topic Re: Propane v. electricity in Home

Propane v. electricity

hoosieroriginal — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 15:50:27 GMT

My house is all electric, but almost all of my neighbors have propane. My best friend (neighbor) has spent $2,000 - 5,000 a winter for propane to heat their home. I have to say, my most expensive electric bill in the winter was $300. Of course, I keep my house very cool in the winter and bundle up. Most of the time I turn heat off at night and have a little heater with a thermostat in the bedroom. My bedroom is small and it takes no time at all to heat up. If it is going to be particularly cold at night I leave heat on for the pipes. But most of the time I just leave water dripping to keep the pipes from freezing overnight. I just don't know how people afford these propane costs. I have to admit, I'm a cheapskate and very glad I have an all electric home.

Re: Propane v. electricity

Mominohio — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:02:58 GMT

We live in the country and are all electric except for a very small propane tank for the stove/oven.

My mom lives next door and has propane for heat, stove, and water heater. She lives alone, and supplements heating with Duraflame heaters. She probably goes through about $1600 per year in propane. And those Duraflame heaters don't increase her electric bill by much either.

In our area, propane is the highest cost of heating. My mom has no other options, as we don't have access out here to natural gas. The only benefit I see to propane is that if you have those really large tanks, once filled, you have your own, paid for fuel source. No monthly bills, and no worries if the electric goes out (you can use a generator/battery system to kick the furnace on) or if there are gas line issues leaving you without heat. Allows one to be slightly less reliant on the grid and delivery systems for the time the tank takes to empty out anyway (for her that is several months, even in a cold winter).

Re: Propane v. electricity

2blonde — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:05:57 GMT

@hoosieroriginal Yes, I'm all electric too (large condo). In fact, there are no gas lines on my street. I admit I feel a little safer without any fossil fuels around me, and no need for a CO 2 detector either!

We have heat pumps with back up electric coil heating in the furnace (basement) that kicks in when the temp drops below 20 degrees. I had a friend in the HVAC business replace my old heat pump 2 years ago, and I think there must be no cheaper way to heat my home, especialy with the latest more efficient technology. Last winter, as you know, was mild, but I think my highest electric bill was a little over $100, and I keep my thermostat at 73 when I'm at home, and 72 when I'm gone for while. (Being born in December, I'm an original freeze baby!)

Re: Propane v. electricity

hoosieroriginal — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:10:12 GMT

@Mominohio wrote:
We live in the country and are all electric except for a very small propane tank for the stove/oven.

My mom lives next door and has propane for heat, stove, and water heater. She lives alone, and supplements heating with Duraflame heaters. She probably goes through about $1600 per year in propane. And those Duraflame heaters don't increase her electric bill by much either.

In our area, propane is the highest cost of heating. My mom has no other options, as we don't have access out here to natural gas. The only benefit I see to propane is that if you have those really large tanks, once filled, you have your own, paid for fuel source. No monthly bills, and no worries if the electric goes out (you can use a generator/battery system to kick the furnace on) or if there are gas line issues leaving you without heat. Allows one to be slightly less reliant on the grid and delivery systems for the time the tank takes to empty out anyway (for her that is several months, even in a cold winter).

@Mominohio - I disagree with you on Duraflame - it made my electricity soar when I used it.

Re: Propane v. electricity

hoosieroriginal — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:13:55 GMT

@2blonde wrote:
@hoosieroriginal Yes, I'm all electric too (large condo). In fact, there are no gas lines on my street. I admit I feel a little safer without any fossil fuels around me, and no need for a CO 2 detector either!

We have heat pumps with back up electric coil heating in the furnace (basement) that kicks in when the temp drops below 20 degrees. I had a friend in the HVAC business replace my old heat pump 2 years ago, and I think there must be no cheaper way to heat my home, especialy with the latest more efficient technology. Last winter, as you know, was mild, but I think my highest electric bill was a little over $100, and I keep my thermostat at 73 when I'm at home, and 72 when I'm gone for while. (Being born in December, I'm an original freeze baby!)

@2blonde - 73 degrees sounds wonderful to me. I'm lucky if my furnace heats my house above 65, and that's running constantly. I have an A frame which has no attic to insulate and it is all roof. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

Re: Propane v. electricity

2blonde — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:22:03 GMT

@hoosieroriginal wrote:
@2blonde wrote:
@hoosieroriginal Yes, I'm all electric too (large condo). In fact, there are no gas lines on my street. I admit I feel a little safer without any fossil fuels around me, and no need for a CO 2 detector either!

