trying to decide all electric or use some propane

dummy · Dec 1, 2004

When I replaced my forced air unit, I opted for a heat pump with a propane furnace. The switch over is regulated by the outside air temperature (selectable sensor mounted outside). Mine is set to switch to propane at 45 deg. F outside air, which is just above the range where heat pumps start to lose efficiency.
If I were starting from scratch, I would opt for radiant floor heat with a central air unit. A ground sourced heating system would be very nice too, if you can afford the initial costs.

BB_TX · Dec 1, 2004

I am in N TX. We have been in our house for 20 yrs now, going from natural gas to all electric and never looked back. Been very happy with it. We are in the country and there is no gas line here and we did not think we wanted propane. We have a high efficiency heat pump with auxilliary electric heating coils. The heat pump is basically the air conditioner running in reverse. The heating coils are only needed if the temp drops below about 25 which doesn't happen all that often here and usually not very long when it does. We have replaced the heating coils one time. As far as cost difference I really can't say. This house is considerably larger than the old house, but also much better insulated. If loss of power is a concern, then you will have to go with gas space heaters or wood stove since central heat, gas or electric, won't work without power.

Bird · Dec 1, 2004

This mobile home we bought here in town happens to be total electric, although natural gas is available. We prefer the total electric, although I don't really know what the cost difference might be. When we bought the place in the country, the old mobile home had propane heat and cooking, and obviously had a gas water heater at some time that had been replaced with an electric one. When we bought the new double-wide, we ordered it as a total electric. Out in the shop, I had two 40# propane bottles, two Mr. Heater units, and a turkey fryer with a big propane burner, so we knew that even in a power outage, we could warm out hands and have our coffee. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

KubotaSteve · Dec 1, 2004

I have all electric in my house (includes heatpump with A/C, water heater, stove, dryer which all were the wife's choice), however I grew up using propane stove, so I also had them install a propane cooktop which she now uses more than the electric stove. My electric bill is around $200 per month for heating and cooling 2800 square feet. They have made great strides in the new electric stoves. We have one of the flaptops and the oven heats up just as fast as a gas oven and the burners on top will heat up extremely fast as well, the only down side is they stay hot for a while after they are turned off. We got a pretty efficient heat pump and very rarely do I ever see the emegency heat (electric heaters) turn on. I think a lot of that has to do with how well they insulated our house. I agree with buying your own tank. They came and filled up our tank the other day and charged me almost $4 a gallon. I went to tractor supply and bought a 100 lb. tank for about $90 and had it filled myself for about $40. I also think if you decide to go with propane and the larger tanks to get it buried for safety and looks as well.
good luck.

sneaky_pete · Dec 1, 2004

In Texas, almost all of our electricity is generated by burning natural gas, so on a per BTU basis electricity is always going to be more expensive than burning gas directly at your home. Beyond that, it is strictly a matter of personal preference. I like natural gas and propane, but I am in that business.

If you do decide to go with propane, make sure your appliances are converted for propane operation instead of natural gas, or you will have an impressive fire.

Pete

hobbyfarm · Dec 1, 2004

Hello stevenf,

To help decide, check out:

<font color="red">Use Propane </font>

hobbyfarm · Dec 1, 2004

BTW,
These guys also make some funny television ads /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif for the use of propane /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif, say, VS electricity /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. You may have seen them.

<font color="green">TV Ads - Propane VS Electricity </font>

They get you thinking, and are truer than electricity may want to admit.
phil

ByronBob · Dec 1, 2004

In the end it's a personel preference I think but I'll mention what I know anyway. My old house had electric stove, dryer, hot water. The dryer took over 1 hour to dry clothes. The hot water heater recovered slow when 2-3 people took a shower back to back in the am. The stove was ok but to me took a little bit to get going.
Now with propane dryer it's 40 minutes to dry a load of clothes, 3 people can shower back to back with propane heater and the stove is slower to heat up than electric but heats well anyway.
As for the propane tank next to the house I rented a ditch digger and moved it 100 feet away from the house. The ends are positioned to blow away from the house anyway. If you looked at how they're designed the ends are welded while the middle section is solid steel. They don't blow up so don't worry about that.
Cost......My old budget for electric was 100/month and I was on a propane furnace in my old house. Adding the fuel bill all up I was at 150/month. New house with all propane I pay the actual electric bill monthly now and the highest bill ever was $88 and propane is 70/month. In the end though the cost really doesn't come into factoring the decision as much as how you feel with the finished product.
If your comfortable with electric price wise you won't see a marked difference. You pay one way or another I suppose.
If the power goes out a lot then we need to discuss the problem there. An electric furnace runs on 220 with a 60amp breaker which if you needed a generator to heat your house you'd need a big one. The propane furnace only needs a single breaker 20amp to run the blowers. So if heating your house on a propane furnace a portable generator will do it. Up in Western N.Y State the winters are long and hard sometimes. Being faced with that issue the electric house set up isn't practicle but in the south I would think thats not an issue.

RobertN · Dec 1, 2004

Our house is all electric. For the most part it is fine.

Of note, I would like to get propane for the kitchen stove. For the cooktop, I like gas much better than electric. During the summer, we use the solar clothes drying system(clothes line). We like it better than the dryer. When we start using the drier in the wetter months, it has a big affect on the bill.

If I had the extra money, I would change the following:
- Change the electric stove to a gas unit.
- Change to a solar water heater, or possibly solar in combination with "on-demand" water heater

Onthelake · Dec 1, 2004

I think you need to look at what you are buying this for. I also am in Central Texas. We don't need too much heat. Most of our demand comes from Cooling. The all electric heat pump is an excellent solution for us. No reason to have a gas furnace AND an air conditioner when one appliance will solve the problem. There are newer units on the market with great SEER values. If you have good insulation I don't think you will see much difference in cost of operation if you look at total heating and cooling costs together for each option. For me, I've had heat pumps for 20 years and wouldn't have anything else. My next house I am looking at a ground source with hot water heater. My brother who lives in Pa. and is in the business just put one in. It has anSEER of 27. Highest in the market. High initial cost but payback period is much shorter.

Good luck,
Rod