Natural Gas vs. Propane

JONOV

Old Mossy Horns
My wife and I are looking at houses (what fun.) Since most of what we're looking at is in town, almost everything has had natural gas. We did look at one house that while not out of town per se, has LP running the furnace (hot water heater is electric.) We like the house and the yard, and I know roughly what it costs to heat with natural gas. Our Realtor mentioned that LP costs a little more.

My question is, does anyone have an idea of how much more? to give you an idea, during the coldest month in our current place we might pay $50 to PSNC for a 1200 sf townhouse. This place is a 1300 sf brick ranch. The place we're looking at is in Knightdale, for what its worth.
 

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
I dont know about propane but I wish my gas bill was $50 during the coldest months of the year.
Everything I have except our dryer runs off Natural Gas.

sent from...... Tapatalk
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I had LP in Ashe in 2012 and '13. The winter months cost close to $400 per month. That was keeping the unit at 55 during the week. And 69 on the weekend. I was only there on the weekend. That was the 1st and last winter I used LP.
 

witler

Eight Pointer
Not sure if this will help, we have a 1800 sf ranch, propane heat (gas pack) and a propane hot water heater. Our yearly propane cost is around $1500.00. Hard to define heating costs since we use propane for the hot water heater year round. There are only the wife and myself in the house, we have been pleased with using propane for 25 years.
 

JONOV

Old Mossy Horns
Not sure if this will help, we have a 1800 sf ranch, propane heat (gas pack) and a propane hot water heater. Our yearly propane cost is around $1500.00. Hard to define heating costs since we use propane for the hot water heater year round. There are only the wife and myself in the house, we have been pleased with using propane for 25 years.

Thanks. This definitely helps me.
 

pattersonj11

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I currently rent a house with lp heat, lp stove, and a small lp wall heater. The stove burns very little gas. The wall unit hardly ever gets turned on. The lp furnace burns it up in the winter. We keep the heat about 65 all the time. I would say the lp averages about $300/month oct-march. Everything included....roughly $1800-$2000 a year. In the summer, electric is about $250/month. Electric is less than $100 during winter. It seems to equal out a bit, but i do feel that gas costs more for me. Will need a new hvac unit this fall/winter and will probably go all electric.

House was built in 50s. Very minimal insulation.

Mom and dads house was built in 1989 and they average about $150 electric year round.
 

25contender

Twelve Pointer
We had LP at our last house and after two years switched over to all electric (no natural gas option)as the LP was running 350-400 a month just for heat OCT-FEB. My mother had the same square footage with Natural gas and her cost was 1/3rd of what ours was with LP.
 
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apexhunter

Ten Pointer
Part of the deal with LP is which company holds the lease for the tank. If the tank is under lease (typically 20 or so years from install) you are somewhat obligated to buy the LP from that company at their rate or they will charge you a tank rental fee to offset their income from the gas. If the house is older and the tank is not under lease you can shop around for LP prices and refill in summer when rates are lower to save some cash. As mentioned above LP does normally cost more than natural gas due to equipment and delivery fees. I would see if the house has a dual furnace that has a heat pump for general heating with the gas pack as backup for very cold temps...that will allow you some savings over the winter when temps are in the mid to high 30's or above.
 

Crappie_Hunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I had LP in the first house I owned. I eventually switched everything out to electric when the heating system needed to be replaced (water heater and stove were gas too). It was a big monthly cost saver for me. All things equal otherwise, I would probably go with the home with natural gas or electric before I went with LP.
 

ScottyB

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
If you cannot get a satisfactory price with the company that has the tank in the yard.......shop around and then if you find a better deal tell the old company to come get their crap and switch out. My son called the company that has a buried tank in his yard and they gave him a ridiculous price so he told them to come dig it up and get it out of the yard....they called back and filled it up for 1.00 gallon.........no tank rental fees either.....you can wheel and deal with some of them!

If it is feasible.....get PSNC out to price running nat gas to the house if available......may have to have some orfices changed in heat unit but it will work out much cheaper in the long run for you and you don't have to worry about running out either!
 

JONOV

Old Mossy Horns
I currently rent a house with lp heat, lp stove, and a small lp wall heater. The stove burns very little gas. The wall unit hardly ever gets turned on. The lp furnace burns it up in the winter. We keep the heat about 65 all the time. I would say the lp averages about $300/month oct-march. Everything included....roughly $1800-$2000 a year. In the summer, electric is about $250/month. Electric is less than $100 during winter. It seems to equal out a bit, but i do feel that gas costs more for me. Will need a new hvac unit this fall/winter and will probably go all electric.

House was built in 50s. Very minimal insulation.

Mom and dads house was built in 1989 and they average about $150 electric year round.

Yeah my electric will drop below $50 in the winter.

It definitely sounds like it will cost more to heat, but I'm not super concerned about it being cost prohibitive from what everyone's said.

Any thoughts on annual maintenance cost of a septic system?
 

ScottyB

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I paid 250 to have my tank pumped this year.......obviously the guy pumping it says to do it every year......he is in the business.....It was the first time in 20 years that I had pumped mine....no issues just thought it was time...LOL... I am not saying go 20 years, but not necessarily needed every year IMO

Side note: there are 2 chambers in most tanks.... solids side and the sludge side...two different tank lids....if they don't open both lids then they are scamming you by only pumping half the tank.....it happens everyday to people that do not know.....now you know!
 

hunter

Eight Pointer
Contributor
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beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
We had LP at our last house and after two years switched over to all electric (no natural gas option)as the LP was running 350-400 a month just for heat OCT-FEB.

We must have had the same soul sucking unit. About the size of a step-side bed tool box, mounted to the wall.
 

624c

Six Pointer
I'd go w/ nat gas just so I didnt have to deal with deliveries and worry about running out of propane
 
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