinking of maybe going all electric with a wood stove/fireplace.

I suggest if you can swing it... put in electric, gas, and wood heat capability. That way when the rates jump wildly for one, you can lean on the others. Gas used to be much cheaper around me but lately not the case. I bet though with 'tracking' technology and water being precious (hydro electric power) things could swing the other way easily.

 

[bajabum]

When winter storms (and summer too) hit, electricity is the first to go...
All electric?
No power, no nothing!
Natural gas? maybe a whopper earthquake might stop it flowing, but you'll have other things to worry about.
A big propane tank, or a lot of cordwood is a really good back-up.
Me?
I'm using wood, and have a 300 gallon propane tank as a backup.
Might get a bigger tank, tho...:scratchchin:

 

[ovrszd]

When winter storms (and summer too) hit, electricity is the first to go...
All electric?
No power, no nothing!
Natural gas? maybe a whopper earthquake might stop it flowing, but you'll have other things to worry about.
A big propane tank, or a lot of cordwood is a really good back-up.
Me?
I'm using wood, and have a 300 gallon propane tank as a backup.
Might get a bigger tank, tho...:scratchchin:

Yep, we lost electricity for a week a few years ago. Electric heat doesn't do well in that situation. But then a gas fired forced air furnace wouldn't have worked any better. Or a Ground Source Heat Pump system for that matter.

Only thing that would get you by is wood. But then you are going to camp next to the stove because you can't circulate the heat. Better not stoke a huge fire either unless you have a very tough stove with no fan drawing the heat away.

In the end,,,, aren't we all dependent on electricity??

 

[murphy1244]

Yep, we lost electricity for a week a few years ago. Electric heat doesn't do well in that situation. But then a gas fired forced air furnace wouldn't have worked any better. Or a Ground Source Heat Pump system for that matter.

Only thing that would get you by is wood. But then you are going to camp next to the stove because you can't circulate the heat. Better not stoke a huge fire either unless you have a very tough stove with no fan drawing the heat away.

In the end,,,, aren't we all dependent on electricity??

That's why I have my own Gas fired Generator..

 

[ovrszd]

That's why I have my own Gas fired Generator..

Good answer Murph. I shoulda threw that into the equation. TripleR has one too, he tends to get more ice than I do.

Actually I've lived in this house since 1979 and that's the only time our electricity has been off enough for the house to freeze up. We shut off rooms and used a kerosene heater.

 

[300UGUY]

I am just about ready to freak out over the outages we had. I spent 13 days, in November and December, with no power. The 1st time was 6 days, the 2nd 7 days. I have a whole house genny, but I grew very tired of listening to it gobble up propane. The cost wasn't my worry, it was the worry that if the genny quit, I'd have to do something quickly to get some heat in the house. We are quite rural, on a well and propane. It didn't help that we had -15F, record lows during the outage. I am thinking of buying another generator, as a backup to the backup. We have been having more outages, our roads are terrible, and last week, a local bridge was closed as dangerous. I really think the infrastructure here is falling apart.

 

[coobie]

I am just about ready to freak out over the outages we had. I spent 13 days, in November and December, with no power. The 1st time was 6 days, the 2nd 7 days. I have a whole house genny, but I grew very tired of listening to it gobble up propane. The cost wasn't my worry, it was the worry that if the genny quit, I'd have to do something quickly to get some heat in the house. We are quite rural, on a well and propane. It didn't help that we had -15F, record lows during the outage. I am thinking of buying another generator, as a backup to the backup. We have been having more outages, our roads are terrible, and last week, a local bridge was closed as dangerous. I really think the infrastructure here is falling apart.

I have a small 2000 watt Honda gen. to back up my whole house gen. just in case.We also have 300 gal. gas & diesel 150 gal.gravity fed outside fuel tanks.

 

[TripleR]

I am just about ready to freak out over the outages we had. I spent 13 days, in November and December, with no power. The 1st time was 6 days, the 2nd 7 days. I have a whole house genny, but I grew very tired of listening to it gobble up propane. The cost wasn't my worry, it was the worry that if the genny quit, I'd have to do something quickly to get some heat in the house. We are quite rural, on a well and propane. It didn't help that we had -15F, record lows during the outage. I am thinking of buying another generator, as a backup to the backup. We have been having more outages, our roads are terrible, and last week, a local bridge was closed as dangerous. I really think the infrastructure here is falling apart.

We have two generators, both portable and have had to use the backup generator. We are putting in a whole house unit in as soon as the ground firms up, but will keep a portable generator as a backup. We also have a fireplace insert if things really gets grim. If all else fails, we'll just go down to the barn and live in our camper.:laughing:

We live right on top of the New Madrid Earthquake Fault, so being prepared is just a way of life for us.

 

[300UGUY]

I have a small 2000 watt Honda gen. to back up my whole house gen. just in case.We also have 300 gal. gas & diesel 150 gal.gravity fed outside fuel tanks.