We have heat pumps with back up electric coil heating in the furnace (basement) that kicks in when the temp drops below 20 degrees. I had a friend in the HVAC business replace my old heat pump 2 years ago, and I think there must be no cheaper way to heat my home, especialy with the latest more efficient technology. Last winter, as you know, was mild, but I think my highest electric bill was a little over $100, and I keep my thermostat at 73 when I'm at home, and 72 when I'm gone for while. (Being born in December, I'm an original freeze baby!)
@2blonde - 73 degrees sounds wonderful to me. I'm lucky if my furnace heats my house above 65, and that's running constantly. I have an A frame which has no attic to insulate and it is all roof. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

@hoosieroriginal I used to house sit for some friends with a beautifu A-frame home. Beautiful, but not very practical, right? They had a big ceiling fan to try and pump some of the warm air back downstairs, but I still used to wish I could sit up there somewhere near that peak!

Re: Propane v. electricity

hoosieroriginal — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:25:10 GMT

@2blonde wrote:
@hoosieroriginal wrote:
@2blonde wrote:
@hoosieroriginal Yes, I'm all electric too (large condo). In fact, there are no gas lines on my street. I admit I feel a little safer without any fossil fuels around me, and no need for a CO 2 detector either!

We have heat pumps with back up electric coil heating in the furnace (basement) that kicks in when the temp drops below 20 degrees. I had a friend in the HVAC business replace my old heat pump 2 years ago, and I think there must be no cheaper way to heat my home, especialy with the latest more efficient technology. Last winter, as you know, was mild, but I think my highest electric bill was a little over $100, and I keep my thermostat at 73 when I'm at home, and 72 when I'm gone for while. (Being born in December, I'm an original freeze baby!)
@2blonde - 73 degrees sounds wonderful to me. I'm lucky if my furnace heats my house above 65, and that's running constantly. I have an A frame which has no attic to insulate and it is all roof. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer.
@hoosieroriginal I used to house sit for some friends with a beautifu A-frame home. Beautiful, but not very practical, right? They had a big ceiling fan to try and pump some of the warm air back downstairs, but I still used to wish I could sit up there somewhere near that peak!

@2blonde - Oh, I really do love my A frame - but not very practical is right. I love artwork and have very few walls to put art on. My favorite thing to do in the spring when the storms come through is to sleep in my loft bedroom and look out through the livingroom picture window and watching the lightning flashes.

Re: Propane v. electricity

Nightowlz — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:39:34 GMT

We have gas heat. I hate it because it gets too hot. I used to put the heat on 60° when we went to bed but DH said he was tired of freezing. Now we put it on 63°. It's just now starting to get cold. Our gas bill has not gone up yet. Last one was only about $40. Past year history shows about $560 so that averages about $47 per month for the past 12 months.

We pay more on our electric bill since we run the air a lot more then the heat that's for sure.

Re: Propane v. electricity

SilleeMee — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 18:02:30 GMT

My house is heated with affordable natural gas. If I had to heat my house with electricity then I would go broke. Electricity is the most expensive part of my utility bill...like half of the total cost of electric, gas and water combined.

Re: Propane v. electricity

151949 — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 18:17:01 GMT

When we lived in Pa we had an all electric home and my electric budget payment was $161/month for years. That was heating in the winter and cooling in the summer , hot water, cooking everything.We did both work so I'd only have the heat above 68 when we were at home , plus I would leave it low if I came home from work and was just going to eat and go to bed. I felt 68 was sufficiently warm enough for the dog all day long. In the summer we kept the AC around 76 to 78, as we do here in Fl.

Our electric bills here are less than they were in Pa. because up there we had a surcharge added to pay for building a new neuclear power plant. We have been considering buying solar panels, as many people do here in Fl., to make our own electric.

Re: Propane v. electricity

software — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 20:04:54 GMT

Propane is good when the power goes out.

@hoosieroriginal wrote:
My house is all electric, but almost all of my neighbors have propane. My best friend (neighbor) has spent $2,000 - 5,000 a winter for propane to heat their home. I have to say, my most expensive electric bill in the winter was $300. Of course, I keep my house very cool in the winter and bundle up. Most of the time I turn heat off at night and have a little heater with a thermostat in the bedroom. My bedroom is small and it takes no time at all to heat up. If it is going to be particularly cold at night I leave heat on for the pipes. But most of the time I just leave water dripping to keep the pipes from freezing overnight. I just don't know how people afford these propane costs. I have to admit, I'm a cheapskate and very glad I have an all electric home.

