Anybody heat with Propane?

The wife and I are looking to buy a new house and found one we are going to place an offer on, only possible issue is it is using propane to heat with. I've never had a house with propane, our last house had an oil furnace with a supplemental wood stove. This house is entirely propane, no wood or pellet stove. Just looking for thoughts and opinions on this, thanks ahead of time.

 

I have heated with propane for about 15 years. Only problem has been with a supplier. Most folks rent their tanks from their suppliers. Generally that means only that supplier will fill the tank. I had an issue where weather prevented the supplier from making his normal run (about 65 miles from here) when the tank was getting low. I ended up buying my own tank so I can buy from any supplier.

For emergency heating during power outages I modified my furnace to run off a generator.

 

How big is the house? Any vaulted ceilings? Propane heats very well, but can get expensive on a huge place or if you have vaulted ceilings. If you can buy your own tank instead of lease it from the propane company that is the best option.

 

thats good advice about owning your tank.

 

X2 ^^^^^

 

You can always add your own supplemental wood and emergency generation.

 

Is the house baseboard heat or forced hot air?

 

I have a home that uses propane and never had any issues. Since propane fluctuates in price I generally fill my tank at the end of summer or latest beginning of fall for the lowest price. My tank is a rental and has a gauge on it and I don't have it have it route scheduled, just call when needed. My neighbor now has a "smart meter" on his that notifies the company if he is running low automatically. If you have multiple suppliers then you can shop around for the best rates and my tank rental is $60 a year.


Just saw "Eastern, MA" , get as big of a tank or tandem tanks. I don't have any idea how much propane goes for on the east coast but those winters are COLD......

 

If it was not such a hassle I would switch to propane from oil.

I stay with fuel oil because I am 500' feet off the road and need to haul my own fuel after the snow.

something to think about is how much propane was used last winter and how hard is it to get to your tanks.

Not fun to run out during a blizzard

I use a propane space heater that replaced a kerosene heater .

 

Gas is gas, only the cost is a concern. my 3200ft house was propane until about a week ago. I upped from a 500 to a 1000g tank last year, really bad weather at a bad time left the 500 low enough to worry me for a week or two. Plan ahead and no issues. The local gas company ran a pipeline to our neighborhood last year and i paid to tap in, converted the furnace and fireplace. I had to install a new water heater though, for some reason you can't conert them. Everything works the same, just no tank to deal with. Odds are it will help when i sell in a few months.