I have been looking at a gas genny, but I need a pretty good size one to run my place. We might just sell out and move to Florida. Seriously, this state sucks. I've lived here all my life, but I don't need this crap anymore.

 

[coobie]

I have been looking at a gas genny, but I need a pretty good size one to run my place. We might just sell out and move to Florida. Seriously, this state sucks. I've lived here all my life, but I don't need this crap anymore.

I fully agree high taxes,high car insurance and so on.I recently retired and the wife and I are going to give moving out of this state a hard look.

 

[300UGUY]

I fully agree high taxes,high car insurance and so on.I recently retired and the wife and I are going to give moving out of this state a hard look.

I retired a few years ago, and now my pension is being taxed. It's my thinking that nobody ever moved to this state for the climate, only for jobs. If you aren't working, and can afford to leave, why stay? I don't have much family here, my folks are retired in Florida. My wife's family is mostly here, but that is starting to change, too. My neice's and nephews are going out of state for college, it's cheaper to pay out of state somewhere else than resident tuition here. One of my neighbor's kids just took a job in Houston. He turned down a big 3 job here, he saw his dad layed off after 30 years, he wants nothing to do with the auto industry. His older brother is already there, both engineers. I wish I'd moved already....

And in Florida, I'd use very little propane. Sorry to be a downer!!

 

[ultrarunner]

When I remodeled, I kept the old gravity furnace... no electricity required and ducts to every room... Love that old furnace... don't use it much except when company visited... silent, gentle warmth and it worked when power was out for 6 days after the earthquake...

Sometimes simple is better.

You could always install a propane wall furnace for backup...

Some of my friends have installed whole house generators... the cost for whole house was not that much more to buy and install... they had no idea just how much fuel they use when running for a couple of days...

 

[batwing]

I retired a few years ago, and now my pension is being taxed. It's my thinking that nobody ever moved to this state for the climate, only for jobs. If you aren't working, and can afford to leave, why stay? I don't have much family here, my folks are retired in Florida. My wife's family is mostly here, but that is starting to change, too. My neice's and nephews are going out of state for college, it's cheaper to pay out of state somewhere else than resident tuition here. One of my neighbor's kids just took a job in Houston. He turned down a big 3 job here, he saw his dad layed off after 30 years, he wants nothing to do with the auto industry. His older brother is already there, both engineers. I wish I'd moved already....

And in Florida, I'd use very little propane. Sorry to be a downer!!

I also retired a few years ago and we went to Texas for February and March for a few years, I really liked it until it started warming up and getting humid. Sure wish we would have went this year!
Ron

 

[bajabum]

I have a Woodstock Fireview, It puts out way more heat than I can handle, have to throttle it down.
I do need to get a 240V genny to run the well, tho...

 

[coobie]

I retired a few years ago, and now my pension is being taxed. It's my thinking that nobody ever moved to this state for the climate, only for jobs. If you aren't working, and can afford to leave, why stay? I don't have much family here, my folks are retired in Florida. My wife's family is mostly here, but that is starting to change, too. My neice's and nephews are going out of state for college, it's cheaper to pay out of state somewhere else than resident tuition here. One of my neighbor's kids just took a job in Houston. He turned down a big 3 job here, he saw his dad layed off after 30 years, he wants nothing to do with the auto industry. His older brother is already there, both engineers. I wish I'd moved already....

And in Florida, I'd use very little propane. Sorry to be a downer!!

Not a big fan of florida,to dang hot for me.We are thinking Tenn. or KY. areas.

 

[Jesse masterson]

Personally! Propane is increasing in price too fast my furnace is getting on the old side when it goes I'm putting in a heat pump with a wood furnace backup! Which I already have. Seen propane go up too fast.

 

[Mike OD]

I am also retired. Moved to Virginia a couple of years ago because the wife got a job here. ai thought my heat bills would go down...HAH. I heat with electricity and supplement it with 2 wood stoves (2 cords so far at 175.00 plus per cord) and the electricity alone costs more than my gas and electric bills combined in northern Illinois. I even quit using my propane grill and went back to charcoal because the price of a 20 pound tank went up to $24.00 and you only get 15 pounds to boot. Wherever you go, don't stop here. They will tax your pension, tax your retirement income, your tax refund and you have to pay not only for plates (that's a given), but also a personal property tax on any vehicles twice a year at a rate higher than just plates anywhere else ! Cost of living ? I guess. Can't wait to go back to Illinois.

 

[farmer2009]

Not a big fan of florida,to dang hot for me.We are thinking Tenn. or KY. areas.

Have a neighbor he is retired from the military and from Indiana. He says he didn't move back to Indiana because Kentucky and Florida are the only two states that don't tax military pensions. So he moved close enough he could drive to see his family when ever he wanted.

I would checkout what ever state you are thinking of moving to before you pack up though.