Switch from Oil to Propane?

[CateP]

Hi Everyone,
As many of you know, we are house hunting in the area and are wondering about the wisdom of switching from oil to propane. I know there have been some very good calculations showing that propane can be more expensive than oil, but here is why we are thinking about switching.

#1-we like cooking with gas
#2- we plan on installing a gas fireplace
#3- we may look into a tankless water heater at some point
#4 -better resale value down the road
#5 - furnaces need less maintenance and tend to last longer
#6- less CO2 emission (feel good about environmental impact)

Would anybody care to share their wisdom about any misinformation I have listed and about making a wise choice in this matter?

[jrc]

We built our house a few years back with propane versus oil for many of your reasons.

#1-we like cooking with gas
- same for us - but modern electric do work well

#2- we plan on installing a gas fireplace
- we did and it is great

#3- we may look into a tankless water heater at some point
- we went convetional water heater so this wasn't an issue

#4 -better resale value down the road
- I'm not sure it matters, but a very few people are afraid of gas for safety issues

#5 - furnaces need less maintenance and tend to last longer
- virtually no maintenance for propane, oil is messy

#6- less CO2 emission (feel good about environmental impact)
- I can't see how this can be true as heat is heat, you need to burn a certain amount of carbon to get the heat, burning carbon by definition combining it with oxygen.

All that carbon and oxygen has to go somewhere, I guess some could be CO instead of CO2. But burning oil does produce a bunch of other stuff.

[Slickcraft]

The majority of homes up here are heated with oil. Could that be a coincidence? More likely all these thrifty Yankees have found oil to be lower cost than propane in rural areas. So I don't think that propane would, on average, be a selling point here.

And oil does not go Kaboom. A few times a year we hear of an entire house blowing apart due to propane. I would not spend a single night in such a house ever. I'll stick to safe activities like riding the Harley.

[CateP]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

The majority of homes up here are heated with oil. Could that be a coincidence? More likely all these thrifty Yankees have found oil to be lower cost than propane in rural areas. So I don't think that propane would, on average, be a selling point here.

And oil does not go Kaboom. A few times a year we hear of an entire house blowing apart due to propane. I would not spend a single night in such a house ever. I'll stick to safe activities like riding the Harley.

Hmm. I did a little research on propane tank explosions and found that they don't explode. I guess the problems arise when there are gas leaks and sparks. It seems odd that houses are blowing up a few times a year from LP gas leaks and yet, most of the new house construction we have been looking at have LP gas.

Yet, I can appreciate your concern for safety and the comfort your Harley gives you, since you will never drown if you find yourself stopped on a collapsing bridge over water

[Slickcraft]

The tanks don't explode unless exposed to a hot fire. (We saw several explode in the Alton Conference Center fire but propane was not the cause of that fire). The house explosions are from a propane leak, often a small leak. The heavier than air propane settles in the basement and a small spark will set it off. While this does not happen a lot, I see no reason to take any additional risk for more expensive heating solution.
My advice is to live with the oil heat and electric stove for a while and see how it goes. You can always convert later if you really dislike the situation. My guess, however, is that you will find a few other items that you want to spend $$ on. Gas fireplaces are popular but they won't save on heating cost like a wood or pellet stove would.

A lot of new construction has LP heat as the initial investment of the builder is less.

[robmac]

In my experience I prefer gas over oil. Less maintanance,more options(cooking,cloths dryer,water heater,etc.) and currently with the price of oil due to the wall street speculators gas costs less. Having had both natural and propane for years and never an issue that gets my vote.

[Irrigation Guy]

Propane pricing follows oil as it requires oil to produce it. Propane requires more processing and usually costs more per BTU. That said we have both. Oil for heat and hot water. Propane for cooking and drying clothes.

The following link is a great fuel comparison tool. Adjust the cost per fuel and efficiency rating.

In my case, I have been comparing a high efficiency condensing propane boiler to my oil boiler. Oil is $3.00 prebuy this year and my boiler is 84% efficient. The high efficiency propane is 95% and cost might be $2.30. Let the spreadsheet grind the numbers and the are close in cost. Spending the $3000 or so for the boiler doesn't make sense for me.

IMHO, pellets and wood are too much work(wood if free is great cheap heat). Coal is a very interesting alternative with the new coal stokers available.

www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls

[robmac]

I have Goodman 95% efficiency furnaces and the savings is incredible. Cost on high efficiency furnaces and boilers has come way down and you can still get a tax credit for installing them.

[TheProfessor]

"Hi Everyone,

#1-we like cooking with gas
#2- we plan on installing a gas fireplace
#3- we may look into a tankless water heater at some point
#4 -better resale value down the road
#5 - furnaces need less maintenance and tend to last longer
#6- less CO2 emission (feel good about environmental impact)"


You can almost always have a gas stove installed and use a smaller tank for gas oven/stove use.

Same goes true for a gas fireplace.

Maintenance should be done whether it is a boiler or hot air furnace.

Resale value? RE agents can chime in on this one. I don't think either makes much difference.

Any proper running oil or propane unit will not have any issues. Note: the higher the efficiency rating the more complex the unit is. Higher efficiency is not always the correct answer.

My advice to anyone and everyone is don't fix anything unless it is broken. I don't recommend "converting" anything.

If potential home has a wood burning fireplace then just leave it alone and purchase a cord of wood.

If the potential home has an electric or gas water heater then just continue to use such.

These instantaneous on demand water heaters are nice but expensive. And you should understand what water pressure means and what flow rates mean for these types of water heaters. I have an instantaneous on demand water heater and there is no one who can fix it if it breaks. And the company - well known when I purchased it - no longer makes this unit. Mind you, it does work fine. But when it breaks - I am going to a simple electric tank heater. Cheaper and easier to replace when time comes. Remember propane tankess heaters have to be vented. And some are "power" vented - meaning another part that can break.

If you have extra money and money is not a problem - then do whatever makes you happy. Me, like I stated above, I don't fix anything if it is not broken.

And as others have stated here. Oil heat seems to be the norm for most homes. Others have chimed in on the BTU's comparison of oil and propane per unit. But if the home comes with propane then just leave alone.

Now if you were to build a home then some answers may change.