Re: Propane v. electricity

beckyb1012 — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 20:12:06 GMT

The home my ex-husband and I had out in the country was all electric except for propane to the cook stove, the furnace and the hot water heater. I loved it especially when the electricity went out in the winter. We could still light the burners (by matches) on the stove for some cooking and hot chocolate and take hot showers. Not much fun when you stepped out of the shower into a very cold bathroom. The furnace still had to have the electric to ignite the propane so we did not have the use of that but had a large fireplace for our family pajama party. Lots of them during the 18 years there.

Re: Propane v. electricity

SilleeMee — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 20:36:39 GMT

I get really nervous when my electricity goes out which does not happen very often and when it does it's usually for no longer than one hour. But it means nothing in my house will work. No heat, no cooking, no cooling...nada! Sure would be nice to have a propane generator as a back-up. Maybe someday.

Re: Propane v. electricity

RedTop — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 21:37:25 GMT

My home is all electric, but we have a wood stove in the basement for supplemental heat, and a generator powered by propane.

When we filled our propane tank originally, the cost was under $400. Our propane usage is mainly from the weekly test run; the generator has only come on twice because of a brief outage, no major usage as yet. Our propane company will not deliver to us until our tank registers at half full, which is NEVER when propane is at its best price!

Re: Propane v. electricity

151949 — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 21:42:35 GMT

I am accustomed to cooking with electric and I prefer it. I have to cook with gas at camp and I burn things a lot.

Re: Propane v. electricity

beckyb1012 — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 21:45:00 GMT

@SilleeMee wrote:
I get really nervous when my electricity goes out which does not happen very often and when it does it's usually for no longer than one hour. But it means nothing in my house will work. No heat, no cooking, no cooling...nada! Sure would be nice to have a propane generator as a back-up. Maybe someday.

The longest we ever went without electric here in Texas during an ice storm was three days. I was keeping my fridge items on my deck buried in the snow and ice. By the third day I told my family if I could not run my vacuum cleaner by the next day we were getting on our hands and knees to start the living room floor clean up. It came back on a few hours later to all our relief.

Re: Propane v. electricity

SilleeMee — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 21:50:31 GMT

@beckyb1012 wrote:
@SilleeMee wrote:
I get really nervous when my electricity goes out which does not happen very often and when it does it's usually for no longer than one hour. But it means nothing in my house will work. No heat, no cooking, no cooling...nada! Sure would be nice to have a propane generator as a back-up. Maybe someday.
The longest we ever went without electric here in Texas during an ice storm was three days. I was keeping my fridge items on my deck buried in the snow and ice. By the third day I told my family if I could not run my vacuum cleaner by the next day we were getting on our hands and knees to start the living room floor clean up. It came back on a few hours later to all our relief.

@beckyb1012,

omg three days??!! I would be a wreck. If that ever happened here then I would definitely buy back-up generator. How do you do it?

Re: Propane v. electricity

beckyb1012 — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 21:54:05 GMT

@SilleeMee wrote:
@beckyb1012 wrote:
@SilleeMee wrote:
I get really nervous when my electricity goes out which does not happen very often and when it does it's usually for no longer than one hour. But it means nothing in my house will work. No heat, no cooking, no cooling...nada! Sure would be nice to have a propane generator as a back-up. Maybe someday.
The longest we ever went without electric here in Texas during an ice storm was three days. I was keeping my fridge items on my deck buried in the snow and ice. By the third day I told my family if I could not run my vacuum cleaner by the next day we were getting on our hands and knees to start the living room floor clean up. It came back on a few hours later to all our relief.
@beckyb1012,
omg three days??!! I would be a wreck. If that ever happened here then I would definitely buy back-up generator. How do you do it?

Divorce. No that time was hard because a few hours after it came back on we lost the water for six hours then the electricity went back off a couple of hours more until the whole ice storm was behind us. I truly wanted to hurt someone that day. We usually lost power for a 24 hour period several times each winter since it was out in the country and we were not high priority. But no traffic no neighbors so you take the good with the bad.

Re: Propane v. electricity

SilleeMee — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 22:02:09 GMT

@beckyb1012,

Well you are more brave than me for sure! Yes, country-living has it's perks but at a cost for some. Hope you don't have to go through the ice storms too often. Sounds really scary.

Re: Propane v. electricity

beckyb1012 — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 22:05:07 GMT

@SilleeMee wrote:
@beckyb1012,
Well you are more brave than me for sure! Yes, country-living has it's perks but at a cost for some. Hope you don't have to go through the ice storms too often. Sounds really scary.

@SilleeMee Oh no, not much anymore. That is what I mean't by Divorce. Moved to the city life when I told hubby goodbye. 18 years married and Dec. 10th will be 18 years divorced. Love it, Love it, Love it.